Sport

Stories

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  Futsal Brothers

  Phoenix midfielders Diego Walsh and Daniel Lins Côrtes grew up playing futsal in their native Brazil and have set up a school in Wellington to share their skills with local kids. FUTSAL has always been part of everyday life for Phoenix players Diego Walsh and… Continue

• A cyclist's jewel?

  Makara Peak is one of the best mountain bike tracks in the world, according to a travel website. But experienced biker Nick Kemp disagrees. Seattle born Nick Kemp has ridden mountain bike tracks on the west coast of America, Asia, Europe, and New Zealand,… Continue

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  The Sky is the limit

  Without the support of Wellington-based venture capital technology company No 8 Ventures, Kiwi jetpack inventor Glenn Martin wouldn’t have been able to afford to keep his machine in the country. When Inventor and engineer Glenn Martin was only four he “repaired”… Continue

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  Superleague superfan

  REGIONAL Superleague Finals competitor Olivia Dunn is a huge Silver Ferns fan. She goes to all their Wellington games, her favourite players are Temepara George and Grace Rasmussen, and she hopes to play for the team one day. So it was a dream come true when… Continue

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  Set to take on the world

  WADESTOWN student Kate McCaw is the only Wellingtonian competing at the Youth Olympic Games this month. The 17-year-old Samuel Marsden Collegiate School head prefect is one of 16 young New Zealanders chosen to join more than 3,600 athletes from around the globe… Continue

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  Return of the broken pitcher

  RISING softball star Zane Siolo has conquered the tournament that crippled him. Last year Zane ruptured three ligaments at the Men’s Friendship Tournament in Sydney, but this month he was dubbed the tournament’s Top Pitcher as the NZ Junior Black Sox took out… Continue

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  No pain, no gain: no brain

  WINTER is the season for aching bodies to play up. People are looking to get fit and beat the winter blues, but movement educator Elke Dunlop says many conceptions of how to “stay in shape” are based on faulty logic. “Actions and movements that leave the body… Continue

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  Stop, drop, and roller

  LOOK out for skimpily clad roller skating girls hitting the streets of Wellington. Rusty Stiletto and her team mates Kiri Te Karnage, and Rita Anguish will be promoting the Richter City Roller Derby’s first “bout”. A “bout” consists of two teams of five girls… Continue

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  Getting the pitch right

  SHE’s a school girl who can sing, run riot on the rugby pitch, and wants to go to France to get better at both. Sixteen year-old Fa’asua Makisi will perform in a Wellington concert alongside her opera-star uncle Ben Makisi, in a bid to raise $4,000 for a six-month… Continue

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  Local cleats for Cake Tin carnage

  HOMEGROWN All Blacks are set to hustle the boks. The line up for this weekend’s tri-nations clash against South Africa will be named tomorrow morning in Wellington, July 14. Local heroes Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Cory Jane, and Piri Weepu, who helped dominate… Continue

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  Groms get rec’d

  SKATERS may have a love affair with concrete, but wet concrete gives them the flick. For the sanity of board enthusiasts in the winter, a new competition is being launched at Kilbirnie Recreation Centre. The first ever under 12 year-old Cheapskates Grom Skateboard… Continue

• Making Manuel changes

  SPORT Wellington’s Coach of the Month has taken up a leadership mantle in one of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. With his wife Yvonne, Naenae rugby coach John Manuel has set up a rugby academy to assist students – and there will be no swearing. Manuel has… Continue

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  Our Wellington Victor

  THE parents of Wellington rugby star Victor Vito are as proud as they come. “I don’t deserve to be his dad, that’s how good he is. He has made me proud ever since he was a kid,” says father Joe Vito. Last month, while the 23 year-old Victor was preparing for… Continue

• Booked for rugby

  TWO books on important past and present rugby legends are set for release. The Legend of Beau Baxter by Ivan Dunn hits the shelves on August 1, and is set in the 1920s. It follows a fictional “Flashman” Baxter as he plays for the Maoris and – after some questionable… Continue

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  Wrestling with make-up

  ANYONE who rings the National Bank call centre might be greeted by with Matthew Wilson, aka Max “the Axe” Damage. Last year Wilson became the NZ Kiwi Pro Wrestling champion on the TV show Off the Ropes, and will defend his title at Wellington High School in two… Continue

