Transcript
TUILOMA WALTER LEE IMO: There was an Australian coach that came over and we took him around to the schools and he introduced fencing to schools so then we had a club night where anyone that was interested in fencing came over and we had about 20 or so kids. So that was the first time we did it, the first phase and then it kind of died out because we didn't have any coaches, we didn't actually know how to develop the kids so then we asked the Australian guy to come back and he came back a month ago. When he came back we did kind of a trial and there was about 15 kids that came and we selected our top eight to come to the Oceanias so that how we ended up here in Wellington.
VINNIE WYLIE: So even yourself and your brother (who works for Samoa's National Olympic Committee and notified him of the email from Oceania Fencing) don't have a fencing background. You might have a sporting background but you weren't involved with fencing before any of this?
WL: We haven't done any fencing before they asked us if we want to do fencing in Samoa.
VW: So you're coaching these youngsters but I guess in many respects you're learning as you go as well?
WL: Yeah definitely, definitely. I did a couple of training sessions with the Australian coach that came from Adelaide and then whatever I learned in that session I pretty much just relayed it off the following day.
VW: So this experience at the Oceania Champs for these boys and girls, the Under 20s, everything is new for them?
WL: Yep everything. Everything is new: the way they compete, the actual competition, layout and everything else is totally new to them.
VW: With that in mind, what are the expectations - are there any?
WL: Actually before I came (to New Zealand) I had no expectations. I just wanted them to have a bit of fun and see what fencing is like but we had a training came two days ago and they've actually really impressed everyone that's at the training camp, which is Australian coaches, OFC coaches and New Zealand coaches, so I actually hope we as a team actually compete and compete well and not just there just to make up numbers. Not to win anything but to actually gain a lot of confidence and actually to have very close competition with the better fencers.
VW: Once this is over how do you maintain the interest, maintain the sport in Samoa - is that going to be a challenge?
WL: I don't think so. After this, because we're sending back photos, we're sending back videos to family and they're showing family of family and there's already interest of a lot of kids and people who want to join already, so us competing at international level is actually growing our profile as fencing in Samoa and actually that there is another avenue to sport and to other international meets than rugby in Samoa.
