Coco Talanoa — Sports / Page 1

Mental Health is particularly important in today’s landscape, and given all of us have experienced isolation in some form or another through this lockdown, it’s something we can all relate to.

In this episode, we seek to lift the stigma associated with Mental Health in Pacific communities but most importantly, we must act upon it.

As former Fijian captain Sunia Koto says - a few minutes of your time used to check-in on someone might make all the difference.

202 x club appearances Wasps 🐝

30 x Caps 🇼🇸

9 x Major trophies 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

Wasps & Samoan legend Trevor Leota opens up about his upbringing, career, life lessons and biggest regrets...

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Credits:  Pacific Rugby Players Welfare 

This years 2020 NFL Draft held this weekend was the 85th annual meeting of NFL franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL Season. 

Players who have been out of high school for at least 3 years are eligible for the NFL draft and this years draft was highly anticipated by many Samoan NFL fans this year with Alabama Crimson Tide star Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Iowa Hawkeyes Football Defensive End AJ Epenesa, both eligible for the draft.  

This year due to the Coronavirus outbreak the draft was held from the 23rd - 25th of April via video conferencing and made NFL history as the largest Polynesian Draft Class with 11 players of Polynesian heritage being picked up by NFL franchises in this years draft.

Polynesian Football Hall of Fame stated yesterday at the conclusion of the draft "Polynesians represent 5.4% of the top 204 players selected in the 2020 NFL Draft, despite being only 0.3% of the U.S.…more

"With the No. 54 overall pick, the Buffalo Bills select Iowa Hawkeyes Football Defensive End AJ Epenesa"

Coco congrats to Samoan Defensive End AJ Epenesa who was drafted in the 2nd round today.

Check out his family connection to Iowa in the video above and his highlights reel in the video below - 

“With The Fifth Pick In The 2020 NFL Draft, The Miami Dolphins Select Tua Tagovailoa”

Congrats Tua we can't wait to follow your NFL journey! 

Check out Tua's Alabama Crimson Tide Football highlights here.

We're keepin it Fresh with the Pacific Rugby League Teams - Fiji Bati, Toa Samoa & the Tonga Invitational XIII as they prepare to go up against each other + Australia in the Oceania Cup tests.

Go behind the scenes with them at training, the fan day at Mangere East Rugby League club and game day where Tonga made history beating Australia for the first time ever - catch the action here!

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Credits: 

Directors - Olly Coddington & Elizabeth Koroivulaono 

Camera Operators - Callum Thomas, Elizabeth Koroivulaono & Penina Momoisea 

Sound Operator - Callum Thomas 

* PG recommended - coarse language 

UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and his coach Eugene Bareman interview each other at City Kickboxing in Auckland. 

They share their backgrounds and how they met, Eugene shares the beginnings of CKB with co-owner and coach Doug Viney, Izzy talks about why he chose CKB as his home gym, they talk the fight game and other world class fighters at the gym as well as Izzys career highlights.

Of the six New Zealanders currently signed to the UFC, five train out of City Kickboxing including Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya. Australian Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski also fights out of the gym.

A few of the CKB star fighters talk about why City Kickboxing is their home gym and what head coaches & CKB co-owners Eugene Bareman and Doug Viney are like as coaches.

“I won the fight, and I said to all my friends, ‘I’m never doing that again.’ It was terrifying. The anxiety before the fight, the uncertainty, the unknown, it was a totally different feeling to what I’ve experienced before. And then, I took another fight, took another fight.”

World champion Muay Thai fighter and mixed martial artist Genah Fabian has been a competitive athlete since she was six years old. She talks to Lani and Ben about how injuries that halted her track career as a teenager not only led her to pursue fighting as a profession, but also taught her valuable lessons about mental toughness, running towards fear and how to persevere when she might once have given up.

US college basketball player Alissa Pili has been named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.

The young Samoan/Native Alaskan becomes the Trojans' first Pac-12 women's basketball Freshman of the Year recipient since 2009 (Briana Gilbreath).

She also becomes the first freshman to be named to the All-Pac-12 team since Oregon's Ruthy Hebard and Sabrina Ionescu in 2017. Pili led all Pac-12 freshmen in points per game (16.2) and rebounds per game (8.1) en route to the honor, also amassing a freshmen-best 11 double-doubles this season.

Michelle Smith, writing for WBB Notebook Pac12.com shares why she voted for Alissa for Freshman of the Year in the Post Season honours here: 

Alissa Pili, USC. There were higher-profile freshmen in this class. Stanford had a few, so did Oregon and Oregon State, but none did more for their team than Alaska native Pili, who has averaged 18.8 points a game in Pac-12 play on a super-young USC team that was hampered by injuries, but still proved a tough out in conference play.…more