Māori Language Netball Tournament Has A Surge In Numbers

Despite the disruption COVID caused in 2020, Puni Reo Poitarawhiti has resumed and has had a surge of entries from schools throughout Auckland. The Māori language centred sporting event will this year bring over 740 students from 74 schools together to celebrate and advance the revitalisation of the Māori language. The event will take place at Netball Waitakere Netball Centre, Te Pai Park on Friday the 21st of May, 2021 in Henderson.

Puni Reo Poitarawhiti is an initiative that aims to advance the revitalisation of the Māori language. Puni reo is an innovative Māori language initiative that creates safe spaces to speak Māori centred on a specific event or purpose – in this case, netball.

This year a scoping research project led by Prof Jenny Lee-Morgan and Dr Jen Martin of Ngā Wai a te Tui Research Centre Unitec, also supports the Puni Reo Poitarawhiti event. Funded by Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, the research involved interviewing 28 people including a the rangatahi themselves. There were five consistency key themes that were reinforced by the students:

1. Ko te reo te kaupapa matua/te reo - Māori is the main event
2. Ko te reo kia ngahau - Having fun in te reo
3. Kia reo rumaki - The expectation is everyone speaks Māori
4. He wāhi reo Māori - Creating a safe Māori-only speaking zone, and
5. Mā tatou - These events are for everyone.

The initial findings provide some key considerations in relation to operationalising the shared Crown and Māori strategy - Te Whare o te Reo Mauri Ora.

As part of this kaupapa, TPK and MyReo Studios launched the first Māori language interactive sports app – Puni Reo Poitarawhiti, at Polyfest Festival in March of 2018. Since its conception Eruera Lee-Morgan (Senior Advisor, Te Puni Kōkiri) has partnered with community across Auckland to support the use of the app across whānau. In addition to netball players themselves, the app is designed to support officials, umpires, coaches as well the whānau on the side lines. As such, the app has become an important resource for all of those participating in the ‘Puni Reo Poitarawhiti’.

Netball Waitakere Manager, Tabitha Winter says, “We are excited to continue our Puni Reo Poitarawhiti tournament, a tournament that is now a permanent annual event in our netball calendar, and due to the increased number of teams, could extend to a 3-day tournament. Our overarching mission is to positively impact our community through excellence and enjoyment of netball. This tournament provides a wonderful opportunity to embrace Te Reo as an everyday aspect of our lives, an education tool, and an enjoyable means to connect our community”.

The Puni Reo Poitarawhiti tournamet is community led by Netball Waitakere and supported by Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Māori and Te Puni Kōkiri. The tournament will take place on Friday 21st of May at Te Pai Courts, Henderson, Tāmaki Makaurau. For more information about the tournament and the scoping research project please see contact details below.

© Scoop Media