THE HONOURABLE ASSISTNT MINISTER FOR YOUTH AND SPORTS
MR ALIPATE TUICOLO NAGATA
Thursday 21st February, 2019 at 11.00am.
• The Principal and Teachers - Nadarivatu High School;
• Parents;
• Distinguished guests
• Students;
• Ladies and Gentlemen
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Ni sa bula vinaka and a very Good Morning to you all.
I am privileged to be present here this morning in Nadarivatu.
It is an honour and a positive turn away from the atmosphere of the urban areas with the serenity and peaceful feelings that your surroundings presents.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this morning I am here to present a few sporting items to your school to assist with your preparation for the upcoming school athletic meets.
I also extend the apology of the Ministry as items brought today may not be what was requested which was mainly due to the timing of the request and the unavailability of the requested items in the Ministry’s current inventory.
However I am confident that the sporting equipment’s presented today will go a long way to assist Nadarivatu High School achieve success in field events.
To the Students, field events has long been regarded as one of the weaknesses of rural schools for many years. We often excel in track events especially in long distance running but when it comes to scoring in field events the urban schools always show dominance.
It may be due to their accessibility to more modern facilities and their physical attributes but I urge you not to let this be a deterrent to your preparation and will for success.
I have always stressed the importance of self-belief in all the places I have visited and again I reiterate here its importance in the development of your young lives.
Having strong self confidence can help you manage your fears, tackle life's challenges with more certainty and maintain a positive mental attitude. To succeed you need confidence.
It is the foundation of all personal success. You can achieve anything when you believe in yourself. But you will fail when you doubt yourself.
Use these sporting equipment’s to train physically and also prepare yourself mentally for the challenges ahead.
I also encourage you to keep participating in sporting activities even out of the school settings as physical activities is an important part of our everyday lives.
Sports and other physical activities can have many benefits for young people. It offers us chances to enhance our physical activities and social skills through organized sports.
The importance of sports in your lives as students is invaluable. It play a pivotal role in your development as young athletes, especially in the upper primary level and later in secondary school years where student athletes are much more mature and mentally developed.
In this instance the teachers themselves are the coaches or trainers and in their role they are helping develop or shape and prepare the young athletes not only in sports but in everyday lives.
My Dear Students, as a nation we have witnessed the rise in non-communicable diseases and Government is advocating physical activities as one of our concerted effort to combat the rise of NCD which is one of the major killers in the country today.
I therefore urge you all to be advocate of physical activities and healthy living. Let us make and keep Nadarivatu fit and healthy.
Show the rest of Fiji that together we can and prove this when you visit Suva in April to participate in the Fiji Secondary School Athletics meet.
I for one will look forward to hearing rural schools winning in the field events.
Before I conclude, I again encourage you once again to believe in yourselves and prepare physically with more certainty and maintain a positive mental attitude.
It is the winning way!
Vinaka vakalevu and I wish you all the best in the upcoming school athletics meet..!