Later this summer some of the top young rugby sevens players from around the Pacific Rim will come to American Samoa for the 2010 Youth Summer U-18 Rugby International 7’s Tournament. The tournament is scheduled for July 13-14 and it is for 15 to 18 year olds that are interested in competing in the game in high school and beyond.  It is being held in conjunction with The Department of Parks and Recreation and the Ta’ita’itama Underage Drinking Prevention initiative, and the Marist Saint Joseph’s Old Boys of American Samoa.

Teams from Tonga, Samoa, and Hawaii are expected to attend as part of this summer sports initiative. The program expects to have hundreds of athletes from Hawaii compete in the event held at Memorial Stadium in I li’ili. There should be a wide range of skills on display. Organizers have sent out an open invitation to rugby clubs, church groups, and even simple village teams to come out as long as the players are within the target 15-18 age range. All games will be held according to International Rugby Board Standards.

Players cannot be 18 years of age before July 17, 2010, so they must be under the age of 18 to participate in the entire summer program. Summer Rugby 7’s programs like this are becoming quite popular around the world and in the United States. The Arizona youth Rugby Program recently started its own summer rugby 7’s program. There are also similar programs in North Carolina and other states.

Organizers expect this event to be successful mostly because of Samoa’s recent run of international success in the international sevens series. With only the Edinburgh series to go Samoa leads the overall standings by a safe margin over New Zealand, meaning a World Championship is close at hand for the home squad. That success should have a trickle down effect as hundreds of young rugby players are expected to come out and work on their skills in this summer event. Organizers are already working on practice site plans in anticipation of a large turnout. A sevens warm up match is scheduled for June 19, 2010 at the Veterans Memorial Stadium. Space will be very limited, so it will be on a first come, first serve basis.

With the recent influx of Samoan born players to the NFL there are dozens of young football stars for Samoan children to look up to. As a result, the game has skyrocketed in popular among the youth of Samoa as they aspire to be like their NFL heroes. As part of a recent summer sports program, youths age 5 to 13 will be able to take their first steps towards a longer football career with a summer flag football tournament being staged by the Samoan government in July.

The tournament is part of a much larger youth summer sports program being put on by the Samoan government this summer. The tournament itself will allow young Samoan players to face off against team from Hawaii and Tonga. The impetus behind the event came in February when the village of Lauli’I got its youth together for a few practices in order to teach them the basics of the game. Eventually, they fielded a team and had a series of friendly games against the village of Aua.

Once that got going, it inspired other villages to form their own team and the game began to grow at a grass roots level. Falaniko Noga, a former NFL player for the Detroit Lions who hails from Samoa, organized a series of friendly matches that took place last weekend at the Malaeoletalu in Fagatogo. With more and more villages adopting the game it has inspired the first team from Lauli’I to improve its skills so they can remain at the top.

Currently, flag football competition has been split into three age groups. There is a division for five to eight year-olds; another for players ranging in age from eight to 10 years old, and in the senior division of the competition, are athletes 11-13 years old. Youth Summer Program 2010 is being put on by the Department of Parks and Recreation, and that department is readying for the Hawaiian teams to arrive for the big event in July. Several Hawaiian teams have been practicing much like the local Samoan squads, so this unofficial challenge cup should be hotly contested.

The London Wasps are traditionally one of the top professional clubs in English rugby. Founded in 1867, they have won at least one of each of the major European competitions or knock-out tournaments in the past decade. Most recently they took home the Heineken Cup in 2007 and the Guiness Premiership title in 2008. Although they recently lost a series of key players in James Haskell and tom palmer, they are very pleased with the play of Samoan Sakaria Taulafo. The club is so pleased with Taufalo’s play that they recently offered him a three year contract as a reward for his excellent play.

The 27 year old Taufalo has made 16 appearances for the Wasps since arriving from Tasman Makos in December on an 18 month offer. Originally he was excited to play alongside Phil Vickery and Tim Payne at Adams Park. He now has the opportunity to continue that dream for three more seasons. Taufalo, ho is known mostly as Zak to his teammates, has had an opportunity to play and thrive as the Wasps have struggled with a number of injuries over the course of the season. The team finished fifth in the standings this season.

