Surprise team building exercise connects Flying Fijians to their local fans

The Fiji Airways Flying Fijians will head into RWC2019 with the blessing of the vanua and the 15 provinces of Fiji and this was made more special this year when the Tui Namosi Ratu Suliano Matanitobua presented Head Coach John McKee and Captain Dominiko Waqaniburotu an iconi tanoa on behalf of his province.

The team were in Namosi for a team-building program as well as a community engagement program yesterday.

Flying Fijians Head Coach John McKee said the tanoa will mean a lot as it will remind them of the fans back home when they are at the Rugby World Cup in Japan next month.

“This program has been an idea that we’ve planned for a while and a simple way of connecting with the Fijian people.

“This this gift is an iconic one and has a specific significant to the team,” McKee added.

“We will take the tanoa with us to Japan and it will be a ceremonial center piece for our team,” McKee said.

Flying Fijians Captain Dominiko Waqaniburotu said they truly appreciate this kind of support from the Tui Namosi and his province and the people of Namosi ahead of the RWC2019.

“It’s very special and we will cherish it especially with all our names engraved on it, something that would have taken a lot of precision to do” Waqaniburotu added.

“The day out and the opportunity to connect and engage with the community was just what we needed.

Waqaniburotu said “We were up early yesterday and departed Suva at 4.00am.

“We had no idea what was going on as it was a surprise activity for the team,” he added.

“I know the boys enjoyed their trip up to Namosi. We came to Namuamua Village and then down to the Navua River.

“It took us about four hours down the river doing various skills building activities along the way,” Waqaniburotu remarked.

Coach John McKee said it’s very important for our players to connect with the people they represent and he was very pleased with the way the day turned out.

He said they were out of their comfort zone and had to learn to work together and synergise in order to achieve the activity outcomes we had planned for them.