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  Bring your blanket

  IT’S 6.30am, and Brazilian supporters at new bar Estadio in The Temperance are far from sleepy. When I arrive, members of Wellington Batucada are already beating their drums (including Brazilian percussion guru Carlos Ferreira from Melbourne-based band MelSamba),… Continue

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  Smeltz like team spirit

  Capital Times’ roaming editor Dawn Tratt is in South Africa to watch the Football World Cup, and renew her acquaintance with the African lifestyle. She tells us about watching the Kiwis play. ALL WHITES fans pashed local women, danced on hay bales and got… Continue

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  Freezing water improves performance

  THE health impacts of winter swimming extend to the bedroom. “It’s a great way to boost your chances, your fertility,” says Freyberg Beach mid-winter swim co-organiser Lindy Young. Young knows because she works at a fertility company. She says a technique recommended… Continue

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  A pitching phenomenon

  FOR a 16 year-old softball star, being confined to a wheelchair is tough going. In July last year Island Bay resident Zane Siolo was devastated to be struck down in the middle of a fantastic run of representative play. While playing in Sydney, he ruptured three… Continue

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  Blade Control

  LAST year Raynia Pikari-Kaiwai couldn’t fly a radio controlled helicopter, but now he flips his upside down and “mows the lawn” with it. A year ago, the man known as Ray or Raynman to his mates went to a Fun Fly at the Wellington Model Aeroplane Club based in… Continue

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  Futsal takes flight

  THIS is the beautiful game. It’s Wednesday night and the game between Capital City Futsal and a Brazilian select side is nearing half time. The Brazilians are drifting like phantoms across the indoor court, fully immersed in a game they have played since childhood.… Continue

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  Wellington through the oarsman’s lens

  THE capital’s first rowing crews raced in pink and white. This year the Wellington Rowing Club revived the traditional racing colours to celebrate its 125th anniversary, and is launching a limited edition book on its history this weekend. Club member Michael… Continue

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  Representing Wellington

  EMMA WEENINK is the only Wellingtonian to make the New Zealand Secondary Schools netball team, most are from Auckland and the rest from all over the country. “I was so happy,” says Weenink, who received the good news last week amid a flurry of congratulatory… Continue

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  A big hit

  WANNABE Black Cap Michael Pollard doesn’t know why he likes cricket, and he can’t remember when he started playing. He is a typical sportsman with very little to say, but his performance and achievements on the field speak volumes. The 20 year old has received… Continue

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  Save the Sevens

  FORMER All Black Christian Cullen and Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson have joined a campaign to keep the Rugby Sevens in Wellington. Save the Wellington Sevens was set up by Mount Victoria resident, Sevens-fanatic and Media 5 owner Graham Bloxham, after… Continue

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  Coombe rider

  ATHLETE Nadia Coombe enjoyed a “Screaming O” last week despite falling off her bike three times. The race, in Wainuiomata is one of many that keep the mountain biker fit and bruised. Just the way she likes it. The triathlete, second dan black belt in karate,… Continue

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  Fire and water

  CHESTER Burt comes from a long line of funeral directors. But he was “too out there” to follow in the family business – a tradition kept by his grandfather, father, and step brother – and instead became a firefighter. “I am Chester Burt IV or mark 4 in the family… Continue

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  Holland backs UK and All Whites

  FOOTBALL fanatic Matt Holland has been to every FIFA World Cup since 1998. The English-born Tuscan Raider (Fidel’s Café team), sometimes-Miramar Ranger, and five-a-side Nations United team player has tickets to all the English games in South Africa, and hopes… Continue

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  Gold Smiths?

