Niue teenager on the autism spectrum excels at powerlifting

Fourteen year-old Hipa Tuhipa has become an overnight hero in Niue. He is on the autism spectrum and has struggled with self-confidence for a long time.

But at the Oceania Powerlifting Championship in his home island last week, he raised the bar and won two gold medals in an achievement his family, coaches and friends are proud of.

Hipa's mother Angela said their son had to come through challenges that were different from other competitors in his event.

"We have been working with our Ministry of Health since 2017 to get Hipa formally assessed and diagnosed after he was seen by a specialist here in Niue, who said he may have autism," she said.

"Finally this year, we have had a formal diagnosis from a specialist team that came in February, and he has been formally diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)."

Hipa has two younger siblings as well, who were also diagnosed with ASD. His younger brother Ikimahina,12, and sister Marinaola, seven.

ASD is "a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain", according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

"People with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests," it says.

The centre also says people with autism have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention and these characteristics can make life very challenging.

But despite that Hipa pushed past the barriers to stand proud with the Niue national anthem played twice as he received his gold medals.

Powerlifting helps

Hipa told RNZ Pacific that he was excited about powerlifting.

"Powerlifting has helped build my confidence so that my body is strong and healthy, and also to stay focused. Winning medals is good too. Because it shows me that I can do anything," he said.

The win has inspired him to continue participating in the sport, not only for the competition, but for his well-being.

"I want to keep going in the sport. It helps me a lot to be strong in my mind and my body. I love to represent my country and show kids who have autism like me that we can do anything we want."

The young athlete said he is grateful for the people around his, who helped prepare him for the Oceania powerlifting competition.

"My main coaches are Tony Edwards and Sidney Lui. They have trained me at the powerlifting gym since January," he said.

"My other coaches are Carol, Maxine and Ramsey Edwards sometimes they help me in my training. Maxine was my handler at the competition and my dad also helps me going to all my training sessions and training with me, and my mom helps with getting things organised.

"All my family and my friends who helped fundraise with me for my competition, Iam very grateful for all the support that they have given me and I hope I made them all proud of me."

Proud mother

His mother Angela said they were proud of his achievement.

"He has only recently started in the sport. The training that he has put into it since January has been intensive. But really helped build his confidence and build his strength, both his physical strength and his mental mental ability," Hipa's mother told RNZ Pacific.

"We are just so happy what he has been able to achieve at such a high level. We were pleasantly surprised that he was able to come away with two gold medals - in the sub-junior 105kg category," Angela said.

"We hope he continues on this journey. Despite the fact that he has some challenges, he has been able to work through those challenges.

"His coaches, with his dad, especially, who has been in the gym with him at every session.

"[Hipa] has been inspiring to not only his siblings, he has some younger siblings that are also autistic. But all kids around Niue look at him, and they are inspired to do the things that they want to do, and tried to achieve," she said.

'It was a hard journey'

Dad and trainer Richard Tuhipa said he had seen different sort of developments and changes as Hipa trained.

"He has always been quite a timid [but] since he [started] getting into the gym, we just needed to support him because we knew it was coming. It was getting to be quite tricky with him, especially with large crowds and things," he said.

"But with the support from his coaches, that really pushed him and it just sort of helped him channell all of that energy so that he could focus on getting up on that stage, pushing those heavy weights."

He said just fronting up to compete, standing on the rack and doing his deadlifts, bench presses, and squats, were all really difficult goals for Hipa to try and achieve.

"We did not really understand how he was feeling at the time. But it was a really hard journey from trying to work his way through."

"Big thumbs up to him and at the end of the day we are very proud of him."

Positive change

Niue Powerlifting president and Oceania meet director Tony Edwards Hipa has has come a long way.

"We wanted to introduce [powerlifting] to people like him who have less confidence in themselves, who fear the public," Edwards said.

"But having him here and training him to be a powerlifter, he has come a long way to be able to bring himself out there. It was all about building his confidence."

He said his as coaches and people around him, they could see a change in him during the training.

"For someone who is not really into public speaking or public appearance he showed some real courage to get out on the platform and to lift the weights.

"The weights that he lifted during the competition was unbelievable. It was really tremendous to watch."

He said Hipa's achievement and participation demonstrates that sports such as powerlifting is not only for able-bodied athletes.

"But it is for anyone who wants to take up powerlifting. The sport is part of the community and everyone who wants in the community should take it up."

Co-coach Sidney Lui said Hipa was quiet at the start but gained confidence as he progressed.

"The boy came from hardly [saying] a word other than nod and squint and towards the end of the training towards this championship, he was quite leapy, asking two common words, 'why' and 'how come?'"

"It is like, 'why you are you giving me five kg [weights increases]. Why cannot you give me 10kg?"

"The parents were laughing at our Niue team debrief when I said that was actually a sign of confidence he built while he was here, and we have only just been training for three months leading up to this tournament."

Hipa is expected to be part of the Niue Powerlifting team that will prepare for the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.

And judging by what he is showing there will be no surprises if he does win a gold or two in Honiara come November.