“This is the start, and we want to do more and hopefully go bigger. But had to start here at home in Ōtara” – Roger Tuivasa Sheck
Before he became the international rugby league star he is now, Roger Tuivasa Sheck was just a young kid running around and playing in the streets of Ōtara.
And the Ōtara Rec Centre was his ‘go to’ place especially during school holidays.
“During my school holidays we used to come down here and, like, the gold coin entrance you get to run and play,” he says.
“I played turbo touch here, basketball here, mum and dad used to drop us off here and we would go here for a few hours.”
Obviously he’s come a long way since then. Far from that enthusiastic young kid, he’s returning to Ōtara as an NRL and Warriors star.
Having signed on as an athlete with sports nutrition company Musashi, he collaborated with them to host his first community event right back where it all began.
The event – a three on three basketball tournament at the Ōtara Rec Centre – focused on the importance of movement and staying active, while also hammering home the key message of proper nutrition.
As a Samoan, Roger says that highlighting such issues was important for the Pasifika community of Ōtara and South Auckland.
“As a polynesiian and through respect, whatever mum puts on the table and whatever it is, everyone eats it,” he laughed
“And over time, in educating myself on nutrition and with the help of musashi, nutrition is really important now in my career. I have been playing for 10 plus years of professional sport, you can’t just turn up and not fluke it.”
Also joining Roger was influencer Jordan Vaha’akolo who praised Roger for his efforts, especially highlighting serious topics that need to be discussed more in our communities.
“As we grow up and we learn more, and our kids you know, there are definitely conversations,” Vaha’akolo says.
“Even youngsters and my little cousins know about their macros and what they are eating. So I think, naturally, there’s kind of an education around that. “No one wants to say we need to get better but a hundred percent we need to get healthier,”
Roger’s team mate, young Warrior Demitric Vaimauga also spoke highly of the event, especially bringing it back to South Auckland.
“Yeah that’s the big uso aye. He kind of came with this idea earlier this year and we were on board straight away.
“This area, it’s home for me, I grew up playing and grew up around here. To have Musashi host an event in my area means a lot,” Vaimauga says.
With his ongoing collaboration with Musashi, Roger hopes it will be the start of many more opportunities to help his community.
He also hopes that it encourages healthier living within younger athletes coming up through the ranks.
“The flea market is right there. You know we got the pork buns and the doughnuts and all this elite food,” he says.
“I’m not saying you can’t eat it but it’s time to educate yourself so that we can be out here and doing sports and be with your family and having more engagement in and around us.
“Community is something we want to do more of, and this is the start, and we want to do more and hopefully go bigger. But it had to start here at home in Ōtara”.
