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Training athletes with disabilities

Coaching athletes with disabilities was not a difficult task, according to a local sports coach and mentor.

Fred Fatiaki, who coached Iliesa Delana to gold at the Paralympics, said coaching athletes with disabilities was a very simple task with only some additional thing to consider.

“The only thing with coaching athletes with disabilities is that you have to modify their training programs to suit the abilities that they have,” he said.

Fatiaki said the only difference between Delana’s training in the build up to the Paralympics last year and an able-bodied athlete was that he did some other things.

“Delana used to do a lot of swimming, squats, hill running and gym training,” he said.

Fatiaki said that the main thing for athletes was to focus on the abilities they have and to work hard to improve themselves in the events they take part in.

“My advice to such athletes is to do training that suits them and that will help them to prepare better for their events,” he said.

A former athlete himself, Fatiaki said that he was now working together with other athletics coaches to help prepare training programs for athletes with disabilities.

“I usually work with other coaches like Albert Miller and James Goulding to come up with programs that will actually suit individual athletes,” Fatiaki said.

Fatiaki added that the he could only advise athletes with disabilities to work hard to succeed.

“I would like to advice athletes not to focus on the disability that they have but to focus on the ability that they have and to work hard in succeeding,” he said.

 
Delana’s Journey

It was a tough road of journey for a disabled Iliesa Delana, winning the first gold medal for Fiji and the region at the Paralympics Games in London last year.

Born with full ability, Delana lost his left leg in an accident when he was three-years-old.

“I thank the Almighty for everything that has happened,” he said.

As he grew up Delana said that he never dreamt of becoming a high jumper.

“Although having a lot of interest in sports especially rugby because of growing up in Nadroga, I never thought to be a high jumper,” he said.

Delana spent his time like any other child in the village by doing farming and attending schools.

“I moved to Suva because Fiji Paralympics came looking for me after my performances at the Fiji Sports for the Disabled’s Paralympics Games,” he said.

His made his international debut in 2006 in Malaysia from where the doors for opportunity opened up for him.  

Whole of Fiji will definitely remember that September day when the Delana rose above everyone else to claim what was rightfully his.

The 27-year-old Nadrala, Sigatoka native cleared the F42 high jump bar on 1.74m, also setting a new regional record.

“To explain, the life for a person with disabilities, it’s hard to achieve that milestone and to be the first athlete in Fiji is unexplainable,” he said.

He added the thought of participating at the Paralympics came to him when he won a silver medal at the World Championships in 2011.

Since his triumph in London, Delana has indeed come a very long way.

 He was welcomed with a ceremony fit for a President, awarded a new house by the government and has also inducted in FSANOC’s Hall Of Fame.

“I want to thank the Almighty because he is the main source of everything, my family, Fiji Paralympics and sponsor Digicel Fiji,” he said.

With his great achievement now in the history books, his has a simple message for everyone. 

 “Sometimes I nearly gave up because I was doing something that didn’t even pay me but the love of sports drove me on,” Delana said.

Delana is currently suffering a niggling knee injury which has left him behind from taking part in the World Championships in France.

Indiscipline at ISA Soccer Meet

Ill-disciplined behavior failed to deter University of the South Pacific’s Indian Students’ Association (USPISA) from successfully hosting their first soccer tournament of the year over the weekend.

USPISA President Sheshant Kumar said he was pleased with the way the tournament was hosted despite facing some discipline problems. 

 “Some teams failed to maintain their discipline even though we had discussed in the managers’ meeting that players and teams can be disqualified if there were cases of bad behavior during the tournament,” he said.

Kumar said that there was one case where a team was not allowed to play in the quarter-finals even after qualifying because they were involved in fights with other teams on a number of occasions. 

“Officials decided to disqualify Marines FC because the team was involved in some fights with other teams so it was decided that the next best team (Babasiga Cubs) in that pool should qualify for the knock-out rounds,” he said.

Kumar highlighted that indiscipline from teams was not a new issue as it had been happening from over the years. 

“We always have cases of indiscipline every time we organise tournaments and most of these cases involve players fighting with other players or players being disobedient to the rulings made by the match officials,” he said. 

Kumar added that he was pleased with the level of soccer displayed by teams during the two-day tournament with some of the teams having a few district reps.

