Touch guru elevates daughter for national tilt

The pressure is on former Touch Black, Weesang Paaka, in Auckland. He is coaching the Tasman U21 mixed team at the touch nationals as Nelson tries to continue its unbeaten run across the grades.

The Tasman U16 and U18 mixed sides claimed national titles earlier this month, the open mixed team is looking for a three-peat and then there’s Weeslang’s U21.

His best players get snapped up for the open outfit so he’s elevating some of the young national champions, including his 15-year-old daughter Kaiva.

“Dad coached me when I was very young. He gets the words to me. Gives me the hard instructions,” reveals Kaiva.

“I originally didn’t want to play mixed at all. It is a big jump to U21.”
Kaiva is being joined Motueka High School’s U18 stars Tia Graham-Wineera and Tayla Richards.

“I will be pretty disappointed if we don’t make the top four at the nationals,” declares Weeslang  even though the Parklands school teacher’s role is to develop players for the open ranks.

His former Canterbury teammate Wayne Anderson has even higher hopes for his open side which has claimed the national crown the past two years.

Even though his star player Ben Anderson, his son, is unavailable because he is in France working in the ski industry.

“Ben has been massive for us, but it is still a very good team and we should definitely be in the top two in Auckland,” says Wayne.

Fortunately, touch is very flexible when it comes to eligibility so players can return to Nelson to bolster the side.

“Mixed touch is Nelson’s strength. We don’t have enough elite players to field top female teams but when they combine with the guys, we are very competitive, consistent and strong,” enthuses the Richmond accountant, who excels at crunching the numbers.

“Players just come back home and slot straight back in. The beauty of being a relatively small region is we all sort of play a similar style.” One that’s proved untouchable in the past two years.