Life of choices
WHEN former national 7s rugby wizard Waisale Serevi walked up to the Suva Methodist Primary School compound yesterday, he was greeted by excited children.
It was interesting to note that, despite the difference in age, and the gap, the students knew the former national skipper and coach. They were not born yet when Serevi was nearing the end of his 7s career.
Yet they could relate to him. They were excited to meet him. They embraced the moment, and savoured that to the brim.
That special moment yesterday catapulted Serevi’s image to a very high plane.
He was recognisable. He was approachable. He was fun to be with, and he was pretty much down to earth.
The kids loved him.
Yet, as much as he is regarded an icon, and influencer in world 7s rugby, Serevi has never forgotten his origins.
He has never forgotten the hard route he followed to get to where he is today, achieving milestones that have etched his name in the annals of international rugby.
From humble beginnings, Serevi carved a pathway that took him to the Nabua rugby club, and eventually to the national side, winning accolades over the years, and stamping his mark on the world’s best 7s playgrounds.
Back home, the brawls in Nabua, Suva, have hurt him. The events over the past few weeks between Mead Rd housing and Sukanaivalu Rd youths, he said, were disappointing.
However, the focus, he said, should now be on reconciliation and finding a purpose for disenfranchised youths who live there. Serevi knows what unity can bring. He knows what sports can do to youths struggling to find a purpose in life.
“My advice to all youths is we need to think about what you want Fiji to be like in the next 10 years,” he said. “What do you want to leave behind — whoever you are, wherever you are, that is the next important thing you need to ask yourselves.
“I ask all youths of Fiji, not only in Nabua, wherever you are — we need to be good citizens for the country because the future is them, it’s the youths and the young kids.
“I want to encourage them because I was where they are now. I was that like 30 years ago. I was not in school, but I did not let that bring me down. I tried to find my own way to get there to the top and I chose to do it through rugby.
“My message to all the youths is this — you have an opportunity to do something positive with your life. The last thing you want is to make a choice where you will end up locked in a square room because that is not life.”
You can read his powerful message inside on Pages 26 and 27.
Today we look at sports as a sort of bridge that connects youths to a purpose.
We look at the Silktails now playing in the NSW Ron Massey Cup competition in Australia, the Drua who have just been given an opportunity to play in the Super Rugby competition from next year, the Farebrother Sullivan Trophy challenge this afternoon, the Fiji secondary schools rugby league finals in Suva today, the Skipper Cup competition, and soccer to name a few.
We have our challenges daily, but life brims with choices.