Muia ana te papa o te marae o Te Koutu i Rotorua i ngā kaimamau mai i ngā hau e whā o Aotearoa kua tae mai mō te whakataetae mamau tuatahi hei whakamahara i a Hakaraia Wilson.
Nā Te Whare Mamau o Aotearoa te Whakataetae Whakamahara i a Hakaraia Wilson o Ngāti Whakaue ka tū, hei whakanui i te oranga me te mana o tētahi toa i hinga i a ia e taiohi tonu ana.
Ka hui mai te iwi whānui ki te tautoko i te kaupapa o te whakataetae nei, neke atu i te 130 ngā kaimamau ka tae atu ki runga i te papa mamau ki te marae ātea nei.
Ka whakapau kaha te pāpā o Hakaraia, a Paki Wilson nō Ngāti Whakaue, ki te tautoko i ngā mahi whakatū i tēnei whakataetae.
“Kua kī te ngākau i te hīkaka, i te koa, ā, kua tae te rangi, kua tae te rangi kia tutuki ai tātou i tērā āhuatanga, arā te huinga tuatahi o te whare mamau Aotearoa ki te Koutu nei,” hei tā Paki.
“Ka taea e tātou te kī he toa, e hia tāima kua whiwhi ia, kua tōia ki ngā Nations o Aotearoa, i peka ia ki tāwāhi, ki ngā panpacks, ki Melbourne, i toa ia ki ērā tournaments,” hei tāna anō.
Ko te whakataetae nei he wawata tawhito i waenganui i a Paki rāua ko tana tama. Ko te whakapūmautanga o tēnei hui, e waru tau te roa i kōrerohia ai, he tino whakatutukitanga i taua moemoeā.
I kī a Paki mō te kaupapa i mahia tahi e rāua: “koirā he kaupapa E kōrero ana māua ko taku tama mō ngā tau e hia e… e whitu e waru ki muri, ka tae mātou ki tēnei wā ki te whakatinanatanga i wērā hiahia, Ko tōna wairua anake kua tae mai.”
Grappling community remembers Hakaraia Wilson as an inspiration
Competitors and organisers at the inaugural Hakaraia Wilson Memorial Grappling Tournament at Te Koutu Marae paid tribute to the man whose legacy inspired the event. Hakaraia’s commitment and drive in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) left a lasting impression on his friends and teammates.
“Hakaraia was a big part of my life, my early days of Jiujitsu, you know, he was one of my first sparring partners and I always even though I was a few years older,” says Cossack Waaka, a fellow grappler.
“I always admired him and looked up to him as a young fellow, all his passion and his drive and his commitment and his discipline,” Waaka says.
“Like everyone goes out there to win but at the same time it’s all about the kaupapa and we’re jumping in for Hakaraia and yeah hopefully starting something good,” he says.
Chelsea Retemeyer of Te Whare Mamau o Aotearoa praised the collective effort to bring the memorial to life. “Just seeing all the people come together and help support this kaupapa’s been awesome,” she said.
“For our wahine it’s very empowering, you know, like being able to learn these skills and then also far tamariki you see them very in confidence and then the competition side that’s a whole different aspect, Just learning to compete and to put all those skills to the tests,” she says.
“He had a huge influence, especially at our club, we had lots of our members that looked up to him.”