Talanoa Session - Michelle Curry

Jeremy Lardner (0:01)

I begin this episode by paying respect to the Ngunnawal and Nambri people, the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast is produced. I pay respect to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and I extend that same respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners of this podcast.

Thank you. Welcome to the Dua Moana Pasifika Rugby Podcast, where we bring you Pasifika voices talking, Pasifika Rugby. Now, I'm your host Jeremy, and I'm honored to be joined in the Bure today by none other than Manusina Captain, Michelle Curry. Michelle, it's an absolute honor to have you here. Welcome to the Dua Moana.

Michelle Curry (1:06)

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure being on your platform. Thank you for having me.

Jeremy Lardner (1:10)

Thank you. Thank you.

Now, we always start with, before we get into the rugby, because obviously there's so much rugby to talk about, especially with your story. I'd just love to hear a little bit about your early days. Tell us about where you grew up in Samoa, and also how you got started playing the game of rugby.

Michelle Curry (1:29)

Yeah. So I was born and raised in Samoa. Grew up in a village called Wawala on Opolu Island. And I'm this, me and my twin brother, are the second-oldest of ten kids. And I finished my schooling in year eight in Samoa, and then my family moved to New Zealand just before I turned 14

I grew up in a very typical Samoan household, very strict dad, very religious, very disciplined. So growing up, my dad's values was very much academic comes first. So sports wasn't, was very little input from the sports side growing up in Samoa.

And from that, yeah, my dad very much drilled into us that academic comes first. So we did very well in schooling back in Samoa.

Very grateful I grew up in Samoa though, because I think growing up, realising I've never had an issue in identity with. I was always deeply rooted in my Samoan upbringing, being fluent in the language as well, and understanding the customs. Well, most of it anyways. And then, yeah, I grew up, started my college years in Nelson, New Zealand. Yeah, so we moved to Nelson, New Zealand out of all places. The most far-lungy place in New Zealand. We're at the very top of the South Island. So my father, he's an aircraft engineer.

Jeremy Lardner (3:00)

Oh, wow.

Michelle Curry (3:02)

Yeah. So he's a very clever man, and he got a job in New Zealand at the time.

So that was an opportunity, and we all moved over to New Zealand. So the prime reason why we initiated the move to New Zealand is about creating opportunities for us as a family. And transitioning over to NZ schooling, there's quite a good balance between sports and academic. So that's where we slowly introduced sports into my family. My dad, very strict, was very reluctant about it. But I think that was something he had to navigate himself, accepting that this is part of schooling in New Zealand. So I initially started playing netball, volleyball, a little bit of touch, but I never started playing rugby until my very last year of college, just before I turned 18

Yeah. So that's where I got into it.

Jeremy Lardner (4:04)

Yeah. I love that. That's so cool.

Michelle Curry (4:06)

Yeah.

Jeremy Lardner (4:09)

The move from Samoa to not just New Zealand, but as you say, Nelson, which is culturally perhaps even more different from Samoa. How was that transition for you?

Was it something you were able to take in stride? You were a bit older as a teenager or did it take a little while?

Michelle Curry (4:33)

Yeah. I think initially it was quite a culture shock. And I think like you mentioned, being a teenager, it's such an awkward time in life, trying to figure yourself out and then trying to navigate two different cultures as well was something quite difficult. But I was very lucky because there were 10 kids, there was myself, my twin brother and my oldest brother. And I have a younger brother, who's only a year and a half younger than me. And we were quite a close knit growing up. So we had each other to navigate through those. So we were kind of like best friends. We went through college together. We had each other's back. And to be honest, sports actually played such a big part in that, being able to find friends and community in sports and linking up with other Polynesian families that were a part of sports.

So in that sense, it really helped us develop into that cultural side of things. But yeah, it's cool that I was able to still have my upbringing as a Samoan and bring it into a very Westernized world.