In the present day information
2025-01-24 00:01:00
Over summer time, an odd phenomenon performs out alongside New Zealand’s waterholes. Bridges, wharfs, cliffs and swimming swimming pools throng with individuals readying to leap. Jumpers launch into the air, twist themselves right into a v-shape – bums down, limbs akimbo – till they hit the floor, forcing water upwards in an almighty splash.
The larger the splash and the extra ingenious the soar, the louder the cheers.
These are the “manu” jumpers – individuals who get a thrill and typically compete – within the sport of manu, a singular New Zealand diving method just like a bomb, developed by Māori and Pasifika communities, and which has now turn out to be a nationwide pastime.
“It’s like an unstated cultural rule in New Zealand – everytime you’re round water and there’s something to leap off, you pop a manu,” says Nikita Hauraki, 26, who has been popping manus since she was a toddler.
“Everybody is aware of what a manu is, what it entails, how a lot hype is round it, despite the fact that not everybody has tried it out,” she says.
Manu jumper Pone Kahotea, 34, has been doing the game in Tauranga, on the North Island’s east coast, since he was a child.
“Irrespective of the place there are individuals swimming, there are individuals doing manus,” he says. Now, his 12-year-old, Bayley, is perfecting his method.
“Youngsters will go arduous all day,” Kahotea says. “These younger youngsters have made up their very own kinds and redefined it – they’re loopy and significantly better than we have been.”
The purpose of a manu is to create the best splash and whereas the v-shape is the most typical method, different kinds together with the coffin (toes first, straight physique), the gorilla (head and shoulders first), and the staple (arms and toes first) recurrently characteristic.
“If somebody’s achieved a extremely good manu, the place the splash is sort of in a form of a tree trunk, and it goes straight up … and clearly excessive, it’s thought-about a extremely good [one],” says Elisha Rolleston, 32, whose skill has earned him the title “Manu King” in his dwelling area of Tauranga.
“These days, we’re beginning to see completely different kinds of the manu … just like the tailwhip – you soar out and swing your legs to the aspect, it appears to be like like a breakdancing transfer within the air.”
Nobody is totally positive the place, or how, the manu developed. Some imagine it emerged within the Nineteen Nineties on the outside Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa swimming pools within the South Auckland suburb Māngere, whereas different areas declare it developed at their native bridges a long time earlier. The identify manu – which means chicken within the Māori language – additionally has a murky historical past. Some suppose it references the act of flying into the water, others imagine it’s a shortened model of Māngere.
What is for certain, is the artwork of the manu emerged inside Māori and Pasifika communities – one thing Rolleston believes is linked to those communities’ sturdy reference to water. “There’s an actual sense of group – individuals swimming, having a great time,” he says.
Visiting native waterholes was additionally a less expensive choice for these on decrease incomes, he says. Throughout his years residing in Tauranga and the neighbouring inland area Waikato, Rolleston mentioned European New Zealanders tended to keep away from native rivers and waterholes, in favour for the seaside.
“However at wharfs and bridges, Māori are the bulk – it was in all probability extra possible choice to take [families] there for a swim all day,” Rolleston says.
The pastime – which has all the time had a aggressive edge – now has a proper annual championship: the Manu World Champs. Opponents attend heats across the nation over summer time, within the hopes of diving on the grand remaining held on Auckland’s waterfront in March.
The skilled competitors could also be boosting the profile of manu leaping, Rolleston says, however it can all the time stay a curious, enjoyable and free sport.
“Doing the manu is one thing inside our DNA as New Zealanders – it’s actually distinctive to us and we’re pleased with it.”
