Waimaria & Mynetta: The Sword of Honour

Tu Tangata, Issue 32, 1 October 1986, Page 66

Waimaria & Mynetta: The Sword of Honour

Waimaria Erueti is only into her third year as a fencer, yet this trim, sft Bin 17 year old Wellington Girls’ College seventh former has already made it to the top 10 of New Zealand women fencers.

I hasten to say that fencing in this article is not of that construction which surrounds a property. What I’m on about is the sport of fencing: the cut and thrust of sword parrying. Fencing is named from a French word which means the art of defence (in actual fact, erecting a fence is also a defensive measure). A lot of people would think it strange that there are Maori people excelling in such a diehard traditional European sport like fencing. But I’m told there is a relationship between the swish of the sword and the twirling of the Maori weapon, the hoeroa.

ventative medicine.” How did a girl who excelled at netball, basketball and softball get into fencing?

A hoeroa is a weapon made of the rib bone of a large animal or whale. It was used in a twirling fashion and flung at the legs of the retreating enemy. The connection between hoeroa throwing and sword fighting is in the intricate wrist and finger motions and the eyehand target co-ordination that is effected in both these forms of armed weaponry.

1985 was a tough year for the Eruetis of Wellington. Waimaria lost her only brother, Aaron, 11, and grandfather Robert Tuuta who both died of cancer. But 1985 was also the year of awakening for Waimaria and her younger sister Mynetta to their potential as rising stars of women’s fencing in New Zealand. Waimaria, or Ria as she is often called, was born in Christchurch and lived at Manapouri, Turangi, Atiamuri, Tokoroa, Mangakino and Taupo before arriving in Wellington some eight years ago. The shifting around was through the work commitments of her father, Gabriel Erueti.

Has all this moving about been a bit unsettling? Not so, says Ria. “It’s been educational. We’ve met lots of people. I actually feel I’ve lived too long in Wellington. But Wellington has been good for its variety of resources. It’s where I got involved in fencing. I can’t imagine many people have heard of fencing as a sport in some of the places I’ve lived."

Ria said as a first stage to becoming a sports physiologist she is going to do a BSc at Auckland University from next year.

Ria explained sports physiology is unlike physical education or physiotherapy.

“PE teaches people fitness and physiotherapy corrects ailments and injuries but physiology is about how to improve the body functions. It’s a form of pre-

“Three years ago a school friend asked me along to the Wellington Girls’ Fencing Club and things just developed out of the blue. It was the first individual sport I had played.

“Fencing presented a new challenge for me. It was different, it was individual you won or lost on your own merits. When you’re on the piste (competition mat), you’re on your own. I enjoy hitting my opponent and knowing at that particular moment I have dominated the situation.

“It’s also a great fitness sport. One really needs to train six days a week. It has helped that I had a fairly good fitness level from the start. I’m pretty co-ordinated through the other sporting activities I had pursued.”

Ria’s parents are Gabriel and Evelyn (nee Tuuta). Her mother is Chatham Islands-born. Her grandparents on her father’s side are Kaponga Erueti and Pare-Whakairo Ngatai and on her mother’s side Robert Tuuta and Heni Pomare. Her tribes are both Taranaki Te Atiawa and Ngati Ruanui.

I caught up with Ria at the New Zealand Secondary School Championships at Naenae College last August 30-31.

Ria had finished runner-up both in the foil and epee sections (to different opponents) and her 14 year old sister Mynetta came in a brilliant fourth for the foil title. Mynetta in fact lost only

4-5 to the eventual foil winner Kathy Allen of Christchurch. Both Eruetis were members of the Wellington team which won the team foil title at the champs.

As well, Ria clinched selection for the New Zealand under 20 team which tours Australia next January for one month and takes part in the Australian under 20 championships.

Last year she won the national under 20 epee title and was a foil semi-finalist but she was absent this year when the 1986 championships came round.

Ria gained promotion to the senior A-grade ranks only at the beginning of 1986. This followed her winning the Wellington B-grade foil title.

