Coco Talanoa — Sports / Page 37

Former NRL & Super League rugby league player, author and founder of Athlete Empire Management, Sione Faumuina speaks out about the challenges that led to his downfall and the strength it took to come back up again.

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Director & Editor - Damon Fepulea'i 

Camera Operator - Fa'anati Mamea 

Jason geeks out meeting his favourite team of all time - the All Blacks 7s!

He also shares the story about where he got his cherished All Blacks #8 jersey from 

"If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wanted to be a surfer. I'm massively thankful to collaborate with Tim at Surfboard Warehouse and build these beautiful environmentally sustainable surfboards" - Jason Momoa

In an emotional address to the WWE Universe, The Big Dog reveals he is back in WWE after his battle with leukemia.

Island sports teams are notoriously disadvantaged in international games with lack of money and resource, checkout team #SamoaTouch and their aspirations to get to the Touch World Cup in Malaysia in the video above.

To get behind them with their fundraising initiative check out their Rallyme site here

Tyson & Tai chop it up with the boys in their Thailand camp leading up to their UFC Adelaide fights.

In between a lot of roasting and jokes they talk to the fighters Junior Tafa, Caleb Hunt & Salani Mila as well as Tyson & Tai themselves.

They introduce their trainers and team, discuss who would win in a Robert Whittaker & Israel Adesanya fight + Selby Devereux drops some history on why the CKB NZ team are so strong.

The boys spoke to Mark Hunt in an earlier episode here about early pride days, cheating in the sport, walk off knockouts and a lot more. 

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* PG Recommended - Coarse Language 

“When you look at the special players who’ve come from Polynesia and Polynesian backgrounds, they’ve really impacted the game and made it a better game.”

Polynesian athletes are 28 times more likely to play in the NFL. Their culture has had a tremendous impact on the game of football.  This documentary looks at the unsung heroes of the game.

It's been another huge year for Samoan NFL player Juju Smith-Schuster.  At the end of last month, he was voted by his Pittsburgh Steelers team-mates as their 2018 MVP and today he was announced as the Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year by the Polynesian Pro Football Hall of Fame for the 2nd consecutive year.

Check out his year in review in the video above.

The Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award recognizes the most outstanding professional football player of Polynesian Ancestry.  Arizona Cardinals Offensive Guard Mike Iupati was selected as the inaugural recipient in 2015, Tennessee Titans Quarterback Marcus Mariota was selected as the recipient in 2016 and Smith-Schuster also received the award in 2017.…more

Each year in December The Heisman Memorial Trophy aka the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman, is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football in the United States whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.

This year Samoan Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (born and raised in Hawaii) who plays for the Alabama Crimson Tide is a finalist.  It's the first time in 84 years that the top 3 vote getters are Quarterbacks of colour!  

Another Samoan Quarterback born in Hawai'i - Marcus Mariota won the Heisman in 2014.

The 2018 winner of the award will be announced tomorrow night in New York.  All the best Tua!  Check out his 2018 highlight reel in the video above.