Who he is
My name is Kevin Naiqama, I am from Nabuna, Koro. Born and raised in Sydney Australia. I’ve got an elder brother, Wes Naiqama, who’s a former Fiji Bati player, and two younger sisters, Rhonda and Sera. My mum Verenaisi and my dad is Esala, I started playing football when I was six years old. Basically when I first started, it was more of a social thing, all my friends were playing it in school, so I loved playing and hanging out with them on the weekend.
Probably I was not really into it until I was 15 and sort of progressed into a passion and realised it was something that I really wanted to do.
Family
For me family is everything. My mum did all the sacrifices when we were young. For my brother, me and my two sisters, and we are really close. For me and Wes, we are so blessed that rugby league passed us too financially, it has given us so much and I am so thankful that both me and him can do that to my family and be that provider for our family. We never grew up with much, but I have been blessed not only to bless my family but also to bless others as well. This is our platform reaching out to people.
Mother’s sacrifice
My mom and dad separated when I was 12, so my mom took care of us four kids so what I can remember is her sacrifices was she would work the night shift from 11pm to 6am while we were asleep, she would come home before we woke up, she would be making our breakfast and our lunches and send us to school and she would start her next shift at 10am and finish at 2.30pm, which was just enough time to pick us up from school.
The will
Unfortunately when I was 18, a real bad injury but also leading up I was always told that I was too small to play NRL because I was shorter compared with everyone else at that time when I was 18.
I don’t know how but it’s all through God by blessing me with contracts with the Newcastle Knights in the under-20 system. I played two years up there in Newcastle and my brother signed at the same time as well. I did my trade there in two years in Under-20s and from that I signed my first full-time contract with the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. That’s when I was 21.
I made my debut against Melbourne Storm that year. You never forget your first game and it was a real special one.
I got to also make my debut next to my brother he was playing full back at the time and also Akuila Uate who was making hi debut on the other wing. So it made it really special, them playing as well because I grew up with them and I’m really close to them. I consider Akuila a brother as well. He’s sort of journeyed with my family since I moved up to Newcastle when I was 18 and been with him ever since.
So at 21, I made my debut, staying in the Newcastle system for another three more years until I was 24, I signed a contract with Penrith Panthers and I moved to them in 2014, played a season there and then 2015 I signed with the Wests Tigers. From 2015 till next August, I am currently serving that contract now.
Fighting spirit
Definitely, at the time I was told I was disappointed but at the same time I was given a choice to accept what they said to me or not accept it and keep working harder. So I knew at that time when I received that news, I was not going to get any taller. And I was real fast. I was probably 16 when I was told that I was too small for NRL.
It wasn’t by one person that I can remember, it was by a few people. It was coaches at that time for the development system that I was involved in. I couldn’t question at that moment because I thought it was definitely true considered the age at that time I was really small.
It wasn’t a shock to me as I knew, you know it’s hard to know that you can’t grow any taller to be the same height as everyone else so like I said, I was given a choice to accept that or to fight it.
I didn’t accept it and that’s what I did. What that consisted of was going to the gym. If I was going to be small, I wanted to be fast and strong as well.
That sort of pursued that course of working out and with that aside, I have to give God all the glory and all the thanks because he was in my corner at that time.
He knew that I was going to play first grade, what it took was for me to believe that. I am so thankful to Him for that journey that he is taking me on. I continue to be a representative for his Kingdom that he has blessed me with and use that platform for me to spread His Gospel on. It might not be just Bible verses but it would be more in a practical way.
Tattoos
All of it has to do with my faith. I have only two tattoos that are tribal which are the ones I have got one on my forearm. I am a big believer of Jesus, I have been saved now for two years, I made that decision to follow Jesus.
I got all these writing that you see on me, it’s all Bible verses and got a lot of pictures as well in regards to angels and Jesus’ face and the Last Supper as well.
I grew up in church until I was probably 18 and then I moved to Newcastle and I had backslidden from my faith, I compromised everything that I believed in to fit in to a world that was so fake at the time that I was so oblivious to and I was blind. It was that six years that was a cycle of what was opposite to what we believed in as followers of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t until I signed up with Penrith Panthers that the relationship to pursue Jesus started in the back of my heart and it was just so real to me. It wasn’t a one-off moment, it was over the cross of time turning up to serve him and reading his word and I just felt so convicted. I am just so thankful for his forgiveness, his mercy and his love and it is the only reason that I am standing in front of you today for that I am just so thankful.
No regrets
I definitely don’t regret (anything in life), I learn and if I didn’t go through that, then I would have been going for it now. Everything happens for a reason and the only reason I am here today is because what I went through in the past and I want to be that. All those tests have become my testimony now. I speak so freely about it to people because that’s the hope I have in Jesus.
Greatest fear?
My greatest fear would be a funny one, probably animals or something. Maybe spiders if I saw a snake. If you put my head in a bowl full of spiders, I would come out freaked for sure.
RLWC expectations
I don’t want to put too much pressure on the boys, without looking too far its taking today for what it is and you’ve got a limited amount of time here to prepare for our first pool game.
I am a big believer in what you put in today, it becomes your tomorrow.
We have been sowing the right seeds in training, and in our faith, we have devotion every morning and every night.
I believe that is what’s the biggest thing that is going to get us through this World Cup with God being the forefront of this camp and leading this team.
Future
I would have been doing carpentry if I wasn’t playing rugby league, right now I am studying back in Sydney and I am doing my apprenticeship at the moment. I have just finished my first year, so I study and go Monday and Tuesday nights after training so I will be at training from 7am to 3pm and leave straight after training and go to class at TAFE.
