Sports is a tool that has been used to bring people from various background together, advocate awareness on certain issues and even help raise funds for charity.

But for a village in Rewa called Nadoi, they are using sports, rugby in particular to keep the village youths involved in something productive.

Sakuisa Davetavalu founded the Burenivalu Rugby Club in 1999 as a way to bring together village youths, who were mostly school dropouts. The aim was to keep them on the right track.

“Rugby is a sport played by majority of people in Fiji,” he said.

“It is our national sport and I wanted to do something for the youths in our village, something that would help them.

“Not everyone could afford to go to school before and they would just laze around or work in the plantations and get up to no good.

“Usually with youths when they have time on their hands they obviously get up to mischief and I did not want that to happen to them.

“That is why I started this rugby club and I am really glad I did because it not only involved the youths of the village but also the men and it was fun.

“It is not just a sport for us, rugby teaches these young men discipline, it teaches them self control and most importantly how to work as a team.

“Since starting this club, I have seen boys come and go but they have always gone as a better person after playing the game.

“This is why we look forward to the Rewa 10s tournament, it gives us a chance to train together and talk about strategies and also develop the players and show others the talent we have in our team.”

Even though Burenivalu failed to win the Rewa 10s competition last Saturday, Davetavalu says, game time is all they need as it helps their players with the aim that their provincial team make it out of the B Division.

“Of course every team wants to get out of the B Division and that is what they have been fighting for but in order to do that, the club itself needs to be better,” he said.

“That is why every year when we have competitions such as this, we play not to win but to get better.

“I’m proud of the boys and for the hard work they have put into the team, we hope to develop this team this year and come back even stronger next year.”

 Edited by Leone Cabenatabua

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj