But it was her exploits on the track this year that have steered Scally-Tu’i toward an immediate career as a sprinter, determined to speed to the apex of her sport.
“I have really high standards. I want to go to the Olympics, make the final and be in the top three,” the Tania Dalton Foundation scholar says.
“I set really big goals but I set them realistically. All I have to do is believe and put in the work and it will happen.”
Paris Olympic sprinter Zoe Hobbs is her benchmark, and four-time Olympic medallist Dame Valerie Adams is her mentor – formidable influences shaping her rise.
Scally-Tu’i, a Year 12 student at Mt Albert Grammar, shattered five New Zealand records last summer – four of them in a single blistering run in the United States while touring with the NZ Secondary Schools team.
Kendra Scally-Tu’i with her medals from the Mt SAC Relays in California. Photo / Supplied
Still just 16, she became the fastest Kiwi woman over 200m in four age categories, from U17 to U20, clocking 23.52s at the Mt SAC Relays in Walnut, California. She overcame nerves and a restless flight – the longest she’d experienced – to run the race of her life.
“I didn’t realise I’d set a new record until after the race – I saw the board but didn’t really process my time,” she says.
“It was such a big jump up from my PB, I was thinking, ‘Is that even legal?’.”
Her previous best was 23.74s, set a month earlier.
“I was expecting a good time because of the track. I just wasn’t expecting it to be that good.”
At that same meet, Scally-Tu’i ran her fastest time over 100m, 11.57s, and won the race.
“I honestly did not expect to win it. I knew I was good, but I’d done my research on all the girls in my race, and thought they were so much faster than me. I was scared,” she says.
“But I didn’t put myself under any pressure. I just ran my race.”
Her next goal is to return to the US in August and reach the podium at the world U20 athletics championships in Oregon, wearing the silver fern.
But it all could have been much different, had she continued along the path towards her dream as a 10-year-old: to play in the Australian women’s sevens team.
Kendra Scally-Tu’i building bonds with other Tania Dalton Foundation scholars. Photo / Jo Caird
Growing up in Auckland, Scally-Tu’i started playing touch at 6 after watching her mum, Sheridan, play with friends. Her coach saw her speed and passing skills, and suggested she give rugby a go.
“I played in a boys’ team at Massey, and they were just like my brothers,” says Scully-Tu’i, who was also doing athletics in summer.
At 9, Scully-Tu’i moved with her family to Victoria, Australia, for her dad’s work. She dropped athletics to focus on rugby.
“We were living in Ballarat and after school, I’d travel two hours to Melbourne for training,” she says.
She played touch for Victoria at the national schools champs (where she revealed her ambition to play sevens for Australia to the local newspaper).
But when Scally-Tu’i returned to New Zealand for Christmas that year, she and her mum decided to stay and she threw herself into multiple sports – including sprinting again.
“Throughout my life, I’ve done 18 different sports – swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading, crossfit, basketball, league and soccer,” she says.
“But at intermediate, rugby and touch came first, with sprinting third.”
But injuries on the field – the worst, a dislocated shoulder playing league – forced her to ease off ball sports, and recover with sprint training.
“And my love for running come back,” she says.
Scally-Tu’i began winning races and came under the coaching of Nuree Greenhalgh.
“I was the youngest in the team, but the boys and girls were so welcoming and made everything fun. And I felt like I was improving every day,” she says.
“I have a really close bond with my coach. I tell her how I’m feeling; how I’ve been with school, my love life, my friendships. I tell her everything because all that affects how you train and run.”
Scally-Tu’i dropped rugby this year.
“But it’s definitely something I can come back to later. I need to put all my time into sprinting… until I’m 28 or whatever age I finish at.”
Kendra Scally-Tu’i is dedicated in training. Photo / Jo Caird
Playing touch with the U20 Touch Blacks in Australia earlier this year, as a 16-year-old, she dislocated her shoulder twice.
Although it doesn’t affect her running, Scally-Tu’i may need surgery.
But she wants to delay that until after the world U20 athletics champs – where she’s set her sights on making the podium in the 100m and 200m.
“I only get one chance to go to the U20 worlds because I turn 18 while I’m over there. One chance, and I’m going to make the most of it,” she says.
“I have really big goals, obviously the Olympics which I think I’ll be going to. Also little goals I need to achieve before the big ones. I definitely care more about achieving the little ones.”
She credits her mum with teaching her priorities at a young age. Training six days a week, Scally-Tu’i is careful not to overdo it on her rest day.
“Mum was tough on me, but in a good way. When I was younger, she told me not to give up on sprinting, but to try harder. I didn’t really understand at that age,” she says.
“Now I’m really thankful she supported me through the tough times, made me try these things and not give up.”
Even a hip injury leading up to last year’s Oceania champs in Fiji couldn’t stop her.
Despite fluid in her bone and eight weeks without full training, she won the event, setting a new Oceania U18 record of 24.30s at just 15 – and she’s shaved almost a second off since.
Scally-Tu’i running third to Zoe Hobbs over 60m at the 2025 International Track Meet. Photo / Alisha Lovrich, International Track and Field Trust
Running alongside Hobbs – New Zealand’s fastest woman over 100m in 10.94s – in local track meets has given Scally-Tu’i something to aim for.
“I want to be at her point hopefully when I’m 20 – and I definitely want to go beyond that,” she says.
As part of the 2024 cohort of the Tania Dalton Foundation scholarship programme, Scally-Tu’i has created a sisterhood with young wāhine on a similar path.
“Getting to know each other, how their sports work and what they’re achieving, has been amazing. We now have bonds so we’re still connected outside this,” she says.
“The TDF funding has helped me to get to certain places, too, because it’s pretty expensive for my parents.
“I’m really grateful to TDF for helping me to grow as a person, through my mindset, my values, and how I represent myself.”
She’s also one of the recipients of the new Air New Zealand Dream Seats initiative – receiving free flights to the world U20 championships, and mentoring from Adams.
Faced with more forks in her pathway, Scally-Tu’i has decided not to take up full-ride scholarship offers from US colleges, and stay with Greenhalgh and assistant coach Mark Keddell, who ran the 200m for New Zealand at the 1996 Olympics.
As she gets faster, she’s growing in confidence and optimism.
“A lot of people hate failing, but I enjoy it. I think it’s a positive thing,” she says.
“I used to have a negative mindset, but my mum’s really helped me get a positive mindset. And being part of the Tania Dalton Foundation has made me look at life in a different way, too.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.