26 Nov Athlete, Coach, Scholar, and Māmā: Natalie Mathews is our new Kori Summer Intern
Kia ora mai tātou katoa
Ko Karioi te maunga
Ko Wainui te awa
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Waikato te Iwi
Ko Ngāti Tāhinga te hapū
Ko Poihākena te marae
Ko Edward Matthews tōku pāpā
Ko Maria Mathews tōku māmā
Ko Natalie Mathews tōku ingoa
Kei Tāmaki Makaurau ahau e noho ana
Nō reira, tēnā anō tātou katoa
I grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau as the youngest of five, with a nine-year gap to my closest sibling. My father was from Raglan, and my mother was from Papauta in Samoa. By the time I was six years old, all my siblings had moved out of home, leaving just me and my parents at home.
At age eight, I began playing netball and quickly excelled in the sport. As a child, I was either training, playing, or hanging out with my friends at the local netball courts. I continued to play netball throughout school, at club level, and in representative teams. This journey eventually led to national honours with the Samoan U21 Team, Samoan National Team, NZ Mixed Team, and the NZ Indoor Women’s Team. I retired after my The NZ Indoor Women’s Team.
At 23 years old, I moved to Australia with my partner who played rugby league. Eight months later, we had our first daughter. Over the years, we both remained heavily involved in playing and coaching sports. After 11 years in Australia, we decided to return home so our children could be immersed in their culture.
A year after returning to Tāmaki Makaurau, I began to feel an unsettling urge to do more for my community. I left my comfortable job as an Operations Manager and returned to Massey University to complete a Bachelor of Health Science, majoring in Psychology.
Being courtside — whether coaching or playing — has been my happy place. However, I noticed that athletes had changed over the decades and they needed a more holistic approach to perform at their best. Over the past three years, I’ve applied what I’ve learned from my degree to develop programmes aimed at increasing mental resilience in athletes and improving how I communicate and coach them more effectively. This journey led to the completion of my degree and my acceptance into the Master of Health Science (Sport and Exercise) programme. My goal is to utilise this learning to create resources that will help both athletes and coaches build strong relationships, mental resilience, and communication skills.
Outside of study, you’ll find me coaching netball at school, club, or representative levels, training my daughters, working as a trainer at F45 Massey, throwing a barbell around at FMFC Waitākere, strengthening my body with reformer Pilates, or working for Ignite Mental Performance to create programming or cooking up some hearty kai for clients.
When I saw the opportunity to apply for the Toi Tangata Internship, I jumped at the chance. To my surprise and delight, I was accepted into their 2024 summer intake. Having always been involved in physical activity, I recognise how important movement is for health. I am excited about the opportunity to learn how to incorporate Mātauranga Māori into both the sport that I coach and the spaces I work in. I know that this will benefit both myself and the communities I serve.
As I progress through a Western education system, I feel a strong pull to better understand te reo Māori, my whakapapa, and the principles that I wish to be guided by. For 22 years, I have offered services to benefit athletes, and I believe these principles can be transferred beyond sport to enrich our communities. My future aspiration is to create spaces for Māori and Pasifika people to come together, to korero, and to empower themselves and their whānau with tools for their kete. I have no doubt that Toi Tangata will be invaluable on this journey, and I cannot wait to learn from them.
Natalie Mathews
Natalie Mathews is a Growing the Puna 2024 intern. She is on a mission to empower Māori and Pasifika athletes with bold and holistic tools for mental resilience and growth.