<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side two <&>0:17 <&>loud high pitched sound <&>0:22 twenty four year old norman hewitt is regarded as one of THE up and coming rugby players in the country as a hooker he's already been poised to play with the all blacks as part of this year's reserves and it's on the cards he'll be chosen for the european tour planned for the end of the year tut the man they call storming norman kia ora norm how are you kia ora mate good thanks <.>i i <.>m must admit mate it's pretty <.>im impressive only twenty four but you know you've been a player for er for many years and <.>you you've sat on that all black bench when when did you first pick up a football or a rugby ball well as as far back as i can remember i remember playing my first game when i was five <&>1:00 but er i do believe i was i was er even younger than that when i first picked up a football was rugby a family game er definitely <.>yeah oh yeah we lived down in a place called er mangaroa station mm tut and um you know the population down there is very small um and you know being out in the country the er the <.>m the main game <.>n or the main sport down there was er was rugby so you know was a was a case of er either playing rugby or er or rugby <{><[>you know word <[>yeah rugby or rugby what about at school did you move through rep rugby at school <.>n um kind of you know um being such er er an isolated area we had to travel you know for forty minutes to get into town right and um er from there you know <.>j just went through the er didn't really start in the <&>2:00 grades until ross shield level um which is about er form one form two level um and then of course also er for the hawke's bay primary school um otherwise um that was that was it until um for the in the hawke's bay under eighteens and hawke's bay secondary <&>pronounced as segronds secondary schools er it was <.>all <.>all all basically just just local rep stuff um er and then um not actually making <.>an any new zealand honours until um i made the new zealand colts yeah things look <.>a <.>they're i suppose they're a lot different now to those those days when you're er <.>i in the country with you know maybe a crowd of only fifty or sixty people turning up which would've been the whole town but i mean you're still hard at it for hawke's bay <.>where you're the captain how does it stack up in i mean your sights are obviously <.>o on <&>3:00 that black jersey you're the captain of a hawke's bay that's you know has had some impressive games this season provincial rugby i mean <.>th that's obviously a priority is it difficult to balance those though norm um no i think er each one's got to be put into <.>th um their right perspective um and er provincial rugby at the moment is is VERY strong mm and it's very important for er for the respective unions you know to word to stay in first division um being the main attraction er for national championship honours so when you know people say oh norm hewitt he's an up and coming er especially when it comes to the all black stakes the pressures have to be on i mean how tough is it mate um well you know er i have to put that down er pressurewise it's it's it's not as much pressure as what i think people believe mm <&>4:00 um i believe players put a lot more pressure on themselves than they need to um and this year i've i've basically said you know said to myself as part of my build up that um i've got to go out there and really enjoy playing <,> you know without worrying about oh you know who's watching me um you know i've got to do this and i've got to do that really go out and enjoy the game <.>an and i've found that this year has been a major factor to um myself playing well you're in the reserves against australia and er samoa for the all blacks mm i mean you're obviously hoping to get on that paddock definitely <{><[>definitely um you're always always um looking at er getting onto the paddock but er no i'm really um at this stage being part of the all blacks squad is is the most important thing <&>5:00 <[>laughs playing for er new zealand maoris maoris against the lions what was that feeling to be part of the proud heritage of maori rugby players and <{><[>maori rugby <[><.>that that was one of my main highlights this year um right up next to um being called into the all blacks as a reserve um and no it's it's a long time um since the all <.>bla er maori all blacks um had had played the lions and had played <.>an an international team of such <{1><[1>significant recognition and um no it was excellent and we had the game you know we had the <{2><[2>game right there and i word you know that's all i want to say on it <[1>mm <[2>laughs yeah yeah you look at the calibre of the other side eh and i mean yeah that's the way the ball rolls <{><[>with with more exposure as a player do you actually find that people become more critical of your game <[>that's right oh i haven't as yet um <{><[>but i gather i gather yeah a er er you know <&>6:00 <.>there there will be er a more of a um closer people taking a closer look at er my game and critics you know critics are always very healthy for a player <[>let's hope it doesn't happen mm yeah sure er for anybody you know does <{><[>the game take up all your time you know you <.