Meet the Team (Community Recreation Centre, Rotorua)

Bula Vinaka.

I have worked as a part of the Toi Ohomai team for just under 7 years, one year consisted of teaching English and 6 years in the Recreation centre. This career choice has brought many challenges ,the continuous learning and the constant evolution of the Rec centre are what I enjoy the most as well as the people (Staff and members) I have had the pleasure to meet and build friendships with in the past and present.

I migrated from the beautiful Islands of Fiji in 2000 My family moved to Rotorua which is the place I call my home away from home. I love living in Rotorua as it has a close knit community and it is very central to beaches, forests and lakes. Although majority of my time has been based in Rotorua, I have also lived and studied in Auckland and Hamilton.

My career background is made up of Teaching, Coaching, Hospitality, Tourism and currently Sports and Recreation. The main subject that I studied was Tourism Management, with a side of teaching, a dash of coaching and currently a touch up of Sports and Recreation. I feel this will be an ongoing area of learning which will help me to continuously grow and adapt with the constant evolution of the different forms of training, classes and nutrition. I mainly specialise in Olympic lifting which I must admit I coach more then I train. So one of my main goals this year is to base more of my training sessions around Olympic lifting.

Something interesting I have experienced is having the privilege to coach a few NZ  athletes and teams, this included working as the strength and conditioning coach for the New Zealand under 23 men’s and women’s rafting team for two years.

I am very passionate about sports and Recreation and the social aspect that comes with team sports, sports have included Rugby, 7s, Volleyball, touch rugby and Indoor netball to name a few. I also enjoy exploring the outdoors and love hiking the different tracks New Zealand has to offer.

What I enjoy about working at the Recreation centre is the whanau environment that has been built over the years which is then passed on to our current and past members.

The feeling of seeing clients achieve their goals, enjoy their training and watching the journey’s from when they first step into the gym to when they end their experience at the Recreation Centre.

I am a firm believer in working together as a collective to achieving outcomes as a whole which goes back to the saying.

He aha te mea nui o te ao
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.

I spent several years figuring out what or where I wanted to be in life. From working in night clubs, burger king, saw mills and youth work to climbing walls, boxing/bjj competitions and rafting rivers, I finally found myself in the health and fitness industry.

Since 2004 I have always been employed but I have never found something that sits well with me as much as the health and fitness industry. I completed the cert and diploma in adventure tourism at Toi Ohomai but found it hard to balance tourism life with family life. I then studied and worked in the health and fitness industry and there I found a passion not only for my own health and fitness but the industry itself.

An opportunity came up to work at Toi Ohomai recreation centre not long after that, which was too good to pass up, and I have not looked back ever since.

I have played most sports, some at a high level such as touch rugby, cricket, bjj and netball - yes, netball! I have won medals in both boxing and bjj but have failed to find the time to take that part of my life to the next level as my four kids find ways to keep me very busy.

I currently coach and helped coach children’s rugby union and rugby league among many other sports.

Laughter and happiness are two key factors in life and it’s safe to say I have plenty of that in my life in at the moment.

I was born in Te-Rotorua-Nui-A-Kahumatamomoe just around the corner of the world famous living thermal village, The Whakarewarewa Village. I moved to Stratford, Taranaki in 2001 and lived there for ten years. In 2011 I gained employment with Transpower as a Live Line Transmission Tower Blaster / Painter and had the beautiful opportunity to travel around Aotearoa for three years. During July 2014 I moved back to Rotorua.

Not knowing exactly what I was going to do with myself I decided to go back to school as an adult student in 2015 and 2016 to study what I felt passionately about: Sport and Exercise and helping others to become much better versions of themselves.

I completed the Level 4 Certificate in Sport and Exercise Management in 2015 at (what was then and for the last time) Waiariki Institute Of Technology and in 2016 completed the  Level 5 Diploma at Toi OhoMai Institute Of Technology, Mokoia Campus.

My sporting background consists of playing Rugby Union from 1998 – 2011. Then, in 2016, I was given the opportunity to be the fitness coach for Beazley Boxing in Rotorua. While coaching the fitness side of Boxing I caught “the bug” myself and gave Boxing a go…. I do not regret changing sport and love “everything” about Boxing.

