He said the under-20 side he played for was made up of players mainly from Hamilton, and they attended an indigenous sevens tournament in Hawaii in March.
"We managed to take it out, which was such a great achievement because the majority of our team was really small compared to some of the other teams."
He said one of the highlights of the trip was playing at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii for the final, a 50,000-seat stadium regularly used to host the Pro Bowl in the NFL. "That is where they play their college football. It is huge. It was an honour to play in that stadium."
His sporting ability has not gone unnoticed by many a keen observer over the years, including staff from AFL New Zealand.
Two years ago, Vainikolo and school mates Kahurangi Robinson and Brad Munro were asked to attend an AFL New Zealand trial squad after they were spotted playing volleyball.
Vainikolo has since been involved with the AFL New Zealand set-up and was handed his debut for the men's national Aussie Rules team in April.
He played in the curtain-raiser match to the St Kilda Saints versus Carlton Blues AFL match in Wellington.
He said he knew nothing about Aussie Rules until he was approached about playing the sport a few years ago.
"I didn't know anything about AFL, I did not even know what the sport was," he said.
He has since got right into the sport and even supports a team in Australia - the St Kilda Saints.
Vainikolo said juggling his sporting commitments with study and his duties as head boy was tough but it was a challenge he had willingly accepted. He is now doing a lot less travel as his main priority, at least in the sporting world, is scoring tries on the wing for his 1st XV rugby team.
