Team Up One Netball Samoa National U14 Tournament
Team Up One Netball Samoa National U14 Tournament
Photo: Eyespy Radio 87.5
Nine primary schools from around the island battled it out last Thursday for first place in the Under-14 Boys & Girls Netball tournament held at the Multipurpose Gymnasium at Tuanaimato.
The one day tournament was held at the end of a 6 week skills training programme to celebrate and showcase the hard work the children and teacher/coaches had put in during training.
The Team Up One Netball Samoa programme is funded by the Australia Government and also received sponsorship from Farmer Joe who shares our vision of improving family lifestyles. The program also worked to highlight that Netball is a sport for everyone, boys and girls alike who are just looking to have fun whilst keeping active and making new friends. It was great to be able to include the boys division as we strive towards gender equality in our sport as well as social inclusion and we anticipate from their enjoyment of the tournament that the numbers will surely grow.
The 9 schools which took part in the one-day event include Apia Primary, Samoa Primary, Fagalii Primary, Falefitu Primary, Peace Chapel Christian School, Robert Louis Stevenson School, Vailoa Primary, St. Theresa Primary, and St. Mary's Primary.
There were a total of 32 teams that entered from the 9 primary schools, U10 (mixed) – 5 teams, U12 girls – 12 teams, U14 boys – 5 teams, and U14 girls – 10 teams. In the U10 competition, 1st place went to St. Mary's Primary, 2nd place to Samoa Primary 1, and 3rd place to Samoa Primary 1. In the U12 division, Samoa Primary 1 took first place, St. Mary's 2 came second, and Fagalii Primary in third place.
In the U14 Boys competition, Fagali’i Primary took first place, Samoa Primary 1 came second, and Samoa Primary 2 won bronze. The U14 Girls coveted first prize was clinched by Samoa Primary, in second place was Fagalii Primary, and third place went to Apia Primary.
Ualesi Kaio from Robert Louis Stevenson School who won the male overall MVP award stated in an interview with Eyespy that he is glad he got introduced to the game of netball. "It is a very fast and exhilarating sport, I thought before that it was a game meant only for girls but I guess its a sport for all genders," he said.
Special Awards
School with Best Sportsmanship - Peace Chapel Christian School
Male Overall MVP – Ualesi Kaio (RLSS)
Female Overall MVP – Pativaine Tevita (Samoa Primary)