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January 15, 2024
Touch brings players and whānau close to start the new year
Waatea Team
Posted On January 15, 2024
The 36th Whakatāne Touch Tournament was held last weekend bringing teams from across the motu together to kick off a new season for one of New Zealand’s premier summer sports.
Open Womens 2024 Champions ‘Playin Up’ vice captain Ariia Tainui-McIntyre says teamwork and discipline were key to success in the tournament, with players maintaining a healthy diet and putting in effort on the field despite the holiday season.
“It is a hard one. There was a lot of discipline that comes with it. I’m quite lucky that I’m on the older end of the team. I don’t know if that’s lucky though. So I can rely, or I have trust in my rangatahi in the team that they’re gonna really stick to the kaupapa and make sure that they’re eating the broccolis and you know the kānga for us so I can enjoy, I don’t really eat kaimoana but, so I can enjoy the potato salad and a tuna pasta salads and all of that over the holidays but still pull it putting in the effort making sure that I’m out on the field or we’re all out on the field thriving and running hard for each other it is hard but if you want to win that’s what you got to do,” she says.
Ariia Tainui-McIntyre says if it’s not Whakatāne, provincial touch tournaments are the pinnacle of the local game so winning last weekend alongside her nieces, nephews and siblings is a tick on the touch bucket list.
Next year’s 37th Whakatāne Touch Tournament was announced to be held on the 10-11th of January 2025.
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