Tiana Raftstrand-Smith plays for a team that trains in te reo. Photo / Greg Bowker
Playing for New Zealand by the time she's 17 is the goal ... and Tiana's well on the way.
Auckland mother Ofelia Raftstrand knew her daughter was in the right place when she jumped in the car after rugby league practice and said, "Mum, our moves are in te reo Māori. Primo!"
Tiana Raftstrand-Smith, 12, has been playing league since she was 5 or 6.
"She's been to a few tournaments where she's the only girl," her mother says.
She is now in the last year when she is allowed to play with the boys.
Next year, her first high school year, she will have to play in a girls' team, and plans to switch to rugby union for a few years before returning to play for the women's team, the Richmond Roses, at her Richmond Rovers rugby league club in Grey Lynn.
She met the national women's team, the Kiwi Ferns, when she was 7, and resolved then to make the national team in 10 years. She is halfway there.
"It's just fun," she says. "I like tackling and running."
Coach Joe Lundon says there are not many female players at her level.
"She's quite well known throughout the league community, not so much as a girl but as a good player," he said. Mr Lundon and fellow coach Tuteri Rangihaeata have pulled together a team that trains in te reo Māori.
"They have all come together for a kaupapa of community together as Māori in the big city," Mr Lundon said. Tiana, who started at a kōhanga reo on the site of the school she still attends, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori or Ngā Maungarongo in Sandringham, is one of eight players in the team from Māori-immersion schools.
Even though her Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Kahu parents speak English at home, her mother says Tiana's strongest language is Māori.
"It's cool because we come to a few trainings, just listening to all the commands in te reo Māori, it's awesome," she says.
For the first national Māori tournament for teams from under-10s to under-13s, to be held at the Tainui headquarters of Hopuhopu at the end of next month, the coaches have developed two new moves inspired by the great Tainui leader King Tāwhiao, who led his people from 1860 to 1894.
After being driven into what is now called the King Country by invading British forces in the land wars, Tāwhiao said: "Māku anō e hanga tōku nei whare" ("I will rebuild my house" or "reshape my destiny").
For Tiana's team, a call of "Whare" means that the players form up in the shape of a house.
"Poupou" means that they stand in two poles against the opposing team.
"We are making our own haka around that," Mr Rangihaeata says.
"It comes back to them being in charge of their own destiny. League is the vehicle with which we have been able to attract them, and we have just been able to add the language as well as some of the customs."
I mōhio tētahi whaea o Tāmakimakaurau, a Ofelia Raftstrand, i te wāhi tika tana kōtiro i tana peke atu ki te waka i muri o te whakaharatau rīki, ka kī ake: "E Mā, katoa ā mātou nekeneke kei te reo Māori! Primo!"
E 5, e 6 pea ngā tau o Tiana Raftstrand-Smith, ka tīmata tana tākaro rīki.
Hei tā tana whaea, "He maha tonu ngā tauwhāinga kua tae atu ia, ko ia anahe te kōtiro."
Kua tae ia ki te tau whakamutunga, e whakaaehia ai tana tākaro me ngā mea tāne. Hei te tau e tū mai nei tana tau tuatahi ki te kura tuarua, kua mate tana tākaro i te tīma kōtiro, me tana hiahia hoki ki te tākaro whutupōro mō ētahi tau nei, i mua i te hoki ake ki te tākaro i te tīma wāhine o Richmond Roses, i te Karapu Rīki o Richmond Rovers.
E 7 ōna tau ka tūtaki ia ki te tīma wāhine o te motu, ki ngā Kiwi Ferns, ka tau ana whakaaro i reira kia uru atu ia ki te tīma o te motu i roto i te 10 tau. Kua whakatata haere rā ia ki tērā.
Hei tāna, "He mahi tino pārekareka. He pai ki a au te rutu i te tangata me te oma."
E ai ki a Mr Lundon, tō rātou kaiwhakangungu, kāore i tokomaha ngā kaitākaro wāhine kei tēnā taumata i a ia.
Hei tāna, "Kua āhua rongonui tonu ia i te hapori rīki, kaua i te mea he wahine, engari i te mea he tino pai ia ki te tākaro."
Kua whakakotahitia e ngā kaiwhakangungu, e Joe Lundon rāua ko Tuteri Rangihaeata, tētahi tīma e whakangungua ana ki te reo Māori.
Hei tā Joe anō, "Kua whakakotahi rātou i runga i te ngākau whakahoahoa, inā rā, he Māori katoa rātou e noho tahi ana i te taone nunui."
I tīmata ake a Tiana i te kōhanga reo i te papa o te kura kei reira tonu ia e kuraina ana, i Te Kura Kaupapa māori o Ngā Maungarongo i Sandringham. Ko ia tētahi o ētahi kaitākaro e 8 kei te tīma, i ahu mai i ngā kura rumaki Māori.
Ahakoa te kōrero Pākehā a ōna mātua o Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Kahu i te kāinga, e kī ana tana whaea ko te reo Māori kē te reo kaha o Tiana.
E ai ki a ia, "He tino pai, i te mea ka haere ake mātou ki ētahi o ana whakaharatau, ki reira whakarongo ai ki ngā tohutohu ki te reo Māori, ka mau te wehi."
Ka tū ngā tauwhāinga Māori o te motu tuatahi mō ngā tīma kei raro i te 10 ngā tau, kei raro hoki i te 13, ā te paunga o Hereturikōkā ki roto o Tainui, ki Hopuhopu.
E rua ngā nekehanga hou kua waihangatia e ngā kaiwhakangungu, he tākaro i takea mai i tētahi o ngā Arikinui o Tainui, i a Kīngi Tāwhiao, nānā nei tōna iwi i ārahi atu i te 1860 ki te 1894.
I muri o te whāia ōna i ngā pakanga whenua e ngā hōia o Ingarangi, ki ngā whenua e kīia ana ko King Country, ka kī ake a Tāwhiao: "Māku anō e hanga tōku nei whare." Arā, māku tonu e tohu te huarahi mōku, haere ake nei.
Mō te tīma o Tiana, ki te karangahia te kupu "whare", kua whakakotahi rātou me he whare te hanga.
Ko te kupu "poupou", he whakahau kia tū rātou me he poupou e rua e anga ana ki te hoariri.
Hei tā Matua Rangihaeta, "E titoa ana e mātou tā mātou ake hāka mō tēnei."
"Ka hoki mai ki a rātou, arā, mā rātou tonu e tohu ngā huarahi ka whāia e rātou.
"Ko te rīki te waka i tō mai i a rātou, kua tōia mai anō hoki ko te reo me ētahi o ngā tikanga."
Translation by Te Taura Whiri o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Commission.
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