Newly-appointed Northern Mystics captain Phoenix Karaka says learning te reo Māori has been the most challenging experience in her life.
“I was out of my comfort zone, I’d hadn’t been to school since I left. On my first day I was about to cry, that’s how uncomfortable I was,” says Karaka.
She attended summer school at Auckland's AUT Campus. The former Silver Fern says learning was a chance to overcome her biggest fear.
“I learnt a lot and just being vulnerable and having to learn another language was difficult for me. I enjoyed it, I was so passionate about it!"
Northern Mystics / Instagram
Karaka says te reo has been the key to understanding more about her culture. The in-form defender has started using reo Māori vocabulary in her everyday life.
“Even at training sometimes I’m counting in te reo Māori and I’m encouraging my girls to do it with me,” says Karaka.
This week, Karaka was named the captain of the Mystics.
Her reo Māori journey doesn’t end here- just like the season ahead, this just the beginning.