Think of golf, and what comes to mind? For 12-year-old Kobey Kingi, he had always assumed it was a sport for “old koros” – that is, until he picked up a club himself.
“It’s fun, we like going places for tournaments,” Kobey says. He’s got a powerful drive and a cheeky sense of humour, which is often on show on the golf course.
Kobey is one of a group of young golf stars coached by Ōpōtiki man Micky Huriwaka, a local teacher aide and diehard golf enthusiast.
Huriwaka has taught at Ōpōtiki Primary as a teacher aide for the last decade. Principal Tony Howe headhunted him from the local college.
“I'd asked him several times, and then I went and told him, ‘you're starting on Monday’,” Howe says.
“He’s one of the best employees we've ever been fortunate enough to pull into the school. He’s an amazing person.”
Micky Huriwaka grew up in a gang family but his nan set him on the path to helping others. (Source: Sunday)
Huriwaka grew up in a gang family and credits his nan, who raised him, for putting him on the right path.
“My uncles were the presidents of Black Power. Life revolved around drug, police busts and everything. Some of my cousins are still in it. It’s sad.
“I say there's always a saviour in somebody's life, and luckily mine’s been my grandmother. Nan taught me the right way.”
He describes himself as a “couch potato” as a young child, but then he discovered rugby as a teen. After one too many injuries, he picked up golf.
Within a single year he became what’s known as a scratch golfer – meaning he could regularly shoot par or below. It takes most people about five years to reach that level.
“Personally, I just felt good at something. I felt that I was great at something, especially in a short time space. A lot of people starting to say ‘hey, you're pretty mean’.”
Huriwaka began coaching his son Elijah as soon as he was old enough to hold a club, as well as his nieces and nephews. Soon, he started taking Ōpōtiki Primary students for training after school, and word spread around town.
“It's just meant to be our kids,” Howe says. “But I go past there. Oh, gee look there'll be a dozen kids from other schools. But [Micky] goes nah nah no, that's fine, that's fine. That's the way he operates.”
Un-stuffy vibe
The key attraction for students? A vibe that is decidedly un-stuffy. Each training session features hip hop and reggae being blasted across the Ōpōtiki Golf Course, lollies as treats and a dress code that favours basketball gear and Crocs.
“He doesn’t growl that much, he just tells [kids] what to do and helps them,” 12-year-old Tokyo says of Huriwaka.
“There’s always something to laugh about when you come up here,” student Maaui says.
“Like being cheeky about who hits the ball the closest, when you have a bad shot, making fun of the girls.”
Maaui and Kobey reckon they’d be spending their afternoons on Instagram or playing games on their phones if they weren’t playing golf three times a week.
“But that’s boring,” Maaui says.
The school pays for Huriwaka to do four hours coaching a week, but he does at least double that, plus away games and tournaments - hundreds of hours of work a year for free.
And his mahi is paying off. Ōpōtiki’s young golfers are smashing it at national competitions, getting top placings at the AIMS Games in Tauranga last year as well as at the Māori Nationals Golf Champs which were held in Wellington in January. Micky’s son Elijah, now 14, won the Rangatahi division.
Huriwaka says his measure of success is being able to take the kids to new parts of the country.
“Seeing them see another place - home will always be home, and yes, home is paradise, but I'm just trying to open their eyes.”
Huriwaka’s coaching has sparked a passion many of his students are hoping to pursue as fulltime careers, or at least as a lifetime hobby.
His top female players Tokyo and Precious say they’ll be playing “until we’re nans, until we’re in wheelchairs eh?”
Maaui says he wants to play golf professionally - the East Coast version of Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy.
“That’s my future career,” he says with a smile.
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