>m you're involved in other work <[>and yes um yeah ninety percent of of my time is on you know focusing on the game um plus you know there's a lot more to it er at this stage i'm getting so many um different er junior clubs and <{><[>youth clubs wanting me to go and talk at their prizegivings or give out the certificates at prizegivings and you know all that's all part of the game <[>right sure and er i believe um as someone put it to me um the other day it's you know <.>whe when er i asked <&>pronounced as aksed them to do something <&>pronounced as somethink er as a rugby player tut and um they said you know it's all payback time you get to get to a certain position and you've got to remember <&>7:00 that er all the people that helped you put their time into it and so you know he put it as it's payback time for the um people that you know er that are up and coming and and kids er you know <.>the all the people you want to help yeah <.>i is it difficult to keep up a fitness level or a fitness programme when a you've got a job and b you've actually got the the off the paddock demands of rugby um it is difficult but um you know if you if you want to succeed and and reach the level um you'll have to make er sacrifices and um you know the main part of part of er success is hard work and um you know we've got to <.>r all think about er the hard work that goes into it and the training is is major play in that mm what about um smoking have you had the the odd puff or <.>a are you a reformed smoker <&>8:00 um yeah i've had er had a go at that and um you know <.>y that's er <,> that is not part of er reaching the top er in <.>my in MY books um but i think <.>y i think yeah a lot of people experiment with <{><[>the odd puff on er um cigarettes <[>mm so yours was <.>a a conscious decision <.>what you know <{><[><.>y in your aim to to reach the top <[>conscious decision definitely you know i <.>k er it's it's quite amazing um i'm as as a maoridom i'm pretty stubborn <{><[>laughs and if i put my mind to something <&>pronounced as somethink um i'll go as far as <.>it it takes me to er to achieve um achieve that er that goal i set and if it means <.>a a sacrifice er may be trivial but er in the end it's it's it's a major player towards you know er <.>ach achieving their goals <&>9:00 <[>mm laughs <.>what <.>h how important is it to you as a maori in sport especially a maori that's that's gaining some successes and and maybe becoming a role model for for kids mm <.>i i think you know er i'm very proud to be a maori and um be part of um anything <&>pronounced as anythink that maoridom pushes my way as in er being a role model um <.>i it's <,> it's it's it's hard to put into words um <.>i <.>i <.>i <.>i i know that er i've got to live in the kind of <,> both both worlds never forgetting what <.>my my whakapapa or anything like that but also remembering that er there's the other the other side to er to it as well looking at er the maoris that are now so prominent in in rugby here and overseas rugby <&>10:00 league as well must bring about a sense of pride as a player as well as a maori oh definitely er you know it's it's it's REALLY good to see to see that <.>happen happening and er you know it's happening in in all sports <{><[>now um and it's it's it's it's a very humble um situation and and as i said it's er you know something that's going to get stronger but er in the end we're all kiwis er and um it doesn't matter er to me um to the fact that we've all got to play as a team game or as an individual sport um we're all kiwis in the end <[>yes rugby league er have you ever been tempted to take the money and run <{><[>laughs <[>well i if you give me a ring at the <{><[>end of this year if i get on the tour to england and scotland um maybe <&>11:00 i'll be able to tell you what it feels like to be rung up by a by a rugby league scout <[>laughs yeah i mean because you're being tagged as a hot favourite for the up and coming european tour what do you think your chances are i mean we know what your hopes are mm but er but your chances it's been a good season yes it has to date and um <,> well there's there's eight more first division games left for hawke's bay and i'm not going to think um as far <.>a far ahead as the the all black team being named or or looking even at that tour because um now it's time to get <.>r you know refocused onto er doing well in the national championship for for hawke's bay um <,> and i and that's i'm <,> don't want to be too too confident <{><[>but um that's you know that's <.>w er where i am at this stage and <,> um if it happens it'll happen and that is entirely up to myself and the <.>h er with the hawke's bay team hawke's bay um support um on if i go on tour um because i've set a standard and i've got to live up to it now <[>sure <&>12:00 norm i think <.>we we all admire the work you've done so far as a player and as captain of hawke's bay we wish you and hawke's bay all the best for the future and er look forward to er seeing your name on that er list of names for the european tour that's excellent thanks very much <&>12:35 <&>end of sample