Youngsters learn to go with flow

Whare Thompson, from the Southern Cross Campus waka ama team, gets in some splash-free paddle training at Mangere Bridge. Picture / Dean Purcell

Mangere's Southern Cross Campus has found a novel way to head off gang violence - by channelling youngsters' energies into paddling in waka ama outrigger canoes.

A social worker assigned to the school by the Mangere East Family Services Centre, Phillina Kauri, is coaching teams of boys and girls from years nine and 10 on the often-windy waters of the Manukau Harbour and the Tamaki River.

She now aims to build a team including some of the year 11 girls who fought a group of female gang members that broke into the school grounds last month.

"They refer people to me for anger management reasons and bullying issues," she says.

"I say, 'You want to be hard? Come to the waka and show me how hard you are!' It's turning negative stuff into a positive place."

And judging by the students who were learning techniques by paddling on dry land near old Mangere Bridge on Thursday night, the idea is popular.

"We just heard there was training in waka ama. It was, like, a Maori thing. All of us happened to be Maori and we just joined and started training," they said.

They were so keen that they kept training in their own time through the last school holidays and have their eyes set on the senior secondary school nationals in Rotorua next April.

"It's cool. It's exciting. You go places," said Katarina Mauri, captain of the girls' team.

Rugby player Whare Thompson took up waka ama - paddling a Maori canoe with outriggers - for summer, aiming to become an Olympic rower. "It's fun because you're on the water."

Boys' captain Trent Masters said: "I thought I'd try something different. It's interesting."

Girls' vice-captain Geiliagh Mauri said she would be "sitting at home watching TV" if she wasn't paddling, while the boys would be "making trouble".

The year 11 girls have chosen the team name "Waka Ama Chicky Babes", or WACB, mirroring the gang names which are often abbreviated to acronyms.

"I said, 'That's the sort of gang you need to be'," Ms Kauri said.

She still runs anger management and social skills courses, but says waka ama is "a better way to teach them social skills - doing it as well as talking it".