Te Kūiti touch player Libby Kearins-Te Whare with the rangatahi player of the tournament trophy she won at the Māori Touch Nationals this month.
IF you run in the circles of teen touch rugby, you might’ve heard of a girl called Libby Kearins-Te Whare. The Te Kūiti teenager has dedicated a huge chunk of her time to the sport and is reaping the rewards. Recently she was named the rangatahi player of the tournament at the Māori Touch Nationals, held in Rotorua during the first weekend of December. “I didn’t believe it,” Libby said. She was delivered the news by phone and mum Bobbie Kearins said it was a massive surprise. “She was in shock.” After a huge weekend culminating in Libby’s team taking out the competition, with prizegiving still an hour away and a long trip with a few detours ahead of them, the family had already hit the road before they knew about the prize. Rugby was always likely to be in Libby’s future as the daughter of Te Kūiti icon Nano Te Whare. When asked why she started playing, her answer was simple: “because of my dad.” In her introduction to touch, she was playing in the U11 team at Waitete with and against boys. “We’ve had a lot of good coaches along the years and some great support with sometimes being the only female, but that never stopped her,” Bobbie said. “The coaches treated her like one of the boys.” The list of teams Libby plays for is long. She played for the Galaxy U16 girls in the Māori touch tournament, Waikato U16 girls touch, Hamilton Girls High School premier touch (which won the New Zealand Secondary School tournament), Waikato U16 girls rugby, Pacific Nations Rugby 15s, Hamilton Girls High School sevens, Hamilton Boys Hamilton Girls premier mixed ki-o-rahi (winners of the national competition) and junior ki-o-rahi (second place-getters at nationals). Libby’s older brother played alongside her in both of the ki-o-rahi teams and she rubs shoulders with some New Zealand women’s players in touch. Throw into the mix a bit of netball and basketball and Libby’s sporting life keeps her out of the house from about 5am until 8pm. On top of all that, her mum said Libby managed to keep good grades at school and was acknowledged with an academic award this year. Although she is now home for the Christmas break, Libby is keeping up her training schedule. Every day she has a workout task scheduled, with the exception of Monday this week being a rest day, which she had to complete and sign off. On Christmas Day, she will film herself completing her training and send it to her coach. Libby said she didn’t feel as though she was missing out on any socialising because of her busy schedule – she boards at Hamilton Girls High School during the week and many of her teammates are her friends. In a way, she was getting more time with her friends, including during trips away to tournaments, than many teens, Bobbie said. The Kearins-Te Whare family is gearing up to travel to Christchurch next year for the national youth touch championship, which Bobbie said they would have been unlikely to do if they didn’t have sport as an incentive. Libby said she thought her life would be boring without an itinerary jam-packed full of sport, and she simply loved the game. This was an exciting time to be playing women’s rugby, Bobbie said. “The girls sports has come full circle with support for women’s rugby and sevens. “It was so hard to find teams a few years ago and now they’re having to trial.” New Zealand women paving the way in the rugby sphere have been an inspiration for Libby, particularly Stacey Fluhler. With aspirations of becoming a Touch Black, a Black Fern and a physiotherapist, the game played with fast feet and an oval ball is likely to be part of her life for a long time yet.
