by Jone Kalouniviti

I was never a basketball player. My high school days were spent playing rugby and track and field.
For us then, basketball was for the part Europeans and Europeans.

It was only a few years ago while watching the Oceania championships in Fiji that a few teenage girls playing for the national team changed my perspective of the sport.

Since then I have taken a strong following to the game, and I have often wondered what advice I would give my daughter if she decides to take up basketball.

Today I know.

I would tell her, “Be like Valerie Nainima or Helen Rodan, or watch the Whippy sisters or Agnes Tuilevuka.
These are the players amongst a small handful who have rejuvenated, inspired and rekindled the imaginations of many women on the local basketball scene.


  Who could have imagined decades ago that 5ft 5 guards from Fiji like Valerie Nainima and Mikaeler Whippy would make such an impression at the “mecca” of basketball, the USA, playing at Long Island University (LIU).

No one even knew Helen Rodan existed and was creating headliners for her Texas Christian University until someone last year connected the name to one of Fijis leading sporting families.

And for three years, Agnes Tuilevuka now 21, seemed to have disappeared from the local scene, only making cameo appearances for national duties. Mai Life recently discovered why she was ‘missing.’ She had landed a double scholarship for volleyball and basketball at Brigham Young University in Hawaii.

Agnes, a former Junior basketball star who made the national womens outfit by the age of 16, also won Gold at the 2005 Mini South Pacific Games beach volleyball in Palau.

This switch in sports revealed her multi talented prowess thus earning the scholarship at Brigham Young University Hawaii after 2004. 
Together, this group are on a road never taken before by women in basketball in Fiji. It has been a long time coming, but the time has come for Fiji’s potentials to get the recognition and opportunities they deserve.

The four are taking women in sports in Fiji to a whole new level by going international in spite of the challenges. Endeavouring to make it big in basketball entails a whole lot of things besides just going out and simply playing the game.

Basketball in Fiji is a hard sport to remain committed to because of its national standing when compared to bigger sports, and the lack of corporate support.

The focus is generally towards men’s teams as well and women’s teams have to work twice as hard to get or receive attention. For them, its all about the passion and love for the sport.

I recall an Australian writer a few years back questioning the lack of media coverage for women in sports. He wondered if it affected their resolve to take their game to the highest level. 

Though many would think that Fiji has moved away from these issues, it still exists in certain pockets of Fijian society where parental support for daughters to take up sport is minimal.

The fact that our women’s basketball team is competing in the qualifiers for a Olympic spot is also a first opportunity of its kind, symbolic of their efforts to keep knocking on the door until it will one day open.

“To be realistic we will be up against the top teams in the world in Spain, but getting there is a stepping stone and is a new beginning for basketball in Fiji,’’ says Fiji coach Michael Whippy.

Valerie, Mikaeler and Agnes all learnt the basics of the game locally. Fiji basketball continues to blood teenagers at national level because of its inability to sustain senior players.

At one time the average age group of the Fiji women’s and Men’s basketball team was 17. Mikaeler, Valerie and Agnes first tasted national duty for the Fiji Women’s basketball team as 15 and 16 year olds.

On the other hand, Rodan, 22, growing up in Australia saw better opportunities and facilities. But it’s also in her genes. Her Uncle Joe Rodan and cousin Joe Junior are well known Fiji athletes. Her brother David Jnr plays in the Aussie Rules AFL premier grade for Port Adelaide who reached the finals last year.

Her dad played soccer and rugby in Fiji during the 1970s. Now a Senior at Texas Christian University and ranked fourth during the 2007-2008 season, scoring 245 points, she like Valerie has her eye set on playing professionally in Europe.

“Basically I picked up basketball at a young age, but sports has been very much a big part of my family and I am always getting encouraged by my dad and Uncle Joe back here in Fiji to represent my country,’’ Helen told Mai Life.

“The competition in Europe is as good as it is in the States but I guess there are more opportunities there also.”
For Valerie who turns 22 this June, picking up the sport was more to do with her neighbourhood than it being her first choice.
“My mum wanted me out of the house because I was always doing things so she sent me to play ball with my neighbours, which at that time were the Tuxsons in Lami.
  Valerie joined the Whitefire team when she was 13 and made the national squad when she was 16.

“Basically I started by just following them around, joining their club and then things just sort of took off from there. But no one in my family ever played ball before.

Many would remember her as a feisty ‘tom boy’ playing with boys from a young age which explains her very physical presence on the court.

Valerie was the US North East conference’s Player and Rookie of the Year last season. This season she has been named player of the week three times averaging 20.3 points per game, ranking second in the league, and became the fastest player in Long Island history to reach 1,000 career points. She only needed 53 games to do so.

 She scored over 20 points in a game 16 times this season, including a career-high 32 on two occasions.

In a sport obsessed with statistics, this is quite impressive. Before Valerie and Mikaeler entered LIU, their team the Blackbirds had dismal back to back seasons. LIU coach Stephanie Gaitley, who was also named the 2007 coach of the Year for the Blackbirds outstanding performance told Mai Life it was Nainima and Mikaeler who brought out the best in the team “Val’s presence on the team helped take the program to the next level and win a school-record 24 games this season. She is on target to become the school’s all-time leading scorer.”

And on Mikaelar: “Whippy’s leadership, athletic ability and overall character were key components to what she brought to the LIU program. The improvement shown from her freshman year to now has taken the program to a level never accomplished before.”

  Whippy was last year honoured on the LIU Academic Roll apart from being co-captain of her team.

Another upcoming player born from the Whippy household is New Zealand Schools Most Valuable Player of the Year for 2007, Letava Whippy.
Whippy, 16 who has also been part of the national outfit now for the past two years attends school in Wellington and may also be destined for the USA if things go as planned.

These ladies are taking what some might see as small steps, but are in fact big jumps for basketball in Fiji, taking not only their name, but the country’s name to the world.