Over the past few years, Rutherford has made a name for itself with the West Auckland primary schools for its Ki-o-Rahi tournament, including winning the Sport New Zealand Initiative award in 2019.

On Wednesday, 14 October, Rutherford hosted the primary schools to the Ki- o- Rahi tournament. The tournament consisted of teams from Tirimoana, Rutherford, Flanshaw, Peninsula and Freyberg Primary schools. This year we extended our invitation out to also include the local intermediate schools with Te Atatu and Rangeview attending.

Ki-o-Rahi, being a new sport to most of the primary school students, the Mahi-ā-Toi students facilitated Ki-o-Rahi coaching sessions open to Year 5 and 6 students. The sessions included students teaching the participants the history and narrative of the game, how to play and a few helpful strategies. They conducted themselves professionally and were confident in their delivery of Ki-o- Rahi to our CoL schools

The beginning of the day started with a Powhiri from our Mahi-ā-Toi students, followed by a spine chilling Haka from the Rangeview Intermediate students.

Our Mahi-ā-Toi students stepped up and took charge of hosting this tournament. The students were involved with the setup of the pitches, score sheets, announcements and umpiring. Without the help of these students, the day could not have happened let alone been the huge success that it was. A big thank you to all who participated and helped put this tournament together.

Building strong community links and focusing on local primary and intermediate schools establishes and improves relationships and ultimately aims for attrition of student numbers at Rutherford College in future years.

The event itself was incredible, the students of Mahi-ā-Toi were perfect ambassadors for Rutherford College and the Mahi -ā-Toi academy.

I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Jeff Ruha and his Mahi-ā-Toi students.