Lomaivuna High School will march into the Fiji Secondary Schools’ Coca-Cola Games with faith and determination in the next three days of competition.
Coach Penieli Bikei said the athletes had been on their toes with their training, despite the challenges they faced, they still managed to train.
“One of the challenges that we face is not having a proper ground to train on and that hasn’t deterred the athletes as they keep pushing themselves to achieve their dreams no matter what circumstance their face,” Bikei said.
“Another challenge is our training gear; some of these athletes don’t have training shorts, let alone a pair of joggers.
“So what the teachers did, they lend their joggers to some of the athletes to help them train.
“As far as track shoes are concerned, we can’t afford to buy one.
“Majority of these athletes come from a farming family background and we can imagine what they go through, so we make do with what we have.”
He said they had 16 athletes, two of whom would compete in field events and the rest in long distance and middle distance track events.
“Training has been intense with a lot of hiking on hills and a lot of power running.
“During our inter-house competition, we selected 52 athletes for the Triple-N Zone competition and finally 16 were selected for the Coca-Cola Games.
“We hope to win some gold medals.”
The 2022 Coca-Cola Games will start tomorrow at the HFC Bank Stadium at Laucala Bay, Suva.
