Kiorahi Tournament

On Friday the 4th of March, 10 super fit and excited triple C students were lucky enough to join 16 other teams and take part in the annual Waitaha Secondary Schools Kiorahi Tournament at Burnside High School.  It had been 2 years since we last entered a team so we were a little anxious but none the less excited to have the opportunity to participate in this traditional yet complicated Maori sports game.

Our final team was James Harrison (Captain), Anges Hooper, John Sorby, Jamerah Kauhou-Soli, Tegan Tapiata, Georgia Onekawa, Joseph Magon, Shaun Sorby, Tanya Ripley and Fatima Malama-Patea.

 After a karakia to begin the day, we played against Darfield College, Lincoln High School B and Mananui from Whanau Tahi.  

Lincoln B was close, but we unfortunately lost.  Next we played Mananui, a force to be reckoned with, with lots of Kiorahi experience and great taniwha shots.  We kept a tight game but with the added advantage of girls scoring double points, Mananui flew ahead leaving us with a second loss.  However, our spirits were very high as we had played so well as a team in this game and started thinking about strategies for our next game against Darfield, which we won.  

At the end of the day we came in at 9th place.  All of the students involved put in 100% effort and from the feedback thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the level of the game. We are already planning for the indoor Kiorahi Tournament which will be held at the CPIT in term 3.  Hopefully we will have more than one team representing us as I know lots of students really wanted to take part in this opportunity.  Another really positive outcome of this trip was that special mention was given to Joseph Magon from Toa Sports, the organisers of the events for his exceptional sportsmanship on the field.  Tau Ke!!