My role at the Recreation centre is varied. I mind the reception, produce fitness programs for members and facilitate the Circuit Training class once a week in the sports hall.

Originally from Auckland, my passion for sport transferred into my studies at AUT where I graduated with a Diploma in Sport and Recreation in 2008. 

I spent a few years uncertain of a career path, and enrolled to be a camp counsellor for Camp America. I ended up at Camp Ceder Lake teaching campers outdoor adventure training over three summers. My days involved high ropes, hiking, biking and camping. I spent the winter time travelling the world, and made some awesome friends and memories in the process. 

My passion for sport means I participate in many sports, my favourites include basketball, New Zealand tag, turbo touch and netball. I currently represent New Zealand in tag and I'm in the open mixed tag team that will participate in the 2018 Tag World Cup in Sydney, Australia.

I love what I do and the people I work with every day at the Toi Ohomai Community Centre. 

Tena Koutou - my name is Shaquille Graham.

I am a fourth year physical education student studying Sport and Exercise Science and Exercise Prescription through The University of Otago. Finishing my final theoretical papers from distance learning whilst working full time at Toi Ohomai has given me the ability to consolidate my years of studied theoretical knowledge, while adding to a practical, innovative and contemporary application of these learnings in the field as a fitness guide and personal trainer here at the institute.

What I hope to give, is an individualistically skilled fitness leader and highly motivated fitness instructor, with innovative and advanced methods and theories of not only training and performance but also human health as a multi-dimension. 

My learnings have given me a comprehensive knowledge in anatomy, physiology and psychology of the human body, also biophysical and sociocultural foundations of physical education and human movement and the understanding of how these key fundamentals correlate into optimal sport and exercise performance. 

I have an immense love and passion for sport and exercise, in all its shape sizes and forms; a love I’ve had for sport and exercise since the day I could walk. I hope to instil in the people of our institution and our collective community that same immense love, passion and motivation to better one’s self in all areas of bodily hauora, taha tinana, taha wairua, taha hingengaro and taha whanau. 

I have an extensive background in strength and conditioning being an avid gym member over the last 7 years, whilst training all forms of people. Strength and conditioning has become a life style for me rather than a hobby, with my addiction for exercise, specifically that of the gym being in direct correlation to sport in general. I use it as a means of self-betterment and becoming the optimal athlete. 

Working at Toi Ohomai is an opportunity I love and certainly do not take for granted. To be able to come home back to Rotorua and work extensively with my community and particularly that of the Māori community has forever being a burning desire of mine.  Combating the obesity epidemic that plagues my community and my people is a focal point of my motivation since indigenous independent research studies at university; and all though this is only a small start, every little bit counts when combating the obesity in our people, community and nation.

Tama tu tama ora, tama noho, tama mate.

Mai Maketu ki Tongariro, Ko te Arawa te waka. Ko Te Arawa māngai-nui upoko tū-takitaki.
From Maketu to Tongariro. Te Arawa the canoe. Te Arawa the determined people.

Kia Ora, my name is Rahera. I am of Te Arawa and Te-Whānau-ā-Apanui descent, and I am born and bred in Rotorua.

I have been a staff member of the Rec Centre since 2016, with my role varying from reception, facilitating circuit classes, running sport specific training sessions for foundation classes and more. I enjoy my job every day because I get to see people working towards their goals. Seeing the fire lit in their eyes to better their own physical and mental health will always be a highlight of this job.

Symbolically, I was born on a Touch field, so it’s only fitting that this is a sport I am very passionate about. I found the adoration for the sport watching my parents, aunties, uncles and cousins play. I have been fortunate enough to represent not only the Bay Of Plenty, but also New Zealand in the best summer code.

I began my tertiary education in 2014, through the New Zealand Sports Academy - there I gained a Level 4 Certificate in Sports Leadership. I decided to further my studies in this area, therefore continuing on to the path of a Level 5 Diploma in Sport Leadership and Exercise Management, in 2015. My interest mainly revolve around preserving my physical and mental well-being. Some days I’ll enjoy watching sport live or on TV, and some days I’ll enjoy hanging out with my dogs Banjo and Marley.