Sylvia - A Manusina player in the making?

04 January 2019, 12:00AM

Story and photos from Nanai Taofiga Laveitiga Tuiletufuga

Government Press Secretariat

 

Sylvia Lemapu Logoipulotu Brunt is not your ordinary student-athlete.

Her sports pedigree alone speaks for itself. 

Sylvia is a current member of the 2018 Auckland Girls Rugby under 15 representative side complemented by her schools’ selection for her to wear her school Mt. Albert colours in the girls Ten-a-Side code which capped last year with an unblemished undefeated season.

And she did not get there by accident.

The 15-year old Samoan also stands tall as the 2018 Mt. Albert School Player of the Year.

The multi-talented Sylvia is revered by her peers as among the top athlete in her other disciplines; rugby league, netball, basketball and tag rugby.

Internationally, she returned home from Brisbane Australia last year with the New Zealand national tag rugby with the bronze medal from the World Cup in Down Under.

But as the saying goes, there is more to a book than its cover.

In 2018, she represented Auckland in Rugby Union for the Under 15s-7 aside and the Under 15s-15 aside taking both Northern Island Championships Titles. 

She also represented Auckland Central West U18s in Rugby Union.

Sylvia played for the Mount Albert Grammar senior Girl 7s aside team at the age of 13 in 2017 and went on to play for Mount Albert Grammar senior girl 10 aside and 7 aside in 2018 winning both the Auckland Secondary School Championships with an unblemished, unbeaten record. 

But that is just the tip of the iceberg, in the last two years she also represented Auckland in Rugby league U15s beating Waikato in both years. 

At 13 years old, she co-captained her Rugby League Club Bay Roskill U15s to Win the Championship and was named Player of the Year in 2017 by the ARL.

 In 2018, Sylvia was promoted to Captain the Bay Roskill U15s. 

As a New Zealand born she always wanted to compete in a Maori Tournament. 

So she represented the Te Mahurehure Storm Kotiro U14s in 2017 and 2018 in the New Zealand Maori Rugby League Nationals. Winning the tournament both years and was also named Player of the Tournament for two consecutive years row by the New Zealand Maori Rugby League. 

She also represented Niue for Rugby League U15 girls against Tonga beating them in 2018.

 And she has won numerous championships with Fiji in different age groups at Tag 20 in the last few years

 She also won a Championship with Niue under 14 girls in Tag in 2018 in the Junior Oceania Tag Competition. 

With a mix of Samoan, Tongan and Fijian dream is to play for Samoa first and then Tonga in any code.

In Athletics, as she was growing up Sylvia has won numerous Gold medals, Silver medals and bronze medals in the Auckland Athletic Championships for Shot Put and Discus. 

She represented Auckland in Athletics in 2017 where she was placed 3rd in the grade 12/13 Inter provincial Competition.

She currently holds the shot put record for the Junior Girls at Mount Albert Grammar.

But Sylvia is not letting her sports fame get into her head as her feet remains solid on the ground maintaining to her principles in life which is “God, Family and Sports.”

She is mindful of the sacrifices by her parents (father Cisco and mum Via) who left their comfort zone in Samoa to start a young family in the Land of the Long White Cloud not to mention their support and encouragement for her to be the best that she can be.

Her ultimate goal is to be successful in her sports journey to reward her parent’s labour of love. 

“My parents mean the world to me,” she says.

“If it had not been for them, I would not be here and not realizing my sports talents. They have been tremendous with their unconditional support and encouragement,” added Sylvia as she thanked her folks, family and relatives during a double birthday celebration with 9 year old brother Demetrius, both born on January 1st.

Besides her incredible sports accomplishments, Sylvia realizes that as the oldest in a family of five siblings, she is shouldering a heavy load to set a leading example for her younger sister and four brothers to follow.

“And that’s not an option. It’s a given,” she quickly points out.

While rugby union remains her favourite discipline, she remains undecided which code to pursue as a sports career if she continues with her current success.

And she is wide awake as she keeps all her options open.

Once again, Sylvia with deep family roots in Faatoia and Apia has set her sights on vaulting into a successful outcome in her sports passion and knowing all the spectacular things that she has accomplished so far, it is obvious that she is bound for glory in the future.

04 January 2019, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>