Cautney | Beach Haven

“I’m Cautney and my home is Beach Haven here in Auckland. I’d like to sit down and have a meal with someone that inspires me for training.

For personal training, which I’m studying now. He inspires me, and I’m asking him to be my mentor, so I’d love to talk to him and have a meal with him. 

So I find him inspiring. I’d like to have a meal with him because then I can chat, and kind of look through his eyes for a little bit. It’ll give me opportunities to ask him questions and see what inspired him to become a trainer, to see the benefits of what he’s doing for other people. I just want to see what makes him tick, really. 

So I grew up here in Beach Haven, Glenfield area until I was 18. Then, I moved to Australia in Sydney, as a chef. I cheffed for about six, seven years, and then I decided to come home because this is where my heart is. I missed my family, but the thing I missed the most was our tikanga Māori. So being home, speaking Māori, and everything that goes with the culture, being able to go to our marae and meet other Māori inspirational strong men and women. Then I became a flight attendant, which allowed me to travel and meet new people, but it also meant that I was away from home again, so I decided to start grounding my feet a little bit. I played sports for, well I’ve always played sports throughout my whole life, so I’ve always been in the gym, and things like that, and the last couple of years I really noticed how we need more trainers. But trainers to inspire people and help motivate people, and especially I didn’t really see many Māori trainers, so that inspired me more to want to become a Māori-speaking personal trainer. Of course, I speak English as well, but I really want to speak Māori, and train in te reo. 

So I’m also studying at Youth Line. I’m learning basic counselling. Ideally, I would like to produce some type of fitness course in Māori, for youth, and probably go into schools with a program that gives them information about abuse and bullying, things like that, so preventative things that they can do. Also, being able to show the youth things to look out for if something’s happening at home, give them the knowledge to say, that’s not right and also just directing them in a way that they can get help. One of those ways that they can get help is through exercise, and also te reo Māori, being Māori, being a native. Encourage te reo Māori, fitness, and also health. In the future I would like to do a course that would go into helping troubled youth that have already been in trouble, to help open up their mind and help them live a good life by motivating them to be better people. Also just knowing that there’s so much out there, you don’t have to live the life that someone else has determined you to be in. If someone’s abused as a teenager, they don’t have to continue abusing. They can rise above it, the world is just such a huge place, you can be who you want to be, no matter what. I just hope to help one person, whether it be a young kid, or a teenager, or even an adult, to help overcome anything, and be themselves. Almost like opening up the world to see that they have potential. Everyone has potential, no matter what.

So I grew up in a very abusive household, and I had a lot of things done to me that shouldn’t have happened, but for some reason, I found it within myself to choose not to be that person, that victim. I chose not to be a victim. I chose to still find the potential within myself to want to learn, and to learn new things, to be a better person, and I continue to self-learn, self-develop. One thing I’ve noticed as an adult is that cycle is still happening. People are still being abused in homes where the child or the young youth, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know the signs, that what’s happening is not right. So, for me, personally, if I can help someone not be in that situation, and to open up their potential, that would be great. I’ve seen a lot of youth on the streets, and I know a lot of people that have been abused, and they choose their path. Drugs, alcohol, being abusive to other people, but there’s actually no reason for that. So, everyone’s strong enough, and that’s my hope and dreams, to help someone not go down that path.”

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