Noah Hotham is gunning for a win.

The 16-year-old Hamilton Boys High student, will strengthen the New Zealand Under 18 Boys team who are set to face current Youth World Champions, Australia in January 2020. 

He doesn’t have to go far for advice. Hotham comes from a successful sporting family, with his sister Jazmin, current member of the Black Ferns Sevens squad, brother Legin, current Touch Blacks Open Mens player and parents Nigel and Dianne both having played representative touch for NZ and Samoa respectively. 

“My mum and my dad have been the most influential in my touch career” said Hotham. Their longstanding involvement has seen the game develop and change over time, an asset for Hotham, when they share their words of wisdom.

Unsurprisingly, growing up in a sporting family has created huge learning opportunities. Not only has sibling rivalry created healthy competition, but it has allowed Hotham to watch, learn and push himself further than his siblings. 

“An advantage of being the youngest is that sometimes rather than making mistakes myself and learning, I can rather learn from the mistakes my siblings have made in the past”.

When asked about his family, Hotham was quick to distinguish traits “Legin probably has the best long ball on his good day, Mum is the fastest and I’d say I’m the most competitive”. 

While their household isn’t short on sporting achievements, Hotham has his own impressive accolades to add to the honor roll including winning the 2019 Super 8 1^st XV competition and the recent NZSS Condor 7’s for the 5^th consecutive year. 

Hotham now has his sights set on getting a Series win to add to the list. “What I’m looking forward most to for the 2020 Youth Trans Tasman is to test myself and our team against the best touch country in the world, Australia”.

Article added: Wednesday 11 December 2019