ANOTHER SOTUTU
Teuila Sotutu Continues Family’s Sporting Success
There could be a new family of sporting royalty coming onto the scene, with Teuila Sotutu named in the New Zealand under-21 squad for next year’s Netball World Youth Cup.
Teuila’s eldest brother is new All Black Hoskins Sotutu, while their father, Fiji international Waisake played for the Blues and Crusaders in the early days of Super Rugby. Teuila, 19, has another older brother Kobe and a younger sister, Hana, who are both involved in sport. Waisake says they’re a family that’s grown up with sport being part of their lives. “When we lived in Japan, the girls were too young to do anything, but the boys were in a soccer school,” Waisake said.
“With the girls, when we got back to New Zealand, there were more opportunities for them and it was netball, mainly for Teuila.
“When we got back here, I wanted Hoskins to play football, so he did for a club.
“Then he started watching rugby on SkyTV and got into that and Teuila was a swimmer to start off with.” Teuila was part of the Comets in the Beko League last year, but with that competition cancelled this season because of the coronavirus pandemic, there wasn’t much high level netball for players outside the ANZ Premiership.
Squad naming a surprise
So it came as something of a surprise for Teuila to be selected for New Zealand, especially as she had been mixing netball with rugby and spent part of this year playing sevens in Japan.
“It’s quite exciting, I didn’t really think I’d make it,” Teuila said.
“When I came back home, I just played for my two club teams, College Rifles and Shelly Park, so I haven’t been playing much.”
Up to now, Teuila has balanced rugby with netball. They’re two sports where you catch and throw a ball, but there’s not much else in common. For now, she wants to keep playing both.
“I’m always asked which one I like better, but I never have an answer, I love the both the same,” she said.
“It depends on the day, if I’ve lost a game, I’ll say I like the other sport better!”
Her mother, Adelita Sotutu, said they haven’t put any pressure on her to concentrate on one sport, but have encouraged her to keep giving it everything.
“The main advise we try to give her is commitment,” Adelita said.
“She made that decision at the beginning of the year when she was named in the Comets Beko team, then she made the Auckland women’s sevens team and then an opportunity came up to go to Japan for a five-month stint. “So we talked about making that commitment, sticking with it and going hard. “When she first came back from Japan, she was still deciding which code she liked more. “She’d played a bit of Marist 10s and enjoyed doing that and then played club netball and enjoyed being back on a netball court. “Somewhere along the line she decided she wanted to give netball a go and two weeks later she’s named in the under-21 squad. So it’s pretty exciting and the work commitment comes into that conversation of go hard and give it your all.”
“At the moment she can fit in both,” added Waisake.
“But when she goes to that next level, when the training over-ride each other, the sports could get in the way of each other.
“She may start picking up niggles from rugby, because it’s a contact sport, which will impact her netball. “Our other boy, Kobe, he’s played a bit of baseball and rugby, so there’s no harm in doing a lot if they can fit it in and not get smashed by over training, because I think it opens up their skills.”
Having a brother in the All Blacks squad no doubt shows Teuila what can be achieved by perseverance and commitment, but it’s not something they’ve spoken about much.
“It’s pushed me to work harder and become as successful as him,” she said.
“He doesn’t really talk to me much about making the All Blacks and I think he’s quite shocked about it.”
However far Waisake and Adelita’s four children go in sport, they’ve made their parents proud already and no matter what they achieve, they’re just a normal family at home.
“To get to where they are now, I still have a smile on my face and a chuckle about how cool they are,” Adelita said.
“But it’s still the same when they get home, they still have to do their chores and life still goes on.
“They’ve had a little taste of the icing on the cake. Not all of it, but just a little taste.”