Naturally talented Taifeni Latu fell into league and volleyball almost by chance. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Taifeni Latu leads a simple sporting life.
It's volleyball in the summer and league in the winter. So to say the Year 12 student at One Tree Hill College juggles the two is not quite accurate. He does, however, lead a busy school life as his studies - at which he also excels - are not done by the season.
Right now he is fully into two Warriors' environments. There are twice weekly trainings for his Mt Wellington Warriors club, for whom he turns out in the second row or prop for the Under 17 Open grade side. On Mondays and Wednesdays you will find him training with the (NRL) Warriors Academy boys at Mt Smart Stadium. Latu is into the second year of a three-year contract with the Warriors. He is not paid, but some of his education costs are met and he has access to the medical and training facilities.
The hope is that when he leaves school at the end of 2016 he can join the Warriors Under 20s, who have brought in the likes of talented 2014 schoolboys Erin Clark of Manurewa High and Levi McBirney, who played for the Westlake BHS First XV last year.
Latu, 16, was not always a league man. Before starting at One Tree Hill, he played rugby for East Tamaki.
"I decided to give rugby and league a rest in Year 9, but then I promised my dad I would give it a go in Year 10. I went to a Mt Wellington training and some of my mates tried to get me to train. I fell in love with the sport just like that watching them train," he says.
He is able to find the right balance. It is not all about sport.
"I use weekends after games for my homework. The rest of the day I don't really have time because I go straight to the gym or training after school."
And while he turned out for Tonga Under 16s last season, he has his eye on a place in the Akarana Under 17s later this year.
Come October he will switch back to volleyball mode. Latu has the ideal build for that sport, 1.95m with long levers and a dynamic vertical leap that sees him a marked man in schools volleyball and in demand as a member of the Auckland volleyball academy.
"We do a lot of leg training in league which helps my volleyball," he says. His spiking is brutal and you will know about him if you are close to the other side of the net during matches.
"I'm mostly known for my spiking ... it's all training, but my height helps."
Like league, Latu fell into volleyball by chance in Year 9.
Now he is a mainstay of the strong One Tree Hill premier side, making the tournament team out of the Auckland championships, where One Tree Hill placed fourth, and second in the division two nationals. He also went to the league nationals with the One Tree Hill team.
"There's a rule that we have to keep up with our studies to go to nationals. If not, we can't go." Sounds like a good rule, and Latu sounds like a young man with his priorities worked out.
Each week from now until the annual ASB YSPOTY awards dinner in November, we will profile past winners as we count down to the 25th annual event which honours the top young college sportspeople in the region.
Nicola Kaiwai (EGGS) 1994
Nicola Kaiwai's allround sporting exploits as a Year 12 student at Epsom Girls' Grammar in 1994 almost defy belief.
Though known mainly for her tennis ability, which saw her rise as high as No 7 in New Zealand's women's singles and No 1 in the Under 18 age group, Kaiwai was also MVP of the EGGS water polo side, which was runner-up at the nationals and North Island champion. In football, she was part of the EGGS team that won the Auckland competition and then went on to finish runner-up in the nationals. In basketball, she had a place in the premier team which was runner-up in the Auckland championships.
And ... in swimming, she was a member of the team which won the Auckland Secondary Schools 4x50m medley relay and second in the 4x50m freestyle.
"At school I won the tennis category, the allrounder category and the supreme award. I boarded at EGGS and have only fond memories of my time there. I recall we used to get up to quite a bit of mischief, but thanks to all the sports I was involved in I was always quite tired from trainings to stay up too late! I really loved school and the friendships that I made and thanks to Facebook I am able to keep in touch," says Kaiwai.
The photo of her and 1994 ASB YSPOTY boys' supreme award winner Dan Slater still takes pride of place at her parents' home 21 years on.
At 14, Kaiwai had to choose between tennis and swimming at serious level. Ultimately tennis won out.
"I attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina on a full tennis scholarship for three years before I transferred and graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Los Angeles.
"While at Wake Forest, our team won the ACC Championship and twice I earned All-ACC honours. We made three NCAA Championship appearances and I was an All-time Letterwinner from 1996-98. At Pepperdine, we also made an NCAA appearance and we won the WCC Championships. It's pretty cool looking back knowing that I was a part of a team who won both the ACC and WCC Championships," says Kaiwai.
A mainstay of the Royal Oak Caro Bowl club team, Kaiwai won a Caro Bowl as recently as 2012 but she is now based in Wellington and into her fourth year as the head of department for health and physical education at Queen Margaret College. She has taught for 14 years.
"It's a rewarding job as I get to work with young people and help to guide and influence them as they develop their own skills and passions."
Don't think for one moment that she has hung up her racket, though. Just last summer she played for Thorndon in the Wellington premier inter-club competition. They won too.
Vanessa Cheatley (Massey) 1996
Vanessa Cheatley (now Guyton) was a key cog in the gun Massey High School cycling team of 1996.
The senior girls' team cleaned up at the Auckland champs and nationals, and included talent such as Kirsty Robb and Marina Duvjnak, who both later rode in Europe.
"The whole programme was driven by Angela Drake, who was a teacher and coach at the school. She almost pestered me into the sport! Her brother Chris coached me individually as well," says Guyton, now 36. She gave birth to Isabella only last Friday, a second child for her and husband Scott Guyton, himself a former pro cyclist.
Guyton recalls with fondness her fifth placing on the track at the 1996 Junior Worlds in Slovenia, a feat which helped seal her ASB award.
"It was definitely one of my most loved awards. It was a pat on the back after a hard year of training, and it was nice to be recognised outside your sport," says Guyton, adding that she still has the plaque and certificate.
Guyton went on to a fine road cycling career in Europe, chalking up top 10 finishes at World Cup races, competing professionally, and going to the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester for New Zealand. She had a big 2001 year with some compelling results, but a fractured pelvis from a bad crash saw her eventually retire in 2003. She still rides recreationally, though.
Guyton has used her time since gaining a double major BSc degree, starting a family, and a business. She laughs that her Kiwivelo company, which she owns and operates with Scott in Takapuna, is just two shops down from 1994 ASB supreme winner Dan Slater, profiled in last week's College Sport.
Guyton was the first of two Massey ASB supreme award winners, but a cyclist has not taken the top prize since her victory in '96.
In five seasons under Clayton McMillan, the Chiefs lost four finals.