Haka

In addition to coming in the top four in the country stakes at recent World Champs, us Kiwis are renowned for our Haka. And the international audience at these events love it too. We're usually asked to perform it at opening ceremonies and the other time you'll see it is on some rare occasions when a senior is about to compete in a sparring final.

I've experienced a Kiwi Taekwon-Do Haka three times now and words fail to convey the feeling of pride and awe experienced. I've trawled through my image libraries and retrieved a few Haka images to share with you...

Lens: 235mm, 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO: 1600

The image above is from the opening ceremony of the 2007 World Champs in Quebec.

Lens: 200mm, 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO: 1250

If you check my blog regularly you may recall this image from Mark Trotter's Sparring Match at the 2007 World Champs.

Here are some more images from the 2007 opening ceremony...


And here are some images from the 2006 Junior World Champs...

Lens: 18mm, 1/60s, f/4.5, ISO: 1600

Above the team are practicing the Haka in a hotel meeting room. Woke the establishment up!

Lens: 50mm, 1/200s, f/2.8, ISO: 800

And the performance at the 2006 opening ceremony. (It's the only half decent shot that I got of them performing the Haka in 2006.)