Secondary school athletics goes back about 30 years, Viliame Saulekaleka, secretary of the Fiji Amateur Athletics Federation said in an article of The Fiji Times on April 27, 1983.
He said secondary school athletics was a keenly contested competition in the 50s and some good times were recorded at the time.
Mr Saulekaleka said only two sports were prominent then – rugby and athletics.
“We not only produced the country’s best rugby players but also the best school athletes,” he said.
“Facilities were not as good as they are today but we made do with what we had, an important ingredient that helped athletes at the time was dedication.”
After the 50s there was a lapse in school athletes due mainly to a lack of organisations, however, through people such as Koroi (president of the Secondary Schools’ Athletics Association), (Bill Oddou a Peace Corps volunteer) and Mr Saulekaleka, athletics in school went through a grand revival and developed into what it is now.
Mr Saulekaleka said the revival in the mid-70s was because of the formation of the Physical Education Department in the Education Ministry.
Trained teachers went back to the schools and not only coached students but spurred on their interest.
Apart from his tutorship at the Nasinu Teachers Training College, Mr Saulekaleka moved from school to school teaching jumpers how to jump the Fosbury flop correctly, teaching athletes how to start in racers and the basics of both track and field events.
Sponsors such as Island Bottles Ltd, who had been sponsoring the Juicy Games for eight years, should be highly commended, he said.
The sponsorship had helped create more awareness of the competition through publicity as well as generous provision of equipment. One aspect of school athletes that should be looked into was the inclusion of more school from the outer islands, Mr Saulekaleka said.
“Plenty of untapped material there, coaching and proper facilities were needed in these areas.”.
The Juicy Games to be played that Saturday was expected to show some good performances from all the schools, especially with the modern running tracks that the stadium had.
Judging from the performance in individual schools, and interzone competition, the girls were expected to come up with good records.
Mr Saulekaleka said the boys’ potentials would undoubtedly shine at the event, and some future champions could emerge to be given close specialist attention.