  SPEED equals danger when powerboating. Wellington’s Kelly Smith and dad Grant feared for their lives when their Rayglass superboat flipped at speed. “We hit a rogue wave and did 180 degrees,” says Kelly Smith. “My hatch wouldn’t open. I was petrified. We were… Continue

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  Mountain Kate

  TRIATHLETE and mountain running champion Kate McIlroy was fast asleep when Capital Times called to talk about her chances of winning the New Zealand Cup Championship and Oceania Championship titles in Wellington this weekend. Training at high altitude is really… Continue

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  Horsey handstands

  IT’S hard enough executing a neat handstand or cartwheel on terra firma let alone on horseback. The Kapiti Equestrian and Vaulting Club will demonstrate the art of performing tricks on trotting or cantering horses at Waitangi Park this weekend, and the club’s… Continue

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  Life is a skate park

  Go out to Waitangi Park on a sunny day in the weekend, and you will hear the swish of wheels rolling on concrete, crack of wood hitting the ground, and the occasional grunt of pain. Mostly though, you will hear cheers of triumph. Skateboarding is more than just… Continue

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  Cooper trooper

  In the lead up to the Hurricanes’ second home game of the Super 14, coach Colin Cooper comments on the irony of captain Andrew Hore playing hooker, and the likelihood Wellington will win the competition. COLIN Cooper is cool as a cucumber. Fresh off the field… Continue

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  Go West

  PHOENIX FC and the Hurricanes have much in common. Not only are they our regional sports teams – in soccer and rugby – sharing the Westpac Stadium as their home turf, but both will face-off against Perth at the stadium this weekend. The Hurricanes play their… Continue

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  Wellington warrior

  Charlie Gubb has had a happy time growing up in Wellington, playing rugby at Wellington College and league for the University Hunters. Now he’s spreading his wings. NINETEEN year old Charlie Gubb had a big decision to make before Christmas. The New Zealand… Continue

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  Wheel love

  LOVEBIRDS Verity Carroll and Ingo Schommer will celebrate their second anniversary this Valentine’s Day, on wheels. The capital couple started going out on February 14, 2008, and plan to spend part of their anniversary at the Frocks on Bikes – Love to Roll event… Continue

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  Sailors at the Sevens

  THREE Wellington City Council employees are swapping their day attire for “flirty” sailor uniforms at the much-anticipated Rugby Sevens. Anita Denzel, Jodi Turton and Hanna Stephen came across five sailor-girl outfits on Trademe, and decided they would be the… Continue

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  Going Public

  SPORTS CAFÉ is dropping the sports and going Public. Gina and Nick Mills of Chicago Sports Café fame purchased the bar on Courtenay Place from defunct owners CEA Trading in July, with the intention of giving it a makeover. The new restaurant/bar is named Public,… Continue

• What the hell is futsal?

  PELE learned his skills from it. Ronaldo says it is the game he loves the most. But it’s not football, it’s futsal. Brazil’s most successful sporting export (after Pele and Ronaldo), futsal is five-a-side version of the round ball game (the only FIFA approved… Continue

• Phoenix ready to fire

  WELLINGTON College boy Tim Brown has captained the New Zealand All Whites, earned his stripes in the competitive American college league, and played professionally for the Newcastle Jets football team. Now he faces a new challenge as vice captain of the Phoenix… Continue

Columns

• French footy fans

  THE French and passion have been inextricably linked in literature, politics, interpersonal relations, and sport for many years. Eric Cantona’s karate kick into the crowd while playing for Manchester United, Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt in the World Cup final, French… Continue

• Morons designed Dunedin white elephant

  “WHAT?” thundered Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin.  “We’re spending $200 ****ing million to build a concrete box with a ****ing plastic roof and nothing else?” “The grass.  We’re paying for grass.  We’ll have grass…” said Dunedin Venues Management Ltd… Continue

• It’s just not cricket

  NICE to see cricket boss Justin Vaughan and soccer boss Michael Glading reaching out across the sporting divide to condemn the “drinking behaviour” of New Zealanders at sporting events. Of course, I’m kidding. These two wowsers have put the hype back in hypocrite… Continue

• By the throat

  IN keeping with all the other enactments being, well, enacted for some big sporting event in September next year, New Zealand-born press photographer Scott Barbour has given the sporting powers-that-be a golden opportunity. According to sources close to the aforementioned… Continue

• Don't bet on it

  ONE from the “Nanny Knows Best” file…or perhaps the “Ban Everything In The Hope Of Creating A Mindless Utopia” file comes this little gem: “The National Rugby League is under investigation after repeatedly advertising an Australian gambling game on the Warriors’… Continue

• Vying for Paul the Octopus

  WHILE it might appear the All Blacks have got their collective mojo together for the Rugby World Cup (although like a certain Lower Hutt barrister, I’m still planning on dragging out the rosary beads come next year), there are disturbing developments elsewhere.… Continue

• Not too genius

  A bid by Auckland Mayor John Banks for the 2020 Olympics will be funded by a one-off payment of $28,571.67 for every man, woman, and child in the Auckland region, some genius announced today. “Of course we can’t ask people to put up this money without some kind… Continue

• Sport rules

  SOME of my best friends are accountants.  OK, so I have some friends who are accountants, but they’re not my best friends.  OK, so they’re more like acquaintances. As the old joke goes, accountants in general are renowned for using their personality… Continue

• Pushed to the limit

  IT was interesting to read of Sir Peter Snell’s heart issues at the weekend.  I remember reading an article years ago about the effects of high intensity activity on the body. Essentially, it stated that some people were putting themselves at risk by continuously… Continue

• Cruel jokes

  Sport is cruel.  One only had to witness the flood of jokes hitting the interweb thingy after England’s World Cup football match with the USA. Before the game, the jokes were all aimed at the Americans  (“Tim Howard, the American keeper, better watch… Continue

• Love eggs and football

  I should note that I stole the following, holus-bolus, from an eminent English newspaper. Mainly because I couldn’t put it better myself. The England Scoregasm. Where to begin with this wildly uncalled-for sex aid? Perhaps with the blurb, which informs us:… Continue

• Sport workaholics

  ONE of my rugby players came up to me on Saturday and said that he had seen me helping organize another sporting event on Friday night and wondered if I ever slept. “What do you mean?” I asked, having got a decent night’s kip all last week. “Well, you had a hockey… Continue

• Pretty damn inane

  I’VE been trying to think of something to teach the students I bore senseless once a week and had decided for ease of presentation it was time to have a look at social media.  Being a regular facebooker, an irregular tweeter (@paddylewis) and a blogger (amongst… Continue

• Not because of Ma’a Nonu

  AFTER the furore over Ma’a Nonu saying phark seven times on the wireless, I was surprised that while he was blamed for being vocabularily-challenged, no-one asked why the idiot holding the microphone or the bigger idiot in the production studio didn’t hit the kill… Continue

• Don’t forget Mother’s Day

  I studiously avoided all sport last week, thanks to lots of work and no desire to watch overpaid glamour boys give the sportswriters of New Zealand more doom and gloom to write about. I avoided the netball too (no comment on why as I don’t think the editor needs… Continue

• Don't mention the sponsor

  I AM currently grappling with the small matter of a provincial sports teams’ $450,000 budget being put at risk through a silly policy, which directly affects my principles. My dear wife, bless her, put up with my last matter of principle (walking away from a well-paid… Continue

• Give it a break

  I laughed myself silly last week reading about the furore surrounding the women’s World Tour surfing event this week in Taranaki.   For those who came in late, Taranaki surfers are upset that the top 17 female surfers in the world are surfing their local… Continue

• Southland’s champagne product

  FIRSTLY, some figures.   The Los Angeles Lakers spend NZ$158 million on player salaries per year.  Each NRL team is allowed to spend NZ$5.3 million on players.  Anecdotally, the lowest salary bill in the Air New Zealand Cup is $800,000 (take a bow,… Continue

• I can't cheat

  LAST week, a correspondent wrote in relation to a previous column “Is Paddy saying he would have owned up to cheating? He’s either very noble or very naive.” The letter itself seemed eminently fair and reasonable, but as I pondered that question, I realised I… Continue

• $300,000 for a media officer

  FANTASTIC news last week!   I qualified for the World Towel Butt Flicking Championships after fighting off my wife and two kids in a battle to the death in our hallway. I immediately rang parliament and asked to speak to John Key’s office about my $300,000… Continue

• The handball goal

  I’M not sure why Ricki Herbert and the Phoenix got so upset after Chris Payne’s handball goal last Saturday.   Everyone knows you can’t trust Australians to do the right thing, and the Aussies are known for omitting the phrase “fair play” in favour of “whatever… Continue

• On sportsmanship

  I saw the most bizarre penalty incident on the BBC website last weekend.  Welsh Scarlets lock Lou Reed, playing against Ulster, ran at an opposition winger yelling “Arrrrghhhh!!!!” to try and put the winger off a clearing kick. Reed was never going to get… Continue

