Caption: The under 13 netball team with His Excellency the President at Govt House.
The Fiji under 13 netball team today presented their traditional ‘itatau’ to his Excellency the President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau at Government House.
The 30 member team and 10 officials will form three teams at the Pasifika Netball Tournament in Auckland, New Zealand on the October 11, 2014.
Ratu Epeli was honoured to receive the Under 13 girls, who are also known as ‘Lewa Sewa’.
“I am very honoured to receive you. Your international career starts today. That is a great undertaking. For a lot of you it is a surprising feature for you this year. It is the beginning of your career and I have no doubt you will be Fiji’s representatives in sports in the future,” Ratu Epeli said.
Ratu Epeli told the girls to enjoy themselves and to remember that the people of Fiji support them.
“You will go to a country that takes sports seriously. They want to see good performance and I hope you have that in mind. The people of Fiji are very supportive but very demanding. They expect you to win. They don’t expect anything else,” Ratu Epeli added.
Fiji Primary School Netball Association president, Susana Liga said the tour of New Zealand will be an eye opener for the young girls.
“We are touring New Zealand on the invitation of Fijians in Auckland and it will be the first overseas exposure for all the girls and they will be competing with teams from other Pacific islands,” Ms Liga said.
“The tournament will be held at the AMI Sports Centre in Auckland and the girls are very much looking forward to represent Fiji in it.”
Ms Liga said the young girls making up the team came from all over Fiji.
“Four are from Vanua Levu, one from Ovalau, two from Ra, 15 from the West and the rest are from Suva,” Ms Liga said.
MINFO