ST THOMAS Primary School will be represented by 255 players at the 2024 Lautoka Primary Schools Rugby Festival, beginning today at Churchill Park in Lautoka.
The school will compete in the U9 to U14 Vesi (boys) category and the U10, U12, and U14 Rosi (girls) division.
Team manager Synthia Prasad stated that the teams have been preparing diligently.
“The teams have been preparing very well from U9 to U14 grades in both Vesi and Rosi divisions, thanks to the various coaches.”
Prasad explained that training began three weeks ago but was paused for mid-year exams, Centennial celebrations, and inter-house athletics.
“We resumed our rugby training last week, so our full-on training started from last week,” Prasad said.
The 255 players are eager to participate, with many ready to play at Churchill Park for the first time.
“We are just waiting for Thursday and Friday so that these children can play. This is the first time for most of these children to play in the stadium at Churchill Park.”
Meanwhile, about 2000 students will participate in the two-day festival, as confirmed by LPSRA president Rusiate Cinavilakeba.
He announced a shift in how the divisions are named. Instead of using traditional gender and ethnic identifiers like boys, girls, and Indo-Fijians, teams will now be categorized by wood names.
The boys’ division will be known as Vesi, the girls’ division as Rosi (Rose), and the Indo-Fijian division as Yasi (Sandalwood).
In the Vesi category, teams will compete in age groups ranging from U9 to U14. U9 and U10 teams will play TAG Rugby, U11 teams will play Kalawa, while the senior grades, U13 and U14, will engage in full 15-a-side contact rugby.
The Rosi division will feature U10 and U14 teams playing TAG Rugby, and the Yasi division will include U12 and U14 teams also playing TAG Rugby.
Cinavilakeba also mentioned their primary goal is development and instilling the World Rugby Five Values: integrity, respect, passion, solidarity, and discipline.
“We have moved away from the concept of competition because when we have competition, teams, spectators, and fans do not observe these five values.”
“Spectators interfere on the field and swear at students and match officials, which is why we are now focusing on development.”
“These participating schools will play round-robin matches, and at the end of the day, we want students to learn as much as they can and develop their rugby talent,” Cinavilakeba said.
The competition will feature 18 participating schools from across Lautoka, with each team playing round-robin matches.