The Tans-Tasman archery competition begins this week in Papakura. The event pits some of the best of New Zealand's under 20-year-old archers against their Australian counterparts.
A handful of talented young Māori, with their eyes locked on target, will be helping the New Zealand side win the title which Australia won in Victoria.
Eleven-year-old Akuhata Norman-Hewlett is amongst the youngest at the tournament and is only one of a handful of Māori archers representing New Zealand this week.
"It's pretty amazing because I never thought that Māori people will do archery. So I wanted to be the first to do archery, to represent New Zealand," he says.
While he isn't the first Māori to take up archery, the Ngāti Tūwharetoa youngster is amazed at the number of Māori doing the sport and enjoying success.
Norman-Hewlett won his division at the national tournament earlier this year in Auckland and backed that up with another win at the World Indoor Championships in Wellington.
He says, "It's pretty cool because I know that Māoris can do whatever. They don't just stand around and doing hakas. They can just go and do some sports as well."
Seventeen-year-old Tiana Rongokea also won her division at the world champs. She's also excited to see more Māori archers gaining national selection.
"There's usually not a lot Māori representation here because it's a small and unknown sport. But yeah, it's definitely cool because there's more diversity."
It's Rongokea's second time representing New Zealand at the Trans-Tasman tournament and she says preparation will be the key to her success. She has put in a lot of practice leading up to the tournament beginning tomorrow.
"A lot of mental prep, really. A lot of arrows down range, and just figuring out the form right and a lot of touch-ups on the bow too," she says.
There are two types of bow that will be in action during this week's competition, the 'recurve bow' and the 'compound bow'. Many of the competitors will be in the recurve section, while most of the Māori archers will be in the compound section.
Aside from the compound having more strings than the recurve bow, Rongokea says the difference is power.
"The force of the [compound] bow is generally a lot more powerful as well. And we shoot different distances and different targets for different bows," she says.
Norman-Hewlett, participating in his first Trans-Tasman tournament, is hoping to do his country proud.
"I'm hoping to achieve at least beating one Australian and making sure that my team's proud of me for representing New Zealand. And to hopefully make it up onto the podium, and show everybody how Māoris can make it up on the podium," he says.
The Trans-Tasman singles competition begins on Monday at Papakura's Bruce Pulman Park. Team events start on Wednesday, with the tournament wrapping up on Thursday afternoon.