Family Time: Leweniqila

Fijiana Captain: Lockdown period has helped me connect well with God and family.

Strengthening spiritual life and family time is paramount for Fiji Airways Fijiana 15’s captain Sereima Leweniqila.

As COVID-19 continue to keep athletes away in lockdown, Leweniqila used the lockdown period to focus on her spiritual life and family.

“I have been catching up on my movies, debates, and conversation with my Dad in regards to my spiritual life. Now I also have more time reading the Bible which helps me reflect on myself ” she said. Leweniqila said the downtime has helped her reconnect with family and spring clean.

The Westpac bank Loans Operations Officer is also motivated to start home gardening soon.

“Now I’m catching up with family as most of the time I am away or just focused on rugby.

Training

Like her teammates, it’s tough trying to maintain fitness during this time.

“I don’t work so well when I train on my own. I find it boring. I have stayed in touch with my group of friends through social media platforms and we are trying to help each other by sharing workouts plans, using apps and just bodyweight exercise,” she said.

Leweniqila often force her sisters to join her during her training sessions.

“It feels different to be away from my rugby sisters. You get to miss those moments, you’re so used to seeing them every once in a while and getting together, training, complaining, having a good feast after the workout or just plain team bonding.

“At the same time I think it’s a good timeout for some of us, I think when they get back they will be more hungry and appreciative that they get to play again.”

The Fijiana 15’s side has qualified for the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Leweniqila said they continue to encourage each other to keep fit and building up to next year.

“It’s a very hard time for us but we make sure everyone is on the same page as we train every day as a team but physically apart from each other.”

--World Cup

“The World Cup is next year and we do understand that we have a limited time to prepare ourselves. Now that the virus is here and the government have restricted movement it has been tough for me and my team mates.

“For the World Cup next year we are constantly in touch with each other about our training programmes,” Leweniqila said.

“We have always encouraged each other in terms of maintainning fitness and consistency when we play or train at our homes.”

Leweniqila added that constant communication with team mates via Facebook has been helpfull during the lockdown.

“It’s a very hard time for us but we make sure everyone is on the same page as we train everyday as a team apart from each other,” she said.

“We often discuss and share training drills on our social media platform and it has been helping us connect and share our training online.”

“There are a lot of training app on the web so we use that everyday and we challenge each other to our personal best.”

“I believe with the World Cup next year, time will fly so i keep on reminding the girls in the team that we will get through this virus and the devastation of TC Herald and prepare stronger than ever.

“The team makes sure that we have time for our prayers every night to seek divine intervation.”

“I leave everything to God who will provide everything for the team.”