She is looking forward to competing at her first national senior championships which will be held in Auckland over the Labour Weekend. It will also mark the first occasion she will have

competed against all the top ranking Kiwi fencers. Her most outstanding achievement to date came last August when she competed in the McCrae Oceanic Foil Championships in Wellington and finished fifth among 40 women from Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and New Zealand.

“I did well but not as well as I had wanted to do. I fought terribly in my final bout. But coming fifth should help my rating for selection in the senior New Zealand team which is going to China next July-August.”

Between January and May of this year Ria trained in Paris for three months under New Zealand Olympians Martin and Kate Brill and she competed at the World Youth (under 20) Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany. She finished 60th in the women’s foil

amongst 72 competitors and ahead of the only other Kiwi competitor. In her five bouts, Ria lost four but scored hits in each of them and only missed proceeding to the second round by a mere three indicator points. Her parents and sister Mynetta travelled to Stuttgart to watch her in action and later the family holidayed around Europe for two months.

Whilst training in Paris, Ria competed at four tournaments with two of them being ranked world A-grade.

“I didn’t finish very high but I didn’t expect to as I am a total amateur and I was there for the experience. I learnt it takes a lot of training and hard work to be a top world fencer but it’s possible I can make the grade. Anyone can win no matter what country they come from. It’s hard work and experience that is needed. One must train overseas we don’t have the numbers, the incentive or the financial support here. I feel I’ve improved tremendously from my one overseas trip.”

Ria said her ambitions are to reach the top here and internationally. “My immediate goal is to compete at the 1988 world youth champs in Australia. I can’t afford to attend the 1987 youth champs in Brazil and in any case 1987 will be my first year at university.”

Personality-wise Ria is poles apart from her sister Mynetta, but the girls are closely-bonded and are developing a huge respect for each other as fencers. But as rivals there is no sisterly love whilst they are competing against each other. Mynetta had been fencing for only 16 months when I interviewed her but this 14 year old has made an impact greater than Ria at comparative stages. Mynetta has beaten Ria on one occasion in the foil so far, finished second in the Wellington novice foil championships, finished among the top 15 at the Oceanic champs in the foil and was a finalist at

the New Zealand secondary school champs.

Not unnaturally, Mynetta is turning her attention more towards the epee than the foil which is her sister’s favourite weapon.

“I enjoy winning and the rewards for me in fencing are good because the sport’s on a personal level,” said Mynetta.

Ria said she owes a lot to Lesley Calver, the former New Zealand champion.

“As my coach, Lesley has made me believe I have the ability to win. She has taken me from the start when I couldn’t hold a sword. The Brills have gone a step further in that they have made me realise I could compete at world level.”

Ria said to succeed in fencing it takes dedication, discipline, speed, quickness with hands and feet and plenty of endurance to maintain the speed over long periods.

Ria prefers the foil to the epee because she can more comfortably handle its limitations. Women do not compete with the sabre.

In the foil, the target to hit with the point of the weapon is the torso and back. With the epee, a heavier weapon, it is the whole body. In the sabre it is the waist upwards whilst the sides of the blade may also be used to score hits.

Travelling is of course a huge expense and it costs around SIOOO to be outfitted complete with swords. Weapons need to be replaced annually and it is important to be equipped with several of the weapons because of breakage and the preference of balance and flexibility of the blade.

“The ideal for me is to live in Europe all the year round for training and competition but the kind of money required is not made available to the top New Zealand fencers at present,” said Ria.

“The Brills and Dave Cocker live in Europe where they work for a living and fence when they can. It’s a step I might take in three years’ time after I complete my BSc. “So far, outside of my family fundraising, the only financial support I’ve received was SIOO from the Wellington Fencing Association.

“Fencing is very big in some countries particularly France, Germany, Italy, USSR, Hungary and China. In those countries fencing is what rugby is to New Zealand. The top fencers in Europe and China get a lot of financial support from Governments and sponsors. There are a lot of professional fencers. Kids in Europe start fencing at aged eight. “It makes me envious, but it doesn’t deter me in any way. For example Martin Brill came 14th in the epee at the Los Angeles Olympics. So we can make it over all these professionals.”