Valerie: I’m humbled, grateful

2009 Fiji Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year, Valerie Nainima is honoured to be recognized. And she said her mum, Betty Jitoko, who received it on her behalf on Friday deserved the praise because of the sacrifice she made. The national basketball rep plays in South Carolina in the US. “Wow! God works in amazing ways.Im very humbled and grateful for this award,”Nainima told SunSports from the US. “I’m very thankful to the Lord for blessing me so much. He is my everything, I’m just very grateful to Him “I definitely did not expect this at all. My mother had called at like 4am in the morning to tell me. I was tired from the day before so I was completely out of it. It’s not until I woke up later that I read her text message and everyone’s emails then I realized what happened. “I am very grateful to the Fiji Sports Council for recognizing not only my efforts but the efforts of those around me- my mom in particular. “I’m so happy she was able to be there to receive it. It was fitting for her because of all the sacrifices she made for me. I think I’m just really happy for this award because it really highlights all the efforts of those hardworking people in Basketball Fiji. “There are those behind the sport that dont get the recognition they deserve and this award is for them. There has been tremendous strides in developing basketball in Fiji especially with Laisiasa Puamau being the development officer and I’m just happy to win this for them. “You know I find it kind of funny winning this individual award because I play a team sport, so this award is also for all my teammates and coaches in the national team, the Whitefire Club and the University of South Carolina team.” She said they are not performing well lately. “We’ve just lost 4 games in a row. It’s been hard but we have our last regular season game against Vandabilt University. They’re a pretty good team. Our conference tournament is next week. It’s very important that we win the whole thing or beat some good teams to get into the main national tournament called the NCAA Championship.”

Source: The Fiji Sun Online

Monday 1st March, 2010




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