FROM the cane fields to the Olympics
JOSUA Tuisova’s humble beginning and his struggle to fulfil his rugby dream has landed him in the “Land of Football,” Brazil, not because of football but to inspire the billions of people watching the Rio Olympics through his rugby talents.
He quit school to cut cane helping his dad to make ends meet. And inside the cane farm 10 years ago, his rugby dream was born after seeing an aeroplane in the sky while cutting cane alongside his fellow village men in the fields.
Read inside to capture the long winding path that led to Tuisova’s rugby accomplishment.
WHO would have thought a canecutter would become an Olympian let alone being one of the hottest properties in world rugby.
From a humble beginning that started in the cane fields of Ba, blockbusting flyer Josua Tuisova didn’t realise that dream had no boundaries.
His dream to become a rugby player led him to create his own legacy, a legacy that will be cherished and treasured by his generation.
His dream to become a rugby player had elevated him from the cane fields to the pinnacle event of sporting world – the Olympics where he scored a double as he came in to replace Savenaca Rawaca.
Tuisova used to cut cane after quitting high school.
Yesterday, the Votua lad from Ba engraved another chapter of his successful rugby career playing for the national 7s team at Deodoro Stadium against Brazil – the host nation.
“My childhood dream was to become a rugby player which I have fulfilled,” he said.
“But to become an Olympian is an experience I will not forget.
“To represent your country at the Olympics is the pinnacle of any athlete’s career and I am humbled to fall in that category.”
Recalling his early days, Tuisova said the struggle he faced back in the cane farms motivated him to fulfil his dream.
After returning from school one afternoon, he told his dad he didn’t what to go back to school but to stay in the village like other men.
“My dad told me if you don’t want to go to school then you are no longer a boy but a man and to be able to look after the family and make ends meet.
“Since then I have been doing what village men always do every day which includes cutting sugar cane, fishing, and subsistence farming for our daily needs.”
Tuisova said it was during these tough days that the dream to play rugby emerged.
This dream was driven when he saw his elder brother Pio Tuwai and other village boys playing 7s competition in Ba and other places in Fiji.
He started his rugby career as a ball boy and is living his dream as a professional rugby player in Toloun, France, rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s decorated rugby players.
“I was cutting cane when I saw an aeroplane in the sky and I always wondered where the plane was going, who all were in the plane and other sorts of things came to my mind,” said Tuisova.
“In one of these days in the cane fields, I again saw an aeroplane flying over us and said to myself ‘one day Mafatu’.
“Now I am tired again of travelling by plane.”
During his free time in the village, Tuisova always accompanied his elder brother and Fiji 7s rep Pio Tuwai to rugby matches in Ba. He volunteered to be either a water boy or ball boy for his village’s rugby team.
“It was from here when I started my rugby then I later went on to play for Fiji before securing an overseas contract with the Toulon rugby team in France.
Tuisova attributed his rugby success to his parents Lusia Vodo and Sikeli Ratulevu and thanked them for their support and prayers.
He said the absence of his brother Tuwai in the Fiji 7s team would inspire him to do well.
“Without my parents I won’t be here today and I will do my best for the team to do well and win the gold medal.
“Also for Pio, even though he is not here I will play for him and do the family and country proud.
“Most importantly I thank the Lord for his blessings.
“My aim is to bring the gold medal for the people of Fiji,” he said.
Tuisova and his fellow 7s teammates is Team Fiji’s only hope to create history by winning its first Olympics title.