DESPITE a financial disadvantage, Team Fiji Va’a has set high standards for its members as they prepare for the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa come July.
Team Fiji Va’a coach Duane Reiher said their major preparation difficulty was finance to help prepare the team.
Duane said recently team members had to fund their own trip to participate at the New Zealand Sprints Nationals in January.
“We struggle to get sponsorship money,” Reiher said.
“Because of this we cannot have team preparation camps that I would like to have.” Duane said the team also struggled with transportation to and from training.
“We are blessed that most of our athletes are based around Suva, but some of our athletes travel from Sawani and Valelevu six days a week which takes its toll financially and demands a lot of time on them.
“Most of our athletes are students and I take my hat off for the commitment they have for each other, the sport and the will to represent the country,” he said.
Duane said teammates who had vehicles had also gone the extra mile to pick up their teammates so that they had a full team at each training session.
With the hopes of taking a team of 26 athletes, Duane said there were different disciplines and events they would need to compete in for medals.
He said they were looking at 13 males and 13 female paddlers.
Despite the financial strain on the team, Duane said preparations were going well.
“The squad is training well. We have been together for about eight months and attended the New Zealand Sprints Nationals in January as a buildup towards the Pacific Games.
“We had set high expectations for Team Va’a at the Team Fiji Assembly late last year.
The team is working very hard to meet those expectations and bring back a good medal count.” Duane said they had set themselves high goals for the New Zealand competition.
“When we returned home we moved those goals up again and if we continue with the current enthusiasm, we should knock those goals over when we compete in Samoa,” he said.
Team Fiji Va’a top male and female paddlers, Tomasi Andrea and Elenoa Vateitei achieved good times and finished fourth and third respectively in the New Zealand Sprints Nationals.
“They were up against world champions, and as invitational competitors, were given difficult lanes which affected their results to some extent.
“The men’s and women’s V12 teams also recorded good times and went all the way to the finals in all the events which was one of our goals.
“Going off the results we posted in New Zealand and if we continue to improve, we should be very competitive in Samoa.”
Duane said competition would be tough against the French Territories, but the team was up for the challenge and hopes to do the county proud.
Currently the team has three overseas athletes competing for a spot in the team.
It includes a couple who are based in Samoa and a female paddler based in Sydney, Australia.
Duane said they had been competing with their respective clubs and had been sending trial results they had done with their club coaches.
“We were happy to have them join us at the New Zealand competition where they were able to compete with the team.
“This gave me and the management an opportunity to see how they blended with the team,” he said.
Duane said they had a selection panel to help select the final team according to their national federation’s selection criteria.
“Majority of our events are team events that require good team synergy.
“I am looking for team players who can work well and blend together.”
Duane said he was also looking for people with discipline and dedication to the training programs.
He said the team had set time goals for each of their expected events by comparing past games and international competition results.
Duane said this would be difficult in itself because the canoes, water and weather were never the same and played a big part in the results.
“I look at how these teams fared during international events and how much faster we need to be at home and during overseas tournaments.”
Duane said the competitive nature of their athletes had pushed everyone’s performance levels up as they approached final selection on April 13.
Team Fiji Va’a has yet to win a gold medal in the Pacific Games.
Tahiti dominates the sports.
