Being one of the most secluded schools in Ra that does not have a proper school playground, Nailuva District School still managed to win the overall boys’ title at the Cluster 7 Highlanders Athletics Meet last week.
Nailuva District School won the boys’ title in Ra with 15 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze while Nasau District School won the girls’ title with 17 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze.
Being the last school in the interior of Ra, the athletes used the road that leads to their school to train for sporting events.
With a small school ground – these athletes rely on whatever space they can find to train, even if it means running barefoot on loose gravel.
Nailuva District School head of school, Sakiusa Talavau said even without a proper school ground, the athletes managed to win the overall boys’ title.
He said it was the athletes’ positive spirit that brought victory to the school.
“We didn’t expect to win anything coming into the competition – we just wanted to showcase the talent we have,” he said.
“We’re thankful for the students, the teachers, parents and those that came to support us.
“We thank God for his guidance. We always pray over our participation in sports, and it showed here today.”
He said they only brought 53 athletes for the meet, and they were the smallest group to participate.
Now that they have won the boys’ title, they look forward to their next athletics meet in Week 9.
“We will go back and prepare well for the next athletics meet. We have at least two weeks to prepare,” he said.
Seeing how well their team has done this year, he hopes the school can be assisted with getting a proper school ground.
He said a good ground can help with the students development in sports like athletics, rugby and netball. The school is situated on the boarder of Ra, Naitasiri and Ba
The school during the competition was also awarded the best male athlete award. It was awarded to Mitieli Kaseilala of Nailuva District School.
Kaseilala who hails from Nailuva Village with maternal links to Nasukamai Village in Ra couldn’t contain his happiness when he was awarded the best athlete award.
He won the blue-ribbon event and also brought victory to his 4x100m team by being its anchor.
He said he was happy to participate in the athletics meet.
“In the morning, I usually train and my family would pray over my participation,” he said.
“I thank my dad and my family for supporting me.
“My dad always encourages me to try my best and to win the blue ribbon.”
Nasau District School assistant head teacher, Koini Vakarailaba said as they hosted this year’s competition, they were also expecting to take an overall title with them.
“We thank our teachers who are also training our athletes for the exceptional work they’ve done with our athletes,” she said.
“We brought a total of 132 athletes to represent the school.
“We haven’t had athletics meet in the last six years here, so we are extremely happy to have won the girls’ title – it showed our team’s hard work.”
The event was held at Ra High School as it could cater for the seven schools in the cluster.
For the medal tally, while Nailuva came in first in the boys’ division, Nalaba District School came in second with 14 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze. Nasau District School took third place with nine gold, 15 silver and 12 bronze.
In the girls’ division, Nasau District School came in first, Nailuva came in second with 13 gold, 11 silver and four bronze and Nalaba came in third with nine gold, six silver and 16 bronze.