“We had a lot of close games with most of the knock-out games going right down to the wire,” Kumar said.

Bir Brothers walked away with the main prize of a trophy and $400 after defeating Babasiga Cubs in a closely-contested final by 1-0.

Team manager Shaneel Chand said that he was very happy with the win and thanked all the players for their hard-work over the two days.

“I would like to thank everyone for this win as we have won this tournament after a year now,” he said.

“The last time we won the tournament was back in 2011 so I am very happy that the team has won.”

Chand said that the team would now look forward to defend its title in the next ISA tournament which will be held in the second semester.

Wansolwara Online launch

USP’s Wansolwara online news service was officially launched during the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) celebrations last week Friday.

Former High Court judge and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Women Nazhat Shameem, who was the keynote speaker, launched the news site at the evening cocktails which was attended by 80 students, staff and guests.

Wansolwara online provides people with access to stories on a weekly basis as the site, and complemented by the newspaper’s monthly print version.

USP Journalism Programme co-ordinator Dr Ian Weber said that the launching of the new website would provide students with another platform to train themselves with.
" This is an excellent opportunity for student journalists to work in an online news forum and gain valuable experience that will make them more employable in the media industry," he said.

Wansolwara Online Editor Biutoka Kacimaiwai said that the response from people so far has been good with people commending the website for its look and accessibility.

“The response has been really positive, students and other people have been really impressed with the new clean and user-friendly look,” he said.

Kacimaiwai said that the aim was to make the website more interactive and to create a online forum where students can talk about issues affecting them.

“We are hoping to add polls and comments with articles so that the news is not only read, but also discussed,” he said.

Kacimaiwai said that with the website now been launched, the next step would be find ways to integrate it with Radio Pasifik and television production material produced by students.    

“We are hoping to improve the site as it has just been launched, and by next semester students in USP, Fiji and the region would be able to look to Wansolwara online publications to get updates about what's happening around them,” he said.

                                                                                                                                                       

 

ISA Netball Tournament

Indian students at USP tried out netball for the first time at a tournament organised by the USP Indian Students’ Association (USPISA) on April 27.

USPISA President Sheshant Kumar said that the one-day tournament was organised to involve girls in sporting activities.

“The reason why we organised this tournament was to allow girls to take part in one type of sporting activity,” Kumar said.

He said that the only sporting event USPISA organised every semester was football which was only for boys so they thought of having something for the girls this semester.

“The funds that USPISA got to organise sporting activities every semester was only used to organise a football tournament so the executives of USPISA thought of organising a netball tournament for girls,” Kumar said.

Three teams registered for the tournament with each team being allowed to have three boys as part of the squad.

“We allowed each of the teams to have a minimum of three male players because it may take a bit of time to generate that interest amongst girls to come out and participate in such events,” he said.

Kumar said that each of the teams had to pay an entry fee of $10 which was refunded at the completion of the tournament.

“The main aim of having this tournament was to increase the involvement of girls in sporting events such as this so we didn’t feel the need to collect actual entry fees from the teams,” he said.

Kumar added that there were some close match-ups amongst the teams with some games even going into extra time.

He said that USPISA would look to hold similar tournaments in the future in a bid to keep girls interested in participating in sports and to lead a healthy lifestyle in general. 

Codes’ separation to give players an opportunity

Futsal players in Fiji now have a very good chance to get serious about the sport after the separation between the two codes of Futsal and 11-a-side football by Fiji Football Association.

The separation between the two codes means that players will now be not able to participate in both odes but will instead have to choose a single code to represent.

Fiji FA official Hari Raj Naicker said that this move will allow to Futsal with an opportunity to take the sport seriously and also give them a chance to even represent the nation in the code.

“We have seen in the past that players who play futsal throughout the season lose out when the time comes for national duties because players with credibility from the 11-a-side code are chosen instead,” said Naicker.   

“This new initiative will allow such players to actually get serious with Futsal and make a name for themselves.”

Naicker said another reason why the separation of the two codes has come about was because of the load on the 11-a-side players who were participating in both codes.

“It becomes exhausting for players from the 11-a-side code who represent both the codes because as it is the 11-a-side players have club football and district football commitments,” he said.

