The National HMB Federation of New Zealand (HMBNZ as it’s called there) sees its main task as making sure that all HMB athletes are healthy and ready to start training and the tournament season. HMBIA News talked about this and many other tasks of the HMB Federation New Zealand with Dayna Berghan-Whyman, the Treasurer of this organization and a fighter in the National Team of New Zealand.
“Now that New Zealand is at Alert Level 1, the National Federation has asked that all New Zealand fighters get current medical certificates. The important thing is that the Federation will not accept medical certificates dated during the time of the Covid-19 Alert levels 2 – 4”, Dayna told us.
Also, according to her, as training has resumed, Justin Harris, the NZ National Marshal, has reminded all fighters of the three important points of the National Federation Code of Conduct:
- Display control, respect, and professionalism to all who are involved with HMB, including opponents, marshals, event officials, the media, support crew and spectators.
- If I disagree with a decision, I will inform my club/team Captain during a break or immediately after competing.
- Follow and encourage HMB standards, rules, regulations, and policies in the spirit of fair play.
“The HMB Federation is active in many areas. So, it is working to strengthen buhurt in the region by trying to organise combined training events where travel restrictions allow. Also in the field of authenticity all HMB fighters and clubs were encouraged during Alert levels 4 – 2 to maintain and repair their armour, weapons and equipment”, noted Dayna Berghan-Whyman.
New Zealand’s recent change to Alert level one also means that tournaments can begin to run again. The National Selection Qualifier for New Zealand’s team The Steel Blacks will be held by the Stags team in September, while the 1v1 selection is organized to be part of Big Boys Toys in Auckland, scheduled to take place in October.
Big Boys Toys offers maximum exposure of HMB to New Zealanders, attracting more than 40,000 people, and again this year, the Auckland team will look at making it a Buhurt League tournament.
The season looks to be busy with the upcoming Waihora Battle, Smashfest Challenge and multiple shared trainings already being organized by NZ fighters.
The Communications Officer has created the National Federations social media and communications plan. Together with the National Team Captain, this specialist is organising fighter profiles, community updates and promotes qualification events.
These communications are focusing on:
– Posts of interest to the community, and simple so supporters and non-fighters can understand.
– Posts with the intention of representing New Zealand, buhurt, and HMB in a positive way.
“We are very busy making sure our club members are all healthy, selection tournament events are organised, and that the New Zealand buhurt community can attract new members to enter at many levels (support, event management, marshal, team fighter and duals fighter)”, Dayna summed up.
We are glad that the New Zealand HMB Federation`s work has not stopped even during the COVID 19 quarantine. The work is being carried out in all possible directions and brings excellent results. We are looking forward to the start of the competitive season here and will definitely inform you about the qualifying tournaments and their results.
Finally, some statistics:
The HMB National Federation of New Zealand formed in 2012 and has existed for over eight years. The Federation also has a ruling Council made up of 13 officials, including representatives from all regional clubs. These positions include such roles as the head of the Federation, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Officer, Asia Pacific Relationship Coordinator, NZ National Marshal Representative, Authenticity Officer and others. Fighters are located all over New Zealand, and there are seven clubs or teams nationwide. Overall there are roughly 50 fighters throughout the country, including eight female fighters, out of a total population of only five million. The public has been incredibly positive about HMB, many new people attend events to see what the sport is and find themselves joining their local clubs, and fighting themselves.
HMB is a growing sport in New Zealand, and the National Federation is confident the sport will continue to gain popularity and build its numbers.
