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A group of three parents who wanted to give local children a chance to take part in a big Pasifika league tournament took the initiative and started a team themselves.
Jamie and Carlos Baker and Cam Tupaea are managers and coaches, as well as parents, of players in the Hibiscus Coast Raiders Club.
Jamie says the Auckland Mini-Mods Pasifika Rugby League tournament is an awesome opportunity for kids of Māori, Samoa, Niue, Cook Island and Tongan descent to represent their culture, while playing the game they love.
“Until now it was unheard of for teams/managers/coaches of teams in this tournament to be from this side of the bridge, especially this far up the coast,” she says. “Our kids usually have to travel to West Auckland or even as far as South Auckland for training just to be part of a team representing their culture. This year we took it into our own hands to provide the opportunity for our Coastie kids to be part of a team without the unnecessary travel.”
After a successful muster in June, the Moas U9 Māori team was formed. It includes three Hibiscus Coast players, with the rest coming from West Auckland.
Jamie is managing the team, while Carlos and Cam are coaching.
We have been working hard for the past few weeks, using the Raiders fields in Stanmore Bay as our meeting/training point and it has been great keeping it local.”
The team’s first tournament kicks off this weekend, on August 31 in Manurewa. This will be a Māori gala day where the Moas will go up against two other Māori teams.
Next month, they will take on teams from the other Pasifika nations.
“We’ve started out small, but hope that over the years our team of Coastie kids progress and the hard mahi we are putting into it this year is seen, heard and draws in more kids and even more willing coaches and managers,” Jamie says.
