Community at the centre of Pharmacy student’s sporting success

New Zealand pétanque player and second-year Pharmacy student Akaina Tuiono credits her upbringing as both the reason behind her sporting success and the motivation for her Pharmacy studies.

Representing New Zealand in pétanque for the first time at the latest Trans-Tasman Tournament in Australia was a surreal experience for Akaina.

She says carrying the sign for her team, singing the national anthem together and wearing the silver fern made for a moment she’ll never forget.

“Being part of the New Zealand team was something I had been working towards ever since I started, and so standing alongside my teammates in the national uniform created the most genuine feeling of accomplishment,” Akaina says.

Initially seeing pétanque as an older person’s game, Akaina had reservations when her partner Seyjay first introduced her to the sport.

She officially started playing in September 2024, after joining Dunedin City Pétanque, where she found players of a similar age and began finding the game both fun and competitive.

Once she was hooked, she couldn’t stop playing. In just over a year, she won her first national title, took top place in the South Island Women's competition, won six tournaments, was in the highest placed New Zealand team in the Panmure International Women's Doubles, represented the Southern Region against Wellington and Canterbury in the TriStar Challenge, and became the third woman to reach the national singles final in the history of New Zealand pétanque.

Akaina credits her upbringing to giving her the commitment and determination to excel in sports, and these qualities are also apparent in her studies.

Akaina is Cook Island Māori on her father's side and Chinese on her mother's side. She grew up in South Auckland, in a highly concentrated Māori and Pacific population and says the inequities she saw growing up weren’t abstract statistics to her but a real part of her reality.

She says Aotearoa New Zealand's health system has many strengths but isn’t without issues, which are often most burdensome for Māori and Pacific peoples.

“These inequities are not something I can unsee and it's not something I'm willing to accept as inevitable, and so I decided to play my part in bettering New Zealand’s health system by studying to be a pharmacist; it’s a wonderful way to make a direct impact on the healthcare of people who need it most.”

Akaina received a University of Otago Pacific Peoples' Entrance Scholarship, which she says was significant not only for the financial help for her and her family but also because it felt like recognition for all the hard work she had put in during high school.

Though moving from Auckland to Dunedin was daunting, this scholarship gave her the confidence that she belonged here and was ready for the challenge, even though she didn’t know a single person upon her arrival.

She says being admitted into the Kickstart 101 programme for Māori and Pacific tauira and being supported by the Pacific Island Centre and Te Huka Mātauraka helped her find her place in Ōtepoti.

Having always loved science, Akaina first completed the Health Science First Year programme, followed by a Bachelor of Science majoring in Pharmacology, which then inspired her to study Pharmacy.

“Pharmacy brought together everything I loved: the science of how medicines work, the hands-on patient care, and the opportunity to make a real difference. What truly drives me though, is my deep passion for Māori and Pacific health. I have a real desire to create meaningful change in the communities that are closest to my heart.”

– Kōrero by the Division of Health Sciences Communications Adviser, Kelsey Swart.