Coco Talanoa — Sports / Page 43

Ardie & Julian Savea took off their rugby boots and picked up tennis rackets for a good cause at the ASB Classic yesterday.

They took on the Williams sisters - Venus and Serena - in a charity match which raised over $65k for the city of Kaikoura which had been badly damaged in an earthquake towards the end of last year.  

The boys also had help from another tennis star Caroline Wozniacki and at one point even Venus jumped sides against Serena.

Great day out and a chance to see tennis super stars in action! 

Check out some more of the highlights below ...

Suggested Links:

Julian & Ardie Savea - My World 

The 2016 Kalofae/Fail moments of the year 

This time last week the NRL Pacific Leadership Camp was in full swing with players identified by their clubs as being leaders or potential leaders in attendance.

Speakers included Dr Colin Tukuitonga, Frank Puletua, Nigel Vagana, Quentin Pongia with Tagata Pasifikas John Pulu on MC duties.

One of the key speakers at the camp was Digital Strategist Mahei Foliaki who spoke to the players about the platform they have as NRL players to be able to use their influence to help their community, their people and their family but making sure they were equipped with the right information and knowledge to be able to do this through Social Media.  

He encouraged them to educate themselves,  keep learning and to firstly have a strategy/plan and secondly the tactics to achieve their objectives.

Mahei stressed the importance of personal responsibility and how they're using these social media tools because it affects their brand.  He brought it closer to home by saying "Your surname!  Your surnames your brand ....…more

He has just made history by becoming the first Samoan to win the Heavyweight Championship of the world. We Catch up with Joseph Parker, straight after his hard fought win and he tells us all about taking the belt back home... to Samoa.

Before Joseph Parker, some other very powerful Samoans stepped in to the ring.

Jimmy Peau & David Tua to name a couple. Here's a little look at the carnage they caused, as they paved the way for Joseph Parker.

The Hawai'i State Championship final in November saw the Kahuku Red Raiders and the Saint Louis Crusaders meet again.

Saint Louis went on to win 30 - 14 to claim the Open State Football Title but what was interesting about this game besides the game was that the Kahuku Red Raiders were not allowed to perform the haka.

In 2010 a haka was composed for Kahuku's football team which became a tradition for the boys to perform at the beginning of their games (similar to the hakas performed in New Zealand and the South Pacific islands prior to rugby and rugby league games).

Last year the Kahuku Raiders were told that if they did the haka it would be considered "Unsportsmanlike" and they'd be given a 15 yard penalty.  They did it anyway and took the penalty.

THIS year, the team were told that any player performing the haka would be banned so the community got together - friends, family and fans - to help the team and THEY performed the haka in the stands for the boys.…more

Sevens From Heaven is the story of Fiji Rugby Sevens, the winners of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2015/16 and the team that inspired the world in Rio when they won Fiji's first ever Olympic medal, and a gold at that!

Discover how a tiny island nation with limited resources took on the world at Rugby Sevens and won. Go inside the team with never-before-seen footage to see what it took to take a team from an island in the South Pacific to becoming the best in the world.

Suggested Links:

Fiji 7s win Gold at the Olympics  

Na Qito Vakaviti - Traditional Games 

Credits:
Created by HSBC Sport in collaboration with Zoomfiji - https://www.facebook.com/1zoomfiji/
Produced by Hill + Knowlton Strategies
Music: Composed by Ross Budgen - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKG...

*** COCO EXCLUSIVE ***

Every time Joseph Parker steps in the ring he wears a new pair of shorts but what you probably don't know is that he designs them himself!

He also buys all of the material, picks the colours and goes shopping for everything himself too.

For his upcoming WBO Heavyweight Championship fight, he took the Coconet along with him on one such shopping trip.

Suggested Links:

Joseph Parker - Our future Heavyweight Champion of the World 

Joseph Parker - My World 

Roosters cult figure Eloni Vunakece has re-signed with the club.

When Eloni Vunakece finally made his NRL debut this season, aged 28 & a father of two, he was the lowest-paid player on the field.

He was only ever meant to train once a week with the Roosters in pre-season but asked Trent Robinson if he could do more, to which the coach replied: "If you can handle it, you can keep coming."

He handled it, despite working full-time as a garbo, with 3am starts on weekdays before training at noon. His first game against Manly was so impressive that Vunakece has been in talks for a new, upgraded contract - timely, given that he's now got a baby son to go with his two daughters.

A versatile forward who can play prop, second row and even lock, Vunakece’s persistence at Intrust Super Premiership NSW level over a number of years was finally rewarded with a promotion to the NRL for nine games off the bench this season.

Finally, it's a done deal.…more

Coco Exclusive:  The Coconet is the only media that has been allowed inside Joseph Parkers Las Vegas training camp.

He shares how it's all going and how he plans to beat Andy Ruiz to create history and become NZ and Samoa's first heavyweight boxing champion of the world!

Credits - 

Director & Editor:  Tuki Laumea 

Cameraman:  Hayden Aull 

Suggested Links:

Joseph Parker - My World 

Joshua responds to Parkers call out