21 Dec Celebrating Success: Davina Thompson
A self-proclaimed ‘kai activist’, Davina Thompson aims high within the kai and movement world and does the mahi to back it up. Working under the WeroFit trust as a Kaiwhakaora she delivers health, fitness and Crossfit to schools, marae, online and in her iti gym in her garage. Based in Kawerau, Davina delivers programmes both semi locally at Rotorua Boys High School and further abroad in Auckland and the likes.
Having first started CrossFit in 2012 and competing in the CrossFit NZ competition in that same year, Davina’s passion for the discipline grew from there. She soon went on to complete her level one coaches tohu and began delivering CrossFit within the community. This led her to take up judging.
“I really enjoyed getting amongst the athletes and offering them support and coaching them while they are competing on the floor. After that first comp I was hooked on judging. It’s not really a big thing in New Zealand to be a judge but just like any other sport on a higher level, you need a referee.”
The opportunities then rolled in thick for Davina when she earned the chance to be a judge at the Pacific Regionals CrossFit Games in Wollongong, Australia which led to the opportunity to judge the CrossFit games in Carson, USA. “It was such an honour to be New Zealand’s first to judge at the CrossFit Games [and] what better was that I am Māori!”
During this time Davina was fortunate enough to spend some time with the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman and his nutrition specialists. “We spoke about nutrition and the effects sugar and poor nutrition [have on] your body. I loved every moment and was determined that when I got home I was going to make a change for all of our whānau suffering from diabetes, obesity, CVD and metabolic syndromes.”
In terms of kai, Davina speaks of looking to the past for enlightenment. “If we travel back in time our tupuna would spend the whole day ensuring the whānau, pā, village and hapu would have enough kai to sustain the seasons. Each whānau and town had their strengths in which they grew, hunted and gathered. It was our life force. Today we have lost this connection; the connection with our Atua who provide us with all our kai.”
She believes “lifestyle diseases” are born from this disconnect and along with premature deaths has come depression and a disconnect to Mauri. “I think I’m a kai activist. If I’m not working, training or delivering Nga Taonga Taakaro I’m in our Matata Community Garden. This to me is of utmost importance.”
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