Waikato dental assistant in world series rugby sevens
Chyna Hohepa has two great loves in her life right now – work for the Waikato
DHB and sevens rugby.
And both are providing plenty of travel.
Chyna, 22, is a dental assistant in a Commu nity Oral Health Service
mobile dental unit, so she gets around the region. But late this month she’ll be
on leave while playing for New Zealand in the first IRB Women’s Sevens series
opener in Dubai.
She says her selection in the New Zealand team came as a shock, as
she only took up sevens this year with an eye on the new international structure
and the inclusion of sevens in the next Olympics.
Previously touch and
netball were her sports, touch getting her to Scotland for the World Cup.
“It was a surprise, I was really shocked,’’ she said of being included in
the squad of 12 named recently.
“But I love sevens. So I am planning to fit
this all in around my dental work too.”
She hopes to keep her place in
the squad for the whole series which stops at Houston in the United States,
Guangzhou in China and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Should Chyna could become a
regular she hopes to feature at the sevens World Cup in Moscow in June.
Then there are the Olympics in Rio de Janerio in 2016 to think about
too.
Teams at the world series include Spain, the US, Australia,
England, Canada and China.
Chyna has grown up in a sporty family: Big
sister Carla is a former Black Fern rugby player and also in the sevens squad,
while father Selwyn and mother Debbie both represented Waikato.
ENDS
Date: 21 November 2012
Contact:
Mary Anne Gill
Communications Director
Waikato District Health Board
021 705 213
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