Taufalo is also a member of the Samoan National team, and he expects his game to improve greatly by playing in one of the top professional leagues in the world. That experience should allow him to have more time with the Nationla side over the summer.

With the Wasps now done for the summer Taufalo is excited that his future is secure with the club. His offer came not long after the club finished its season with a 25-21 win at Newcastle to secure their place in the top half of the Premiership table. The Leicester Tigers took home the Premiership title this season with 73 points, while the Wasps were a distant fifth with 57. With Taufalo returning and a number of players expected to come back after injuries this season the future looks bright for the traditionally strong club. This new deal assures that Taufalo will be a key part of that comeback.

The tradition of elite boxing dates back more than a century as the noble sport’s roots ate back to the late 1800’s. Champions have come from all corners of the world. Some have become mythic figures, while other are tragic tales of excess. On Friday a group of young fighters will take a major step towards greater glory as a pair of boxing tournaments for the Prime Minister’s Cup and the Goodwill Cup will take place on Samoa. The event is attracting young, hungry fighters from American Samoa and Samoa and will be a prelude towards a possible berth in the 2012 London Olympics.

First, the Prime Minister’s Cup is the featured tournament on May 31^st to celebrate Samoa’s independence. The tournament opens that day, with the main event coming the following day. In that event Samoan heavyweight champion Seiaute Mailata will take on Junior Pati of New Zealand for the heavyweight championship belt.

Several boxers from American Samoa will be on the island for the tournament representing three separate boxing clubs. 11 are with the VA Machine Boxing Club; two are from the Maliu Mai boxing Club and one is from the Fagasa Boxing Club. There are also two female boxers from the VA Machine boxing Club that are expected to compete. The prime Minister’s Cup will features seven matches pitting Samoan fighters against fighters from American Samoa at the Tuanaimato Sports Complex.

Many of the same fighters will stick around to compete for the Goodwill Boxing Cup contested between the two Samoas. For most fighters, these two tournaments are stepping stones to bigger events down the road. Many of these fighters want to qualify for next year’s South Pacific Games and eventually the 2012 London Olympics. Samoa likely has a slight edge after winning the Goodwill Cup away from American Samoa in April’s Flag Day Tournament on American Samoa. Most of the fighters have been training for these tournaments for seven or eight months hoping for their shot at glory. That hard work is about to pay off in a very short amount of time, and hopefully it will mean great things down the road.

Teams from around the South Pacific recently came to the 11th Steinlager I’a Lapo’a International Fishing Tournament held in Samoan waters. The championship of the event will stay right here, however, as the Lady Saele, a boat right out of Samoa, took home top honors in the tournament. Captain of the boats Muliaga David Petersen had a very successful tournament by accumulating 604.8 points. That total was reached despite the first two days being cancelled because of inclement weather. The rough seas brought about by the poor weather meant that anglers could only get out on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

While the Lady Saele took the overall event, the biggest news of the tournament probably came on Friday when the Brave Hart, a boat registered out of New Zealand and captained by Clyde E.G. Fraser, made a record setting catch. Christine Elmiger hauled in an astounding 406.4 pound Black Marlin. By comparison, the captain of the Lady Saele reported that the biggest he had ever caught was about 240 pounds.

That catch helped the Brave hart return to New Zealand as the second place team. Elmiger took the top female angler honors with her giant catch. She stated that it was a team effort to haul in the massive fish, and that it took over an hour to land the catch. Her marlin was not the only one caught over the weekend as well. A record three marlins were caught on Saturday, a first for the I’a Lapo’a tournament. As a result, organizers have big plans for the future of the event. Chairman Roy Hall proposed doubling the budget for next year’s event and making it the premier event in the month of May on American Samoa.

The top male angler was also a local, as Seb Kolhase off of the Lady Saele was the best angler of the tournament. The Lady Saele also took home a $1,000 bonus prize for having the most different species caught over the course of the tournament. Nearby neighbor American Samoa also had a top five finisher overall as the Happy Hour captained by Brian Peck finished fifth overall with 237.2 points.

