Young and restless for action could best describe how Pita Rabo found his way into the Rewa football team for the Fiji FACT in 1998.
Rabo entered the tournament for the first time in that year, and he recalled the odds of even doing so at 21-years-old.
“I remember I’ve been chosen into the team but those times, it’s very hard to get into a team especially if you’re young,” Rabo said.
“So if you’re young, you have to be very good in so many aspects of the game, especially your build; you have to be physically fit.”
With such a privilege put on his shoulders then, he could feel the sense of distinction that came with it, as his emotions basked in the revelry of cheering from a packed Ratu Cakobau Park – on the bench.
While he may have not had much game time in that year, he fondly recalled the preparation process for the tournament.
“I think to go out and camp with the boys and just go out in the tournament, I think it’s sort of a good feeling for you at a younger age that time,” he recalled.
“Most of the players you’re around with are most players that represent Fiji and you look up to them and you wish one day you can climb up to where they are.”
As these players garnered his respect, he was inspired by the direction of the coaches he played under and imparted their ways onto his son, Asivurusi Rabo, who now plays for Rewa.
“Every coach that I’ve been with, every advice they have given me, I take it every time before my game and that’s what I always tell my son. I said, the time when I go inside the ground, that’s when I know I can do anything because I know how I prepared (and) the way I stay focused on the game,” he mentioned.
Rabo’s prominence would evolve from that 1998 Fiji FACT, when he would make a mark in other tournament such as the Battle of the Giants and the Inter-District Championship.
He is now a village headman in the village of Kuku outside Nausori and is married with five children.