Naicker also said that it was hard to get 11-a-side players in camp to prepare for competitions as districts provided them with certain amounts of enumerations so players had to show allegiance to their districts.

The identification card system will enable Fiji FA to enforce this new law with players to register themselves soon.

“Any player from the 11-a-side code will have to surrender his 11-a-side player ID card and make a new Futsal player ID card which will clearly state that a player is Futsal player,” said Naicker.

He said that should a player decide to switch back to the 11-a-side code he would have to surrender his Futsal player ID card and get his 11-a-side ID card and this can be only done at the end of the year with players not being allowed to switch codes in the middle of the season.

Naicker said that they allowed 11-a-side players to participate in the recent two-day tournament in Suva as it was just a start-off but the new law would come into effect when the Futsal League competition starts.

“We will be having tournaments in the North and the West similar to the one we just had in Suva,” said Naicker.

The tournament in the North is scheduled to be played from the 27^th to 28^th of April after which there will be a tournament held in the West.

After the three zonal tournaments, there will be a Futsal League competition held in Suva coinciding with the 11-a-side National Football League competition which will allow Futsal players to be playing on a weekly basis.

Naicker said that Fiji FA was also looking at asking the Super Premier districts to have their very own Futsal Committees consisting of about five members each who would be in charge of over-seeing the development of futsal in the individual districts.

“We want to get the districts involved and we are even looking at holding a Futsal Inter-District Championship if things fall in place,” he said.

Naicker said that Fiji FA would also target the grass-root levels where teachers from primary and secondary schools could be briefed upon the basics of Futsal to build a strong foundation of the code in the country.

He went on to say that some players have already been identified from the tournament in Suva and that they will be looking at players during the tournaments in the other two zones.

Naicker said that in time to come Fiji can be a force to be reckoned with as this initiative will certainly be beneficial.

“Given the time and opportunities Fiji can be one of the strongest teams in the region alongside the other big names in Futsal,” he said. 

USP Football sets target

University of the South Pacific’s Football teams is looking forward for a good outing during this year.

Team coach Tama Vosuga said that preparations have been on-going and he expects all the teams to do well this season.

“Students have been training since the start of this semester and I strongly believe that we will do quite well this year,” said Vosuga.

With a number of competitions coming up this year, all teams from USP hope to do well.

Some of the competitions that USP Football will be taking part in includes the Suva Local league competition in which the men’s team plays in the Super Premier Division, a new futsal tournament that has been organized for women by Fiji Football Association and the Inter-Tertiary Games which is a competition for all tertiary institutions.

Vosuga also said that a number of USP students were currently representing football districts in the country.

“We have students who are currently representing districts such as Suva, Rewa and Lami and we have had students in the past who have represented the districts of Navua and Nadi as well,” said the former national rep.

Vosuga said that while there were a large number of football players at USP, the majority of the players were from Solomon Islands.

“Most of these players are from the Solomon Islands with a only few boys from Fiji and Vanuatu,” he said.

The USP Islanders men’s football team which takes part in the Suva local League is considered as one of the strongest teams in the competition.

Vosuga said that the Local League competition provides players who are not representing any district team with an opportunity to be actively involved in competitive football.

“Like I said before that there are a lot of players at USP so all of them need be playing on a regular basis in order to keep on improving,” he said.

The USP team has one point after playing two games so far after a scoreless draw with Addisbrough FC in their first game and then losing by four goals to a star-studded Civic side.

Another team that has the services of USP students in the competition is defending champions Wailoku FC with the team being largely dominated by Solomon Islanders.

Vosuga confirmed that USP was also giving emphasis on women’s football as well.

“This is the first year there will be a futsal competition organized for women in Fiji and USP has registered a team to take part in the competition,” said Vosuga.

“The girls have been training for a couple of weeks now and competition is expected to start in the coming weeks.”     

“This tournament will not only allow the girls to compete with other clubs but also allow them to try out the shorter code of football,” he said.

Vosuga went on to say that these competitions for the both the men’s and women’s teams would also serve as a very good build-up for the Inter-Tertiary Games where the aim is to defend both of their titles in the two categories.

“These competitions will help in out preparations for the defense of our titles at the Games later on in the year.”