Even the eyes of Samoa, a relative minnow in the world of international soccer, are starting to turn to South Africa with the start of the World Cup little more than two weeks away. It helps that a pair of South Pacific teams are in the World Cup Finals. It is the first time that both Australia and New Zealand have made the Finals in the same year thanks to a new qualification group for the Aussies. Instead of fighting New Zealand for the lone chance to qualify from Oceana the Socceroos moved to the Asian Football Confederation. The move was done to guarantee a qualification spot, as the Oceania Football Confederation does not have a guaranteed place in the finals.

Australia breezed through qualifications to join Japan, North Korea, and South Korea from Asia, while New Zealand had to face a two legged playoff with Bahrain to make it. The Kiwis scored the lone goal of the two-legged tie at home to advance to their first Cup Finals since 1982.

The excitement is starting to build in both New Zealand and in Australia. Few are giving New Zealand much of a chance to make it out of the opening rounds with a tough group that contains defending champion Italy along with South American power Paraguay and Slovakia. Australia has confidence to advance, however. The Socceroos made it to the second round of the last World Cup in Germany, but they find themselves in the same group as the previous hosts as well as Ghana and Serbia.

Star Tim Cahill is excited about his team’s chances of advancing, however. Cahill is a midfielder for Everton in the prestigious English Premier. That experience will be critical is Australia wishes to survive beyond the opening round. He struggled with a foot injury at the last World Cup in Germany but is much healthier this time around. He also recently signed a four year deal with Everton, thus relieving himself of the stress of a new contract before the Cup begins. All that is left now for the Aussies is to roll out the ball and play.

In a battle between South Pacific Islands that are passionate about Rugby the 2010 IRB Pacific Rugby Cup will reside in Fiji. A pair of Samoan squads had a chance to do something about that for the home islands, but couldn’t topple a pair of tough Fijian squads to gain enough points in the final matches to overcome their Fijian rivals. The Fiji Warriors and Fiji barbarians will now meet for the title, while Tautahi Gold and Upolu Samoa will stay home for the final.

Heading into the final days of competition the Fiji Warriors, last year’s Pacific Rugby Cup champions, had already booked a place in the final with a dominant 48-0 win over the Tau’uta Reds. The barbarians then topped Samoa Savaii to claim the other place with a thrilling 18-14 victory. That gave the Barbarians the top spot overall in the standings. Tautahi Gold still had a chance to break into the final with a second place finish, but Upolu Samoa knocked them out with a 24-10 win on the final day. Tries fromSamasoni Moala and Esera Lauina broke a 5-5 tie at the halfway mark to give Upolu Samoa the upset victory.

In the second match of the day Savai’i Samoa made things difficult for the Barbarians before falling 19-14 to the top team. The Barbarians struggled to gain separation throughout the match with Savai’i Samoa keeping it close throughout. The barbarians finally broke through for a try in the eighth minute of the second half that made it 16-11 and allowed them to gain some much needed breathing room.

Meanwhile, in the Warriors-Reds contest the Fijian side left little doubt of its place in the finals. Playing at home against the Tongan side was a major advantage as the Warrirors never let their guests gain any momentum. The Reds played tough defense at first, but once the Warriors broke the 0-0 tie midway through the first half the floodgates opened. At one point the Warriors recorded three tries in a two minutes span of the second half, breaking open a close game to that point and cruising to victory behind a strong defensive effort.

Coming into this weekend’s London Sevens Cup competition Manu Samoa knew it was a crucial weekend. Samoa held a slim three point lead in the World championship standing with just two events remaining, but perennial champion New Zealand was close on their heels. Manu Samoa didn’t get another cup title like it had in its previous three competitions in Hong Kong, Adelaide, and Las Vegas, but it was still a positive weekend.

Samoa was able to know off New Zealand in the quarterfinals to gain some much needed breathing room heading into the final leg in Scotland. Even though Samoa was defeated by South Africa in the London semifinals, the 19-10 win over the Kiwis in the quarterfinals gives Samoa a significant edge before heading to Edinburgh.

The win over New Zealand was the sixth straight for Samoa over their Pacific rivals, and it sets up a favorable scenario for next week’s final event in Edinburgh. If Samoa advances to at least the semifinals they will clinch their first world championship as long as New Zealand drops out in the quarterfinals. Depending on the result of today’s plate final between New Zealand and Fiji Samoa will either carry a seven or 11 point lead into the final weekend.