• Drooling dictators who refuse to die

  WE were awarded the Rugby World Cup in November 2005. Last week, Auckland mayors finally decided that the $97 million wharf revamp to build (cough) “Party Central” and a cruise ship berth would not go ahead. It only took four years and the small matter of that… Continue

• Hurricanes management loses the plot

  I recall a certain CEO I worked for calling me into his office some years ago.   He had received a letter accusing me of being a two-timing scoundrel. It’s true.  At the time I was.  I was going through my “avant-garde raconteur man about town (i.e.… Continue

• Thanks for the N.H. Stadium debacle

  NICE to see the fruitbats who turn up at most world events to disrupt things didn’t let the side down during the first couple of days of the Vancouver winter Olympics. The Olympic Resistance Network smashed a few windows, had a couple of marches, and so on. … Continue

• Sevens supporters and more

  IN this last of the latest series, let’s have a jolly good look at supporters. Supporters aren’t easily classified as players and administrators are, but usually fall into one of several general camps – looney good, looney bad, long-suffering (come on in, Otago… Continue

• Average club Joe

  AFTER the furore last week’s column created amongst all the sports administrators I have to deal with, I thought I’d take my death wish further and look at the various types of player and/or athlete your average club Joe has to deal with.   Luckily most of… Continue

• I hate meetings

  I desperately wanted to write a rude word at the beginning of this column.   Despite my former journalism colleagues deciding years ago my epitaph would be “I Can’t Imagine Life Without Stress”, it got to me last week. I hate meetings. Meetings are for people… Continue

• Dunedin Stadium fuzzies

  IN BETWEEN going outside and getting rained on, I’ve spent some of my break working on a new professional sports franchise, only to come to my déjà-vu conclusion that sport in New Zealand, were it a private sector business, would not exist. It’s only thanks to… Continue

• On good sports writing

  IT’S 20 years since I was discharged into the world of journalism and quickly discovered that a) sports reporters get double time (it was 20 years ago) and b) a press pass can get you into every possible thing you want to go and see. I used to enjoy covering events… Continue

• The old Year in Review time

  THE TIGER WOODS NAUGHTY BOY AWARD: Has to go to the NRL. Take your pick: Danny Wicks (Newcastle), drug dealing; Greg Inglis (Melbourne), beating up his girlfriend; Setaimata Sa (Roosters) assaulting a copper; Jake Friend (Roosters) range of booze-fuelled incidents;… Continue

• Air NZ Cup decision

  To: Paddy Lewis From: NZRFU media HQ Subject: Please Don’t Mr Lewis – We are aware that after today’s decision on the Air NZ Cup you are probably going to make up some sort of utterance about “flip flops” or “lack of leadership”. Can we suggest, in the spirit… Continue

• All Black dissent

  “GOOD news,” said the young intern as he stumbled in the door.   “The All Blacks’ win has rated 579 favourable mentions from the press, including Murray Deaker.” “That brainless oaf,” said the man at the head of the table, face in shadow, “At least he’s… Continue

• NZ racing

  FIRSTLY, a disclosure: I am, somewhat unwittingly, a shareholder in a harness racing breeding conflagration.   By that I mean that my expert wife and her expert brother burn money breeding and training supposedly brilliant nags in their spare time in the… Continue

• Camp All Blacks

  “I love doing normal things - movies, shopping, going out with friends, writing, reading, taking hot bubble baths - that’s a big one for relaxation. I also love to go to art and history museums.” “(I) also love fashion so it’s fantastic to be here in Milan for… Continue

• Football nation

  WHEN I was growing up, I wasn’t the most robust child.   After a couple of years of rugby, my father decided a year of raw meat, spinach and manual labour might be the answer while I took the season off. This was all rather perplexing to a seven year old,… Continue

• Problems in NZ football

  IT’S a fairly safe bet that New Zealand Football (formerly Soccer NZ) won’t be the subject of any case studies on successful sporting management. However, given their ability to produce pigs’ ears out of everything, they might be invited to present papers to a… Continue

Reviews

• Dolled up for the Sevens

  CANDY likes to show off her firm breasts. And her boyfriend, Dirk, is all for it. The plastic-fantastic Wellington couple have been wearing their revealing outfits in The Plumbing Store’s display window for the past week in the lead up to the Wellington Sevens.… Continue