Mataiasi Stark 
[Source: File]
The inaugural Na Soko competition will serve as the final proving ground for Fiji’s most promising young female rugby players, with 30 schoolgirls set to be selected for scholarships and a further 30 for development programmes.
Fiji Rugby Women’s Academy coach Tavaita Rowati says the competition marks the next stage in identifying the country’s future national representatives.
“Today marks the beginning of selection as we go through the process of selecting 30 schoolgirls for scholarship and 30 for development.”
The players have been drawn from the North, South, East and West zones after impressing during this year’s Weet-Bix Raluve competition.
Rowati says the selected players will undergo further assessments and training through Fiji Rugby’s high-performance system.
“Selected players come in and they are screened through our strength and conditioning department and they are upskilled through our academy coaches.”
The programme also includes development opportunities for teachers and coaches involved in secondary schools rugby.
According to Rowati, the ultimate goal is to build a stronger pipeline into the national sevens and fifteens programmes.
“Hopefully by the end of this week we should be able to get our best 30 players that will be monitored under our national programme and our high-performance academy programme and build them up to feed into the national teams.”
The Na Soko competition is being held in Nadi this week and features the top Under-16 and Under-18 girls from Fiji’s four rugby zones.
