Tuesday 2 August 2022

On Tuesday last week eight boys (James, Zach, Trae, Leo, Turoa, Seth, Sonny-Bill, Jack) set off to learn mau rākau at John Paul II High School. We stopped in Arthurs Pass for a snowball fight before continuing towards Greymouth. We arrived at the High School ten minutes late and were put straight to work learning a haka, Utaina. After that we were let outside to let off some steam before going back in to learn how to fight with taiaha. Matua Jerry who was teaching us started with the basics. We thought about an imaginary box around our feet to learn the foot movement around the four corners of the box. We then moved onto learning the movements with the taiaha. We started off with basic moves and where to hold it and the moves of the taiaha. Then we went next door to learn some waiata with the wahine, before lunch was served. Lunch consisted of dominos pizza, sandwiches and savouries. Then it was back to the taiaha were we were taught how to properly fight with them using the basic moves that they had taught us at the start. At the end of the day I think all of the boys, including me, went away with a new skill. On behalf of the boys I would like to thank Mrs Blakemore for driving five hours to take us there and back.

James Cathcart