The People’s Captain on life after rugby

The People’s Captain, Mahonri Schwalger, believes Manu Samoa will beat the All Blacks at the Apia Park Stadium on July 8.

And he does not support the notion that Manu Samoa does not have the best players.

“Whatever players we have to wear the jersey and represent our country, those are our best players,” he told the Sunday Samoan.

“We can’t say these guys are not our best players because it doesn’t look good for the players representing us during the game”.

Schwalger says that these players need the support and belief that they can win and not think that they’re second tier and second option. “As a rugby player, you have got to think you are the number one player. Our people need to believe that. These are our best players”.

“When it comes to the day, it doesn’t matter who is wearing the jersey and who the All Blacks are. You’ve got to make sure you front up! You can train hard for how many weeks and years, but if you come on the day and you’re not up to it, you can’t win the game!”

And Schwalger remains adamant that our boys will have a huge edge against the All Blacks.

In the last three or four years, the All Blacks have played Manu Samoa in New Zealand.

“And now the All Blacks have to come and play in our backyard and that’s hard! And I believe we can win this game, because our people will be around and that plays a huge [impact] on the mindset of our players.

“When the going gets tough, you look to the side and see our people and it will bring another edge and give you [more] strength to push it hard. And that’s why I believe the boys will win this game. For me, they have to. If we don’t, we will never have this opportunity again”.

And with talk about All Blacks bringing the B team, to Schwalger, it doesn’t matter. Win or lose, they are the All Blacks and that’s something people need to take into account.

“If we win this game, the All Blacks will come back and compete against a team that can beat them.

Schwalger says that the game will open a lot of doors for rugby and the country as well. “It’s a hard task but I believe our boys will front up.” It’s been five years since the last World Rugby Cup which was followed by Schwalger who was captain of Manu Samoa then, to speak out about frustrations with the shortfalls of the Samoa Rugby Union. “The great Michael Jones told me once, [that] you’ll never be in that position in the next 20 years. What you make out of it will make you who you are.

“So for me, being part of the Manu has been a huge privilege.

It’s been my life for 15 years. And to live here in Samoa, I see that the people have a lot of passion for rugby. And that’s what drove us to do well for the Manu”.

With the All Blacks Manu Samoa game, Schwalger admits that he would have loved to be part of it. But he accepts that things don’t happen the way you want.

Being a Captain of the Manu Samoa team was a huge privilege for him and something he will treasure for the rest of his life. But he’s moved on. “[I] spoke out for one reason and that reason was for the future of Samoan rugby. I don’t hold any grudges against these guys. They make their decisions ...and for me I’ve got to move on. It’s part of life. I can’t dwell in the past. All I’ve got to do now, is support these guys”.

BOXING

When Schwalger spoke to the Sunday Samoan at the Pasefika Inn yesterday, he had just finished boxing training.

At 8:30 a.m, he was out of rugby training with his Rugby Academy of Samoa boys at the Pesega College rugby grounds. At 10:30, he was boxing under the training of Va’aiga Tuigamala and his son, Bubba, who is a professional boxer.

He may have only made up his mind to box in the tournament a few weeks ago, but Schwalger trains twice a day at Va’aiga Tuigamala’s boxing facility at Alamagoto.

This is run by Bubba and will soon open to the public as a boxing academy. Schwalger is up against former All Black and Maori All Black Slade MacFarland, who has done a couple of fights. But for Mahonri, it’s more about raising money for his charity, the Samoa Cancer Society. And he is excited. As an athlete, it’s a challenge.

“I love different challenges, something new and I have a lot of respect for people who box. [It’s] probably the hardest sport mentally and physically as well.

”You’re not relying on anyone.

You’ve got to rely on yourself. The good side of it is you have your own game plan and you stick to it. And I’ve learned a lot. Every day, I learn something from Bubba Tuigamala, When he was younger, Schwalger would box but never had the chance to jump in the ring. He never thought it would happen, especially in Samoa.

“Because I’m not a part of the Manu anymore, but I want to be I can be in the ring and be part of the special occasion.” Schwalger is delighted that the boxing academy is here as he believes sports here in Samoa needs an academy to develop athletes, especially the younger ones.

RUGBY ACADEMY

OF SAMOA

Another passion Schwalger has is developing rugby talents in Samoa and giving them the opportunity to study and develop their talents overseas.

He tells these youth that like them, he was born and raised in Samoa.

“My family struggled a lot and rugby was one way for me to get out of the islands and open more doors for me in terms of my career, making more money and travelling the world ad meeting different people”.

Having done all that, Schwalger turned down a contract in Europe to fulfil this vision. With the friends he made, the coaches he met and players he played against throughout his career, the academy was set up to offer youth in Samoa, those same opportunities.

Throughout the past six months, Schwalger says the support from parents and the community has been huge. In the rural areas, he and his team found that they were waiting for an opportunity like this.

“We opened it to our kids for free.

The reason why we know is because if we ask for money, we’re taking breakfast, lunch and dinner off our family. Our people here struggle”.

They opened with more than 500 students. Parents were urged to bring their kids who had the potential, right attitude and good grades at school. Along the way, support would also come in from small businesses, family and friends and that has kept the academy going.

Financially, Schwalger says, it hasn’t been easy. They tried to find a local business to sponsor their efforts but to no avail. But the commitment to seeing it through may soon pay off with an overseas company’s interest in taking over the academy.

“For me, these sort of organizations, you don’t need millions to run it. I promise you, you don’t. You just need the right people and people who have the passion to develop the game.

Hopefully this company will bring structure and funding, and give kids the opportunity”.

With families whose kids are talented but have poor grades, the academy has been able to find scholarships for them to improve their grades.

“I’m really proud of the work my team has been doing for the last couple of months. We have a great team and most of these guys don’t get paid. They’re passionate about the game and willing to put in the effort to open more doors to get out of the country”.

The team members include George Stowers, Afa Lesa, Rob Johnston, Leituala Joe Chan Ting, Sam Williams and others.

At the academy, there are opportunities for the Under 10’s, under 14’s, under 16’s, under 20’s and under 24’s. The majority of the kids attend school at Pesega, St.

Joseph’s and Leulumoega.

The last six months he admits were really tough.

“We hit the wall a couple of times and for me, the thing that keeps me going to make sure the academy will still be going for the next five, ten years, is seeing parents at the airport to say goodbye to their children who have that opportunity overseas.

“It gives me that satisfaction.

That’s what I want. It’s that special moment for our parents and kids to see them go out in the real world and start a career and open up doors for our kids over here or do well at school and help their family out”.

And despite the struggle, Schwalger says, good things come to those who wait and are passionate about what they do.

Three students were at the University of Yale for a season and are back. They also had the chance to study. Schwalger and some others have visited Yale, colleges at Wisconsin, Utah Valley, Utah University, Brigham Young University and Los Angeles to discuss such opportunities. In America, rugby is the fastest growing sport and so they are willing to bring over kids with potential. “What’s the most important thing is you get the opportunity to play and get a degree from Yale! That’s something special!”

For Schwalger, the academy is not his. It belongs to the kids of Samoa, which is why it is named as such. It is to benefit every rugby player and club in Samoa.

“If you can’t get into the High Performance Unit of S.R.U., there’s another option. And these days you can play for whatever country in the world. “I would love for them to play for Samoa but you’ve got to make sure you look after yourself and your family. I know we all want out kids to play for our country, but usually not everyone can have that opportunity, but you’ve got to look at other options”.