Qualifying for world sprints 2022 in Aotearoa during a pandemic is the reality the J19 Men's Waka Ama team have been challenged with over the past few months as their New Zealand coach Paddy Harenga Rimene (Rangitāne, Kahungungu ki Wairarapa) explains.
“I got Covid and so I couldn’t attend the camp, which was more disruption and more unfortunate for me than it was for the boys - they were happy to be together. As a coach, you want to make sure they are guided the right way. [There was] a successful group of people who looked after them while I couldn’t be there. By all accounts it was a good weekend.”
He felt good on the third day and found the virus frustrating as it was determined solely on RAT test results, which continued to test positive.
But the challenges of Covid have reached further into this roopu and its whānau.
‘Shock to whānau’
In another case of contracting the virus, caring and managing whānau who have the virus, supporter and māmā Tessa Hepi-Ngarongo (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe, Tainui, Ngāti Rangi) shares her whakaaro.
“Jaksyn tested positive for mate korona and the rest of us didn’t in our household of five. It was bizarre, he had zero symptoms, but we did the isolation.”
Hepi-Ngarongo says that her son stumbled upon the positive test while learning how to use one, which was even more of a shock to their whānau.
Simply making the cut to qualify for the Aotearoa representative team and high-performance training has been a constant challenge during Covid times.
Top-ranked J19 V1 paddler Pharrel Grbic (Ngāpuhi) recalls his experience.
“My mum got Covid a couple of months back and I had to isolate as well. I couldn’t train and had to stay home and mentally that started playing a few mind games with me. Overall, it affected my wellbeing.”
Lockdowns, traffic lights, vax passes, mandates and restrictions continue to diminish now, allowing not only the youth but also the UK Worlds NZ Campaign of Athletes to find the exact balance to reach peak performance.
Matua Paddy's advice is to realise and know when to take a step back and when to push, as he wants all those paddlers and whānau within Aotearoa to look after themselves first.
“As long as they can realise that before it gets too far and they actually know when to take a step back and when to push. I hope you know - all our paddlers and whānau within Aotearoa - we because we only get one shot at this life. We’ve gotta be mindful of that.”