Mr Pi’i Noma’aea - 13 SPG's under his belt
Mr Pi’i Noma’aea of Team American Samoa has a long story to tell about his involvement with the South Pacific Games. He's been to all of them.
He attended the first South Pacific Games in Fiji, (1963) and has attended every SP Games since up to now. Further to that, he has attended every Oceania Games and South Pacific Mini Games in the sport of Boxing. Mr Noma’aea said, “ I have travelled the Pacific widely - New Caledonia, PNG, Tahiti with my sport and I thank God for the privilege in giving me the talent that has taken me to every South Pacific country in which the Pacific Games have been held”.
Mr Noma’aea made his debut in the first South Pacific Games 1963 as a member of the Athletics squad. He did not win any medals, but on his return to Pago Pago he took up Boxing as a sport.
For the 1967 SPGames, Team American Samoa selected him again, but this time, as a boxer in the middle weight class. He missed out on a medal, but in 1968, he won a Gold medal for American Samoa in The Oceania Games in Fiji. He stopped boxing for the Games when he became a professional boxer throughout the 1970s when he was known as ‘The Man’ in Pago Pago. However he continued to participate and assisted in the development of Boxing sport in American Samoa as a Trainer/Coach for the teams.
Since the he has remained in this role but has lost count of the number of gold medals won by the boxing athletes he has helped trainedthere have been some good years and some not-so-good years. He has mentored, trained and coached many boxing athletes for American Samoa and he hopes to continue in this role so long as he is able to do so. He is 65 years old and he said he still has many years to offer to his team in his current capacity. For this SPGames 2007, Mr Noma’aea said, he can only hope for the best for his boxing team.
