Coach Kawhena

Day 5 | Reflection 🌱

Growth doesn’t always look like moving forward.

Sometimes growth looks like resting.

Sometimes it looks like choosing peace over pressure.
Taking a breath instead of rushing.
Creating space to reflect before taking your next step.

We often celebrate the milestones we can see, but some of our greatest growth happens quietly—when we’re healing, learning, or simply giving ourselves permission to pause.

As we move through this weekend, here’s something to reflect on:

Where in your life might you need to give yourself permission to rest? 💚

Reflect. Unpack. Grow.

“He wasn’t there because we had achieved the goal.”
2026 We now set NEW GOALS, NEW FAMILY GOALS

One thing I’ve learned about myself is that walking into a room with 500 dart players can sometimes feel overwhelming.

The noise. The crowds. The conversations. The long days. The responsibility that comes with helping deliver a tournament.

Most people see the event. What they don’t always see is the mental and emotional energy required to keep showing up, staying present, and remaining grounded throughout it all. 🫶🏽

I remember one moment vividly in 2024, walking into the Hamilton arena. I knew Hopes wasn’t there, and for a moment I felt the weight of that.

It wasn’t sadness.

It was something deeper.

It was the realization that I needed to stand confidently in my own identity.

As I walked into that room, I reminded myself why he wasn’t there.

He wasn’t there because we had achieved our whanau goal. New Zealand First Professional Darts Player.

While I was walking into a room with 500 dart players in New Zealand, he was walking into rooms with 128 of the best dart players in the world he was one of them.

That thought gave me strength.

It didn’t make it easy. Far from it.

There were moments where I had to work hard mentally, emotionally, and physically. The questions were often the same. The conversations were often the same. But over time I learned what serves me, what grounds me, and what helps me protect my own mana.

This photo was taken at Nationals in Motueka in 2024 year.

Every time I travel for darts, I take pieces of my whakapapa with me. My taonga travel wherever I go.

They remind me who I am.

They remind me where I come from.

They help bring me back to my own space and energy.

Alongside meditation, stretching, breath work, and quiet moments of reflection, these taonga have become one of the tools I use to stay grounded.

Because when I am grounded, I can show up as myself.

Not as someone’s wife.

Not as a Director.

Not as what others expect me to be.

Just Kawhena.

And sometimes that’s exactly what we need when we’re navigating spaces that challenge us to grow.

Ngā mihi.

🫆✍🏽DAY 4……….

“We had no blueprint, no roadmap, and no one to ask what it looked like to chase a professional darts career from New Zealand while raising three children. So we built our own pathway.”

As I sit here at Christchurch Airport, preparing to fly to Hamilton for the New Zealand Darts Council Senior Nationals, I find myself reflecting.

I’m heading away five days before the players even arrive. That’s the reality of being involved in the back end of running a tournament. It’s about showing up, doing your job, supporting the team around you, and helping create a well-run and organised event for everyone involved.

This will be my third tournament as a Director on the New Zealand Darts Council, but this one feels different.

For the past two years, I’ve attended tournaments without my husband competing in New Zealand. Together, we set a goal that took us around the world and into the professional darts arena. We achieved that goal, and now we find ourselves in a new season—one where we’re setting new goals and creating new opportunities.

As someone who reflects often, especially in the quiet moments before a new chapter begins, I can’t help but appreciate how much has changed.

This year, Haupai will be part of the tournament. While I’m travelling ahead to prepare, he’ll join me later in the week. It sounds simple, but behind that are years of sacrifice, separation, time apart, and learning to live in two very different worlds while pursuing a dream.

Today, I was dropped off at the airport to travel for darts, and while Haupai will catch up with me on Friday, it also means being away from our kids for 12 days. Like many families involved in sport, there is a lot of preparation behind the scenes—school, sports, routines, and ensuring life continues smoothly while we’re away.

Then we’ll be home for five days before heading away again for the Junior and Youth Nationals.

This kaupapa never really stops. It continues to grow, evolve, and create opportunities for others.

As the wife of New Zealand’s first professional darts player, we often found ourselves navigating territory that nobody around us had experienced before. We had no blueprint, no roadmap, and no one to ask what it looked like to chase a professional darts career from New Zealand while raising three children.

So we built our own pathway.

We’re not new to this anymore, but every now and then I like to pause and acknowledge just how far we’ve come.

Over the next week, I’ll be spending my time behind a desk, behind a camera, and helping support another memorable event for our darts community.

If you’re attending the Nationals, come and say hello. I’d love to meet you.

And as I continue this journey, I’m also enjoying discovering who Kawhena Puha is in the world of darts—not just as a wife, not just as a Director, but as myself.

Nga mihi
Kawhena

🧘🏽‍♀️🫆🌿DAY 3

TEAM PUHA

Two of the greatest gifts we can carry.

Power to stand in who we are.

Love to honour who we’re becoming.

When both walk together, we move through life with purpose, humility, and strength.

✨🤍

🧘🏽‍♀️🫆🌿DAY 2

🫆✨It takes 30 days to start a new habit…..
Lets go _ DAY 1 ✍🏽