Touch: Bayleigh very ready to fly

Bayleigh Hape playing fullback for the Northland North under-14 side against a visiting Auckland team in Kaikohe last Saturday. Photo / Debbie Beadle

Sponsors dig deep for teen's Australian trip

While the countdown has begun for Bayleigh Bentley Hape as he prepares to represent New Zealand at two touch tournaments in Australia next month, his whanau have expressed appreciation to those who helped make the trip possible for the talented Kawakawa 14-year-old rugby player.

Mum Lavon noted Bayleigh's extended family had been totally blown away by the way people had dug deep to help Bayleigh raise the funds required for the Australian tour.

While she herself admitted to feeling a bit self-conscious talking about the journey to this point, she wanted to thank all the businesses, organisations and individuals - in Kawakawa and further afield - who had got behind the drive to help her son realise his dream.

"This does show how great small communities can be. We were really overwhelmed with those who came forward to sponsor Bayleigh," Lavon said, adding her son had initially struggled to understand what the fuss was all about.

She said her son was a quiet young man and, like most youngsters, did not want to bring too much attention on himself. Some examples of the contributions towards Bayleigh's Australian campaign included a mufti day run by his old primary school, Kawakawa, at which nearly 60 kids donated $2 (although they all later each received a cupcake baked by Lavon for their efforts), the hangi prepared by the Bay of Islands College which raised $1000, and the strong support seen at the whanau's fundraising stall at the Moerewa Street Wars.

Elsewhere, the coach of Bailey's Moerewa under-14 North Zone team, Laurie Nankivell and his wife Alexis, went to great length to put on a special dinner at the Moerewa RFC on Mother's Day which ended with Bayleigh being presented with another $1000. "The food was amazing and the locals said some really lovely words about Bayleigh that were very humbling. His grandparents were all there as was his 93-year-old great nana so it was a very special night."

"A significant amount was also put up by half the businesses in town to the point where we had to say no to the other half of the businesses because it just felt like it was too much," Lavon said. But it was the kindness of strangers which had proved humbling and inspirational.

"It's a very strange feeling to have strangers give you their hard-earned money for your son," she commented, citing a recent example when Bayleigh's team played a team from Kaitaia and the dad of one of his friends went up to husband Jason and gave him $100 towards the Aussie sojourn. "My husband said, 'no thanks, we have all his money paid,' but this man insisted he wanted to put something towards the trip.

"After a lot of backwards and forwards my husband agreed to put it in Bayleigh's savings account for his spending money. It's hard to know what to say to generosity like that."

With under a month before he departs, Bayleigh's been playing for the Moerewa side which made the North Zone IMB rugby final last month. He was also selected for the Northland North under-14 squad playing in the Blues competition.

Bayleigh Bentley Hape was earlier this year named in the Touch New Zealand under-15 squad to tour Australia along with an under-17 side next month. The two sides fly out on October 3 and return on October 12, playing two tournaments on the Gold Coast.