The Marist Rugby Club kicked off their Marist Rugby Sevens Festival on Thursday morning with eight U18 teams (boys), four U18 (girls), nine U16 (boys), eight U14 (boys), eight U10 (boys), and 16 Open Division teams at Saint Joseph's College field, Alafua on Thursday.

Tournament Director, Leituala George Tang-Ting said the the tournament provides a platform for the young ones to play and compete.

"We've decided to start and then move forward to an increasing number of teams. We have the U10s mixed, where they are playing tag, U14 tackle or contact along with U16 and U18. Tomorrow(Friday) is for the Open Division and on Saturday will be the finals," he said.

"The whole idea is to have a platform for the young kids and open divisions to compete regularly, we started this now with the hope to do another competition down the line this year to grow the competition and have our kids play rugby.

"The President also wants to have a pathway for kids to play, moving up from U10 to U14, U16, U18, and perhaps make it to Manuma and Manu Samoa. 

"We are starting from the grassroots. This is important in ensuring that we have not only a clear pathway but to stock up our player basefor selectors to choose from."

An invitation was sent out to schools and clubs interested in being part of the festival. According to Mr Leituala, he was surprised to see that lots of schools and clubs were eager to participate unfortunately they had to turn some schools and clubs down.

"Given the time and also the finances we can only manage these numbers. Moving forward, we have to look at it again and see how we can maximise our resources, and control the number of teams and I'm sure the business community will always see this as a way of giving back to the community.

Leituala said they have reached out to business communities for financial assistance as their ultimate goal is to keep this tournament running annually. They wish for this tournament to be inserted into the school rugby calendar.

A student from Leifiifi College playing for the Marist U16, Timothy Hunt said this tournament can help him with his goal of becoming a professional rugby player.

"The dream is to represent Samoa in this sport whether it is Manuma or Manu Samoa. The games were a bit challenging, especially the teams from Savaii," he said. 

"This is a great opportunity to start working towards my goal. As some people say it, not every child is good with education but perhaps sports may be the key to a successful future."