That lead is mostly credited to Samoa’s dominance over a team that has long been the class of the World Sevens competition. While new Zealand has won eight of the past ten world championships, Samoa’s six straight wins have put new Zealand’s status at the top in serious jeopardy. In the most recent match New Zealand drew first blood, but Samoa had an answer. Even when trailing 10-7 at halftime the Samoans were confident. They pitches a second half shutout and received tries from Reupena Levasa and Ofisa Treviranus. That pair of scores was more than enough to send Samoa through to the semifinals once again.

The Springboks, however, were too tough in the semifinal round by earning a 24-12 victory. It is the first tiem that South Africa has reached a final this season, and a finals appearance would have all but sealed the overall competition for Samoa. Instead, the race will come down to the final weekend in Edinburgh.

He is known mostly for his hair. In the United States Troy Polamalu has recently done a series of commercials for the shampoo Head and Shoulders, focusing on his flowing Polynesian mane that has become his signature on the field. That mane has become a lasting image of the Pittsburgh Steelers as Polamalu has led the fame NFL squad to a pair of Super Bowl victories in the last five seasons.

He is more than hair though. He is also an excellent football player that wants to give back to his Samoan roots by helping others to follow in his footsteps. His extremely successful seven year NFL career has made him the current face of Samoan-American football players that aspire to be NFL draft6 selections. As a result, many NFL franchises have begun scouring the Pacific islands for similar players who are big, fast, and strong.

The 2009 NFL Draft was an example of that working paying off for players of Samoan decent. Rey Maualuga was a second round selection by the Cincinnati Bengals as a 6’2” 255 pound linebacker. The 2008 Pac-10 defensive player of the year had an excellent rookie season with 63 tackles and three forced fumbles this past season as the Bengals were a surprise playoff team. He helped Cincinnati to an AFC North Division title, a division that happens to have Polamalu’s Steelers in it as opponents twice per season.

It didn’t end with Maualuga, either. David Veikune was also a second round selection by the Cleveland Browns, but he finished the season on injured reserve due to an injury. He was a teammate and draft-mate with another Samoan player, Kaluka Maiava, who had a bit more successful of a season. Maiava recorded 45 tackles and 2.5 sacks from his inside linebacker position in his first year out of USC.

The future looks bright for many Samoan players as well. Samoans are starting to be found by higher profile programs such as USC and Oregon, while the long-time home of the University of Hawaii still has a solid track record of placing native Samoans into the NFL. It won’t be long before Polamalu has company as an NFL champion with Samoan roots.

It is no secret that American college love Samoan football players for their size and strength. The islands have been a recent hotbed of recruiting activity as teams look to add quality players  to their rosters before fall camp starts. The University of Hawaii has often been a leading recruiter of Samoan talent simply because of its relative proximity to Samoa. That remained true this past week when assistant coach Tony Tuioti visited Samoa on the first of two recruiting trips he has lined up this offseason.

Tuioti is in his first year as the defensive line coach at his alma mater, but he has been the Director of Player Personnel for two seasons before that. That gives him a keen eye for talent. He has brought that eye to Samoa in search of more talented players as Hawaii looks to return to the national prominence it briefly enjoyed when Colt Brennan lead the Warriors to an undefeated regular season and Sugar bowl berth.

Tuioti is using this visit simply as an evaluation period where he can talk to coaches and get a feel for where players are at in their development. He also wants to know where they are academically, as academic qualification is a key part of getting any scholarship offers. Each player must be cleared by the NCAA’s Eligibility Center before they can play as freshmen. Tuioti views American Samoa as one of the top areas that Hawaii needs to recruit, so he is trying to build relationships and establish the game with younger players so they can develop at home.

That development has paid off in the past. Isaac Sopoaga, Melila Purcell, Domata Peko and Jonathan Fanene are just a few of the names that have had success and made it to the NFL from Samoa. The coaching staff at Hawaii credits local coaches with for the success of those players because they develop the game at the basic levels. Local coaches also help evaluate the character of each players, which Tuioti admits is a critical factor in deciding whether a player gets a scholarship offer or not.

Regardless of athletics, the main goal is still to get an education. From there, the NFL is just an added bonus for any player good enough to make it. Tuoti is seeking kids who want to excel academically first, and football will follow after that.