Before the glory of the Olympics grabbed everyone’s attention, a Motueka athlete was already shining brightly at a different tournament, heading home with a silver medal around her neck.
Emma Paaka attended the Touch World Championships in Nottingham, England, from 15 to 21 July. The New Zealand contingent took over 11 teams, and Emma competed in the New Zealand women’s 40s. It was the biggest Touch World Cup yet, with 39 nations, 13 divisions and 1100 games all played across the week. It was also the first time that the world cup has included a women’s 40s grade.
“It feels good to know we are paving the way for future wahine and showing that you don’t have to give up your dream because of age or motherhood,” the mum-of-four says.
The New Zealanders, including their management and team physiotherapists, were put up at the Nottingham University campus, along with many of the other nations’ teams.
Emma says that there was plenty of crossover at the gymnasium, pools, café and sports fields.
“The vibe on campus was awesome, although it didn’t take long to get sick of the standard ‘uni fare’”, she laughs.
Emma says that they knew Australia would be the toughest team, but home-team England took everyone by surprise with their preparation and determination, and they came out firing. Emma’s team went into the semi-finals in fourth place, and she says that this match was “their game of the tournament.
“Everything clicked for us on the field and the extra training and game planning we’d put in the night before really paid off.” They stymied England, taking the win 4:2, leaving Emma buzzing because “that’s when it hit home that we were in the hunt for the gold”.
However, gold was not to be. Their final, against tough rivals Australia, took place at 8am, and Emma says that everyone’s nerves were in check, and they were “there to do the mahi”. They played a fierce defensive game, but Australia snuck through two touchdowns in the last five minutes, so the game finished 4:1.
Emma says the whole campaign was a rollercoaster of emotions, with tears shed in pride, nerves, disappointment and elation. One moment there were no tears, however, was after that hard-fought final.
“I was actually grinning from ear-to-ear, pinching myself that I’d just played in a World Cup final,” she says. “And not only that - my body held up!”
After all, playing touch at the highest level requires a robust body and two strong legs, and at the start of the year, Emma was not ticking all of those boxes. A niggly back injury indicated a bulged disk, compressing a nerve and causing a dead leg. She was told it was an injury that generally takes about a year to heal, but she says that missing the world cup was not an option.
Her determination and steady build-up worked. There were more hurdles to overcome – as an amateur sport, there was $15,000 to be raised to cover costs, and her whole family came down with the flu in the month before she left. Despite the balancing act, her job as a Zumba instructor meant that her cardio fitness remained high.
“The build-up was a lot of hard work, but worth every minute,” she says.
She is hugely thankful to the community, which she says “made her dream a reality”. She has a huge list of people to thank, including Phil and Jane Harris from World Travllers Motueka, Motuek’as RSA, the local F45 branches, the Alive Church community and the Motueka Recreation Centre, who all played a major role in getting her match-fit and on the plane to Nottingham.
“I am so so so grateful to our community for their support. Even knowing they were watching our livestream games from home and cheering us on made a big difference!”
