A group of rangatahi from the north are jetting off to Asia next month for a week of rugby and cultural exchanges.

Fourteen rugby league players who whakapapa to Hokianga will be spending time in China and Japan experiencing the local culture, playing flag football and engaging in cultural exchanges with their school hosts.

Kaiwhakahaere Kath Wharton (Te Hikutū, Te Māhurehure, Ngāti Tahu, Ngāti Whaoa) said the trip was about giving the girls more exposure and world experience.

“For our tamariki and our rangatahi in the north, sports is always at the forefront and we forget about our superpower and our taha Māori and how unique that is because we live and breathe it, we forget the uniqueness of it.”

She said they wee still working on their bracket to ensure they were able to reciprocate and show kindness to their school hosts.

“Our girls will ensure that they are ready to mihi our hosts and our guests, that we have protocol, that we have a poi we would like to teach during our cultural exchange.”

While overseas, the group will have ample opportunities to network and connect with others to strengthen their entrepreneurial leadership, Wharton said.

“So that’s what I’m hoping is we get together and have a really great time and they get to fill their kete with a whole lot of mātauranga they wouldn’t normally get.”

Cultural exchange

Kaitākaro Zaria Murray (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Hine) said one of the biggest challenges the team has been facing in preparation for the trip is the lack of numbers at practices.

“Coming from Hokianga, we’re really spread out. We all whakapapa, back to the Hokianga but a lot of us are coming from Auckland and Whangarei.

“The distance between us has been a big challenge, getting us all together even today not too many numbers.”

She said she was excited about the trip and eager to play rugby and immerse herself in the new cultures.

“We all played for Hokianga under 17 kotiro and the Aotearoa New Zealand Māori tournament. So we’re all league girls coming to give sevens a go. So hopefully it goes well for us.

“I’m pretty excited. Japan and China, are quite culturally dense places and so that would be cool to take to te ao Māori over there and exchange cultures with them.”

The group will be travelling to China and Japan from November 12-21.