We are 18 days until the 2018 NZ Secondary Schools Ki o Rahi National Tournament and we've been fortunate enough to receive team profiles from some of our teams heading to Nationals from the Whanganui Region.

Here is our first profile from Cullinane College who finished 1st at the Whanganui Secondary Schools Regional Tournament - Thank you to Cullinane College and Whanganui Ki o Rahi for the profiles and especially to Dhinisti Patea. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou!

Cullinane College 2018 Whanganui Ki o Rahi Regionals

Cullinane College has enjoyed learning and developing our understanding of Ki o
Rahi. Like all other sports there is a lot of interest by our students for the game.
We have been playing Ki o Rahi at our kura for only five years and each year the
level of enthusiasm among students is growing. In particular the numbers this
year have been the largest with over 30 students registering for the regional
competition.

Since 2014 we have participated in the Whanganui regional competition and
have been fortunate to qualify for the nationals each year. This year will be our
third time attending the national competition.

Our rangatahi are interested in many sports, however I think that Ki-o-Rahi is
becoming quite popular with our Maori rangatahi because this is a traditional
sport that our ancestors played. It is also very similar to other sports our
rangatahi excel at with similar skill sets such as touch, rugby and softball and is
actually good for all of our rangatahi to be involved in despite the ability of each
player.

This year Cullinane has been fortunate to have the support of two of our local
Ki-o-Rahi exponents Justin Gush and Steven Aue. They offer their coaching and
knowledge of the game and are helping out our team in preparation for the
national competition. We are very grateful and appreciative of their support.
Nonoke styled Ki o Rahi is played in Whanganui and there has been previous
Cullinane students who have gone on to play for our Whanganui team a couple
of years ago.

Our Cullinane team goal for this year is to represent our kura and rohe with pride
at the Nationals and building a pathway for more people from our area to get
involved. We are all looking forward to this year’s competition to gain more
knowledge and enjoy the manaakitanga of Te Tairawhiti!

Teams heading to Nationals: Whanganui Region - Cullinane College