Holly's got Spirit

PHOTOGRAPHS Adrienne Rewi.

Single-minded with a winning attitude, teenager Holly Robinson is an extraordinary athlete who is showing the world what she is capable of. Kaituhituhi Adrienne Rewi speaks to Holly and her West Coast whānau about her achievements.

It's a Saturday, and Holly rushes in from her netball game at Hokitika High School just across the road from the Robinson family home.

"We won by 10 points," she says with a big grin, gulping down some water.

"I enjoy winning. I know exactly what I want and I'm determined to get it.

It's confident talk coming from a 14-year-old but you don't have to be in Holly's company for long to realise she's no ordinary teenager. Her parents, Steve and Pauline Robinson are the first to agree.

"Holly has always been very competitive, right from when she started playing football at four," says Steve.

That Holly was born without a lower left arm has never stopped her. In fact, it may well have been part of the impetus for her to achieve as an athlete.

"I was seven when I decided I was going to win everything I entered," says Holly.


Holly with parents Pauline and Steve Robinson, and brother Jonathan.

"I've always had big plans and my main goal now is to attend the 2012 Paralympics in London as part of the New Zealand team."

"She's very outgoing and very determined, says Steve. "We got her an artificial limb when she was small, but she kept throwing it away and even without it, she could tie her own shoelaces by the time she was three."

Holly has a twin brother Jonathan who is also passionate about sport. The family living room bulges with evidence of their success-es. A mass gathering of Holly's athletic cups stands in one corner; and Jonathan's wood chopping awards are displayed in another.

"Jonathan was awarded Most Improved Junior Axeman for the West Coast this year," says Steve proudly.

"He also plays rugby and basketball, and he's a keen pig hunter. I guess I've always been sporty, and Pauline and I always encouraged the kids in anything that got them outside."

For Holly, that started with rugby and netball at age four. She still loves netball and is currently a member of three teams – the Westland High School team, a regional representative team and the South Island Secondary Schools team.

But athletics are her real passion. She holds the Paralympics New Zealand senior and junior records for discus, javelin, shot put and long jump. She is a member of the Greymouth Senior Athletic Club, Parafed Canterbury, and now the Paralympics New Zealand Under-20 squad, which will compete in the Australian Paralympics Youth Games in Melbourne from October 5 to 11.

Since 2006 she has accumulated a string of awards and selections into representative teams; and in 2007 she was a finalist and runner-up in the Hokitika Lions Young Achievers' Award. She's been nominated for the Westland Sports Sportsman of the Year award this year and will find out on September 5 if she has made it.

To top all that, she recently quali-fied as a netball umpire, scoring 100 per cent in her netball exams.

Holly is the first to admit her extended family support has been crucial to her success. Both sets of grandparents have arrived to take part in this TE KARAKA interview. Her paternal grandparents, Bill and Val Robinson (nee Bates) (Ngāi Tahu/Tuatapere), talk about how Holly has overcome many obstacles to succeed."You can't even suggest that Holly can't do anything because that will make her even more determined and she will find a way no matter what," says Val. "She's even breaking her own records now."Anything she may lack physically, she more than makes up for in other areas," says Allen Crowley, her maternal grandfather. "We're very proud of the fact that she's broken lots of New Zealand records."

"She's very confident," says Bill, "and you can put her in any room, with people she's never met and she's more than happy."

Shirley Crowley, Holly's maternal grandmother, is her manager."I organise all the support she needs and I take her to athletics training in Greymouth – twice a week in summer and once a week in winter, says Shirley.

"We had a big auction for her in Hokitika recently and we raised $4000 to put towards her travel expenses; and a local businessman sponsors her (anonymously), too. He always takes a keen interest in her activities."

As part of ongoing fund raising, Pauline and Shirley also make small "happiness boxes", which they sell for $4.

"We've made over 300 so far and while they're not a big earner, they help pay for petrol and getting Holly to training and competitions," says, Pauline, Holly's mother.

"We also hold rafḀes and attend local fairs. Holly is self-funded, although she has won a $400 Parafed Canterbury scholarship twice. That also goes towards her training costs."

Pauline says they couldn't have done it without the help of both sets of grandparents.

"We thrive on it, though," says Val.

For Holly, having that support has been vital. She also works every Friday after school, folding mail-out material to help with costs, but says having her parents and grandparents behind her is very special.

"It feels really good having the whole family behind me. They usually come and watch whenever I compete, and because Nana is my coach, she usually travels with me if I go away. She's coming to Melbourne with me in October, too. It's been like that ever since I first entered the CCS (Crippled Children's Society) Games when I was eight."


Holly with grandparents Bill and Val Robinson (Ngāi Tahu/Tuatapere), and Shirly and Allen Cowley.

Most of Holly's time is given over to physical activity. She trains or plays sport six days a week. That includes a gym session once a week, playing basketball, training for her three netball teams and several hours a week with her Greymouth athletics coach, Danny Spark.

"I do read a lot, too, but athletics is what I love and fitting all my training around schoolwork never feels like a challenge to me," says Holly. "That may change next year when I get to Year 10 and have to study for NCEA, but I thrive on a bigger challenge."

Not content to rest just yet, Holly has applied for a place in the New Zealand Academy of Sports fast track programme, Xccelerate 2 Xcellence, which aims to identify and support paralympic sports talent. She is also hoping for a place in the International Paralympic Championship team to be announced in September, and later in the year she will attend the Mitsubishi Motors Paralympic National Championships.

She has her sights set on competing at the Paralympic World Games in Christchurch in 2011 and the Paralympic Games in London the following year.

"That's what I want most of all," she says. "Getting to London in 2012 would be the best thing ever."

Looking through the fat scrapbooks filled with her many achievements so far, no-one doubts she will tackle the challenge of getting to London with her usual resolve.

"I was teased a lot when I was young and that's made me much stronger. I'm a lot stronger than most of the boys at school, so they don't mess with me," she says with a laugh.

"I always do my best at everything and I've never let having a physical disability hold me back. Athletics is what I love to do and winning is just the best feeling."