For New Zealand based Samoan netters Julia Tuua Solomona and Heta Matautia, the trip to Samoa was more about family than netball and they want to be more connected to their culture.

Both these young women are the captains of the Under 19 Auckland Samoa teams and are grateful for the opportunity to play in the country of origin and reconnect with their family here.

“Our stay has been great and really hot. The competition was awesome because we got to play teams outside of New Zealand and see the different levels as well as a good experience for us girls,” said Julia.

 “I feel really connected to my aiga playing in my homeland and it’s good to come back to Samoa and play netball. I got to meet my mum and dad’s family and they came to watch my games.

“This was a good campaign and it’s awesome that I could pay with my team this whole week.”

If the negotiations go well for the Samoa Netball Association, they will be able to host the tournament again in Samoa next year and the girls expressed that they would definitely come back. There were close to 500 people converging into Samoa for these events. Events such as these have boosted tourism numbers and this is shown in the latest Asian Development Bank country report.

“All the games were pretty tough but I reckon our team was the most connected and we came out strong.” said Heta

“Our preparations were bumpy but we got there and we still had it together. The local teams were very challenging and not easy. We just couldn’t breathe on the court and they made us run more than we run in New Zealand and when we get back we know that we have to work on our fitness.”

The tour manager for Auckland Samoa Netball Helen Motufoua, spoke on behalf of the team and is very happy that they were able to take home the win in three of the four divisions in the tournament.

“The girls were prepared for the last three to four months but I think coming here, the weather took them a while to get used to it but it was really good,” she said.

“Preparations for our girls were really good and the trialing for them wasn’t too hectic because most of them are already representative players in New Zealand. It was so good to see the local girls play, the skill set was great and I can see that they’ve been doing a lot of courses and coaching for Samoa netball.

“This tournament is a really big pathway for all our young girls from all over the region and this is just the beginning.  Let’s do it again next year and this is awesome and it is just going to keep growing and we will definitely be back next year.” 

Samoa Netball Association hopes to bring in more people next year with the aim of giving a boost to the sport and as well as tourism.