National Contest omes to Wainui

By Frank Neill

Wainuiomata High School is hosting this year’s National Junior Kī o Rahi competition.

The championship will be held at Frederick Wise Park from 14 to 16 November.

Although registrations for the competition are still open, Wainuiomata High School teacher

Mātauranga Te Rauna says he expects around 32 teams will enter the event, meaning more than 600 players will be involved.

That already includes nine teams from the Wellington area – the most from this region who have entered the Kī o Rahi junior nationals.

The junior competition is for year 9 and 10 students, although areas schools can include year 7 and 8 students in their teams.

Although Wainuiomata High School is the major host of the competition, it is receiving assistance from other schools and teachers in the area.

Wainuiomata High School is entering a team in the competition “and I’m expecting us to do pretty well,” Mr Te Rauna says.

“Last year we came fifth and this year we are aiming for a top four finish,” he says.

“We want to get heaps of people to come down to Wise Park and watch and to get behind the Wellington and Hutt Valley teams,” he says.

Kī o Rahi is steadily growing at Wainuiomata High School.

The school’s mixed team won this year’s College Sport Wellington championships. The school also hosted this event.

This year its senior team finished seventh out of 40 teams in the competition.

Following the competition three Wainuiomata high School students were selected in the New

Zealand secondary school team.

Reihana Te Rauna, Kahukura Te Rauna and Braddock Akuhata have been named in the team.

They will play in a tournament over Labour Weekend in the Bay of Plenty.

One of the matches the New Zealand Secondary Schools team will play will be against the New Zealand Māori Secondary School team and this encounter will see a Wainuiomata father on one side and his two sons on the other.

Mātauranga Te Rauna, is the coach of the Māori team and his sons Reihana and Kahukura will be in the opposing team.