ANZ Premiership champions the Pulse netball team held a fundraiser this afternoon to help the rebuild of Tapu Te Ranga Marae in Wellington.
Teenage shooter Tiana Metuarau organised the coaching skills clinic at Kilbirnie's ASB Sports Centre after fire ravaged the marae she had developed an affinity with as a child.
She says she spent a lot of time at the marae as a student of Newtown School's Ngāti Kotahitanga Māori immersion unit. Metuarau says Tapu Te Ranga Marae, and especially "Matua Bruce" (Marae founder Bruce Stewart, QSM) helped her learn te reo Māori as well as tikanga and kaupapa Māori. Values she says the marae and the Pulse netball organisation have in common.
Hundreds of young netball fans turned out to meet their heroes and support the cause for Tapu Te Ranga marae. Photo/file
Metuarau's mother, former Silver Fern Waimarama Taumaunu has very strong memories of the marae, "largely around my children. Dropping them off, picking them up. On Sunday morning when we all woke up to the news that it had burned down there was shock in our household," she says.
By Sunday afternoon, however, Metuarau had begun planning a fundraiser, tapping into her netball networks.
Her first call was to her mother.
"She said, 'Mum if I do a fundraiser will you pay for a court for me?' and I said 'yes!'" Taumaunu says, "And then she said 'and can you do some coaching too?'"
Taumaunu says the pair were both thinking the coaching clinic fundraiser would involve "20 or 30 kids and one court- and me and her".
She then gave her fellow teenage shooter Aliyah Dunn a call. Dunn says after a bit of discussion the idea of 'Whakaputa te Kōtahitanga' came about.
On Thursday afternoon hundreds of young Wellington netball fans turned out and paid their gold coin donation and went through a series of skills sessions with members of the Pulse playing squad as well as the coaching staff, including head coach Yvette McClausland-Durie. The fans also lined up to get autographs of their local netball heroes.
Dunn recalls her memories of Tapu Te Ranga Marae. She stayed at the marae as a member of the Aotearoa Māori Schools netball team, where she also met Tiana Metuarau for the first time. The pair are now commonly referred to as the Pulse's 'Māori Council'. Dunn remembers the marae being a beautiful, big whare and is sad to think that it is now gone.
In addition to today's coaching clinic, the Pulse are also looking to auction some special items, including a signed playing uniform and Pulse and Silver Ferns merchandise in the near future.