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Rugby, Reading and the RWC

Malo e lelei everyone and happy uike kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga (Tongan language week)! This week I thought I would write about my favourite current Tongan sportsperson. Not Steven Adams, though he’s pretty amazing. Not Manu Vatuvei, but much respect for Manu. My favourite Tongan sportsperson is Bill Fukofuka, a former Tangaroa College student…

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Cook Islander for Life!

It’s Kuki Airani (Cook Island) Language Week and to celebrate I’m going to share some stories with you from my book Cook Islands Heroes. To start our week, have you heard about the awesome conservation work of former Cook Islands and Kiwi rugby league player, Kevin Iro? Kevin played for the Warriors and Manly in…

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Recognising Australia’s Indigenous People

This week the NRL celebrates Indigenous Round, paying tribute to Australia’s Indigenous people. Rugby league is doing a lot to promote positive cultural relations in Australia. This year six indigenous Australians started in the Australian league team that played the Kiwis. That was a record for an Australian sports team. This is one aspect of…

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Always Be Brave

It was inspiring attending the Schools Trash to Fashion show at Mangere Arts Centre last week. The creativity of the designers was amazing. Better still is the thought that materials thought of as ‘junk’ and valueless could be transformed and reused as wonderful pieces of art. There’s a future thought about how we sometimes regard…

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Worn Stories

I recently read an interesting book called Worn Stories by Emily Spivack. The idea of the book is that most of us own at least one piece of clothing that has an interesting story connected to it. That got me thinking about the stories/symbolism that are told in the design of many of today’s sporting…

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Tell me where the reading’s at!

Check out this video by students and teachers at Arataki School in Mt Maunganui. It’s a re-make of Savage’s song “Freaks” to promote reading. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wX9o-YDaDY&feature=youtu.be Here’s what Savage said about the idea: “Received a request from a teacher from Arataki School for permission to do their own version of “Freaks” to promote reading within the…

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Mayhem & Miracles

It’s NZ Music Month and X Factor grand final time so this week I want to honour a Samoan hero who has achieved international success and broke a ceiling for Pacific hiphop. The artist? Demetrius Savelio, better known as Savage. What I love the most about Savage’s story is how he overcame a tough beginning…

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Living passionately

Samoan hero Troy Polamalu retired from the NFL this week. I love what he said in an interview in 2010. Reporter: “You play the game so violently, are you a violent person off the field too? Do you like violence?” Troy : “No, I don’t like violence and I don’t like hitting the other players…