7 minute read
For the love of the game- Akaiti Puna
"WHEN DID MY passion for netball begin? It started for me playing the ball when I was going to primary school in New Zealand. It carried on into Auckland Girls Grammar in the late 60s into the 70s. In those days, I was staying with my grandmother-- there was no money to do this, that or anything else. And of course, there was the netball uniform. Three box pleats, you had to have that uniform, specifically for etball! Didn't have the money to buy the uniform, so she sewed it from scratch. On a Friday night, I would iron it and put it underneath the bed mattress to strengthen the pleats. We played with big socks, those piripou parunu, or rompers as they were known. When it rained, the results were interesting! I played goal defence and every other position except centre, because I was so out of breath in that role, I never seemed to have enough air to play centre so I played both sides defence and attack, and came to know all the corners of the netball courts. By the time I came home I went straight to the netball courts and I played for Ngatangiia, where we lived at the time. I was a skinny little 15-year-old and ended up in the senior A team, playing women who were twice my height and many times my size- they were giants! I remember Emma Exham Puna. The Akanoa sisters Tarita and Mokare- they were fearsome, compared to my skinny frame. And man, they could move. Tall, big, they played for the opposition in the days when you had to be quick on your feet and get out of the way, so you didn't get squished! In those days, contact wasn't even a rule breaker! My memories of the court action in those days is filled with these giants of netball. Good, awesome players.
The golden journey begins for Netball- Akaiti (top right), with the late Hugh Henry on Chefde Mission duties for Team Cook Islands at the Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara, Solomon Islands, in 1981 for the Mini South Pacific Games.
IMAGE: CISNOC
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Tough women, brought up in the taro patch. The word finesse wasn’t even invented then. It was like 'boom! get out of my way'...so that was my introduction into Cook Islands netball. From there I went and played in the College team .. and stayed in Tupapa for a couple of years with my aunty Maara Karotaua. I played for the Tupapa club team along with Miera Tapaitau, Pare Maui and others. We won the cup that year, and our team photo ended up on display in the Tupapa meeting house. I think it may still be there! Of course, living right next to the netball court, I was there every day, every minute and every moment of netball time. In those days there were seasons for netball and nothing else, tennis and nothing else, bowls and nothing else. So, everybody had respect for each sport, everyone could take part, and it worked well. And then I stayed in Takuvaine, and the years of successful club play and passion for building netball standards came into it all, through support from the likes of Kopu Brown.. Mama Ngai Tupa, Aunty Kathy Koteka. I think it was a moment of serendipity when you look at how the code evolved.We were in the right place at the right time and were living right in the village. Your involvement in netball was total. You breathed, ate and did everything on the court. Being involved with Takuvaine was huge because we had very good players in those days. We were very lucky to have a village made up of a lot of pa enua and new arrivals so a bigger pot and mix of talent to choose from.
With the 'netball queens' ofthe Pacific in the heyday- Puna (far right), as Netball Cook Islands Manager with Coach Ani Piri.-
IMAGE:CISNOC
It helped to grow many of the rising stars that came through in netball for the Cooks. There was Louisa Nicholls, whose daughter Apii continues the family name in sport, in New Zealand. Raera Joseph Vano, Jocelyn Koteka, Ana Savage, Nga Kamana, and many more. How did I juggle motherhood with work and doing all the sports, especially on weekends? My kids grew up on the netball court. I took them everywhere with me. I was running around on the court and they got to hold the ball, throw it everywhere, run around with me. It became an unwritten and unspoken education for them, and their instincts became a strong part of their play. One of them (Siobhan) became a national rep and continues to play a big part in netball Cook Islands today. I transitioned from the court to admin and management coaching when I couldn’t play anymore. It wasn’t a difficult decision, it just got to a stage where I was on the same team as my children, and I wanted to drop through the grades really as a fill in player to help develop the rising talent, until I just felt my body wanted to walk off the court and stay off court. And I did just that.
This was during my time at Takuvaine that I started my curve away from playing and into the coaching, handling umpiring, sorting team selection and management work. By 1981 we were headed to the first South Pacific mini Games in the Solomon Islands. I went as manager. coach and was just the cheap option at the time because I was working with Air New Zealand and could sort my airfare. That was the time we made history and scored over 100 in our victory over Nauru. Those were the days when the Nauru team would come on to the court with their snacks in hand. During halftime they would pull out coke and chocolate as their recharge—that’s nowhere near the reality now. I was in my 30’s then, and at a stage in netball where I was very privileged to be working with one of the best coaches ever for this code, Ani Piri. I think our medal milestones and the way the game was dominating in village sports as the choice for our girls, just kept building momentum towards our image as the golden girls of Pacific netball. Another massive memory was being at the World Games in England in the same space as the New Zealand dream team of global Netball. These were the years for the Silver Ferns when Margret Matenga and Rita Fatialofa were household names in New Zealand, so to watch them play Australia was a big moment for us and part of our turning point of being number six in the world. The players in those days achieved that ranking, on next to no resources but lots of passion for wanting to play. The mix of different characters in the national squad just added up to create a great energy. I think of all the selection calls that were made, it was having Miss K and Rats Raela in the team which made me realise they were there for love of the game, and anything outside of that was their business.
Puna with Raela 'Rats' Vano- there for the love of the game.
IMAGE: Supplied
I resisted that double standard for women, that argument that the girls had to meet this and that sort of standard and so on. For me, you risk killing the passion for sport when you start focussing on that..We made the same call with Raela, bucking the trend for a player who was relatively unknown and didn’t look the slender part. I’ve never regretted supporting both Raera and Miss K- both strong minded and passionate players., in our national side, history showed what they could do.If there are any surprises, I guess it was the drop in profile and standards of what had been the national sport for our women and girls. It’s great to see the comeback netball made at the 2019 games in Samoa, but for that to continue I guess my only advice would be for players to play netball because they love it, because that love will get you past the struggle and moments of loss as a team. And that’s my second bit of advice, is knowing how to be that team player, for it will be the skill that makes you a winner in netball, and in life—ENDS
