(The Girl from the Burning West) All the way from the Sugar City is Miss Raijeli Naisua who is also known as Katchie. Being the only athlete from Lautoka has not being easy for the 20 year old Striker. Since the first trials, Raijeli has travelled week in week out from the west to prove her worth to national coach Alison Southey. Her extremely impressive skills in the forward line stunned the coaching panel and landed her a spot in the national team. Raijeli started her hockey career at the age of 14 while she was in Natabua High School. Representing Natabua at the National Secondary School Hockey Tournament is where Raijeli fell in love with the sport and begun her journey to one day, be the best in hockey and dawn the Fiji jersey. Raijeli believes that the support and help she received from her first coaches Valerie Finau and Vatubua King helped develop her hockey career into what it is today. “They believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself and they pushed me to my limit” she says. Since being named in the National Team, Raijeli has gone through a lot of hardships having to deal with school, family and making it to training every week. Raijeli has still managed to defy all odds and travels back and forth from the West at least 3 times a week, this is the kind of sacrifice the Lauan girl has had to make to represent her country and make her family proud. The difficulties she faces financially has not dampened her spirits at all, if anything she has used this struggle to motivate her. “Paying for van fare every week is hard on my pocket, but it’s all worth it. I get to live my dream and play for my country, it is everything I have ever wanted” said Raijeli. Raijeli is currently a student at the Fiji National University and names Catherine Fabiano as her mentor. “Cathy has being my mentor from when I was in high school and I have always admired her for her hockey skills and determination on the field” she says. Raijeli will make her first appearance for Fiji on December 6th, 2014 at the Oceania Pacific Cup. (Story by: Maxine Browne, Catherine Thaggard and Melba Nautu)
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 10:18:22 +0000
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