Manaakitanga – Hosting a World Cup
Manaakitanga – Hosting a World Cup was one of the event-focused learning themes in Kōtuitui Sport. It explored what it means to host, welcome and care for others in the context of a major football event.
The theme used the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 as a way to examine hosting as both a practical responsibility and a cultural act. A World Cup requires planning, organisation, safety, facilities and coordination, but it also creates an opportunity to express manaakitanga.
Within the wider learning experiences, this theme helped move the journey from football preparation toward event hosting. It connected closely with Journey to the World Cup, where the focus was on players, teams and the path toward a major tournament.
Hosting as responsibility
Kōtuitui Sport presented hosting as an honour and a responsibility. A major event does not happen only on the field. It depends on many people preparing spaces, welcoming visitors, managing risks and making sure the experience works for everyone involved.
The theme asked students to think about what needs to happen before, during and after a World Cup-style event. This included practical duties, planning tasks, safety needs, environmental impact, visitor experience and the long-term effects of hosting.
This made the theme a natural foundation for Plan and Deliver a World Cup Festival, where the practical side of organising an event was explored in more detail.
The meaning of manaakitanga
Manaakitanga was the cultural centre of this theme. It brought attention to hospitality, generosity, care, respect and the responsibility of looking after others.
In the context of Kōtuitui Sport, manaakitanga was not treated as a decorative idea. It was connected to real actions: how visitors are welcomed, how different needs are recognised, how people are included and how hosts create a safe and respectful environment.
The theme also connected with Understanding Others, where students explored cultures, countries and visiting teams connected to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
Welcoming visitors
A World Cup brings people together from many places. Teams, supporters, organisers, volunteers and communities all become part of the hosting experience.
Kōtuitui Sport used this setting to ask how hosts can recognise the needs of different people. A good host does not assume that everyone experiences an event in the same way. Hospitality requires attention, care and flexibility.
This idea also connected with Understanding Migration, where movement between places, cultural difference and belonging were part of the broader learning journey.
Planning for impact
The theme also looked at the impact of events. A tournament or festival can affect people, transport, waste, resources, budgets, time, access and the local environment.
Students were encouraged to think about what organisers need to consider when planning an event. How many people might attend? What resources are needed? What costs are involved? What could go wrong? What benefits might continue after the event?
This turned hosting into a wider social and environmental question. It was not only about putting on a successful match or festival. It was also about understanding the responsibilities that come with bringing people together.
Designing the event experience
Manaakitanga – Hosting a World Cup also included a creative design element. Students were encouraged to think about objects and spaces connected to tournaments, such as cups, medals, tickets and stadiums.
This gave the theme a visual and practical dimension. A ticket, medal or stadium design could carry information, symbolism and cultural meaning. Behind every visible part of an event there are choices about design, access, safety and identity.
The stadium idea also helped students think about what happens behind the scenes. Changing rooms, catering spaces, toilets, exits, crowd movement and accessibility all form part of a hosting experience.
Hosting and community identity
Hosting also connects with community identity. When a community welcomes visitors, it shows something about its values, places, people and ways of gathering.
This made the theme closely connected to Community Connections, where schools, kura, clubs, whenua, rohe and local stories were explored as parts of collective identity.
Through manaakitanga, hosting became a way to express who a community is. It also became a way to show care for people arriving from outside that community.
From hosting to participation
This theme helped prepare the final stages of the Kōtuitui Sport learning journey. Once students had considered welcome, responsibility, planning and event impact, they were ready to think about how a World Cup-style festival could be organised and experienced.
That next step appeared in Participating in Your Own World Cup Festival, where the learning journey came together through match day roles, presentations, physical activity, media work and shared celebration.
In this way, manaakitanga linked cultural learning with practical event experience.
Why this theme mattered
Manaakitanga – Hosting a World Cup mattered because it showed that major sporting events are not only about competition. They are also about welcome, care, planning, responsibility and the relationships between hosts and visitors.
The theme helped students understand that hosting is both practical and cultural. It involves logistics, safety and organisation, but it also involves respect, generosity and the ability to recognise different needs.
Through this theme, Kōtuitui Sport used the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to explore what it means to host well. A tournament became a way to think about hospitality, community values and the care required when people come together.