Trials for Hastings Bomb Squad begin ahead of East Coast competition

Peleti Oli demonstrating the art of the manu at Havelock North Village pool. He is selecting people for a Hastings Bomb Squad. Photo / Paul Taylor

Peleti Oli will dive deep into the pool of local talent this weekend searching for an elite bomb squad to represent Hastings and make a splash in the Tairawhiti Bomb Competition.

The former Hastings District councillor for the Flaxmere ward said the organisers of the Tairawhiti competition had come to Hawke’s Bay from Gisborne to attend the manu competition hosted at Havelock North Village Pool last weekend.

Afterwards, they approached Oli and said that they would like to invite a team representing Hawke’s Bay to compete in their competition on December 17 at Gisborne Olympic Pools

Oli has an intense passion for the art of the manu, the popular but widely considered dangerous dive bomb style, which he said was a many-layered part of New Zealand culture.

“Every kid in New Zealand knows someone that is really good at doing manus, or bombs as you would call them back in the day, but over the years it has just been transformed into a better, more technical skill,” Oli said.

“Even myself, I haven’t perfected it yet, but these kids are very passionate about getting the technique right, which is why we had to put on a bomb competition, for the kids, but to find the manu king and queen for Hawke’s Bay.”

Oli said manu as a competitive sport had not yet reached the mainstream in Hawke’s Bay before the competition and many did not appreciate its complexities.

“You have to pierce the water at the correct area on your tailbone, and then once you are under the water, you open your whole body up like a manu, like a bird,” he said.

“The splash isn’t just your crazy, big volume splash, it is actually more of a spike splash.”

Oli said there were under-10, under-13, under-16 and open categories at the Tairawhiti Bomb Competition, and boys and girls of all ages were welcome to try out at the Hastings trials.

He said people from about 5 years old to people in their 60s had competed in the Hastings competition.

The winners of the junior, senior and masters categories at last weekend’s Hastings Manu competition have automatically qualified for spots on the squad.

He said a maximum of “a van-load” of people will be selected for the squad.