Samoa determined on journey to being a Tier-1 team

MANGILAO (Guam) - The high-level of determination of the girls from Samoa is not something that we haven’t seen.

Earlier in June, the Samoa national team had already generated buzz by winning the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship 2022 in Jordan. The team had overcome two early losses to Syria and the Philippines, only to come back and beat those two same teams in the Semi-Finals and Final, respectively.

"[My goal for] Samoa basketball is to become as big as Australia's basketball and to encourage more girls to keep playing basketball," said Samoa stand out Azaleeah Oloapu at the time.

There’s a similar sense of determination here within the team that will be playing at the FIBA U15 Oceania Championship 2022, at least from Azaniah Afualo.

"My expectations for this event is that it will contribute to the journey of making Samoa a tier-1 team and to qualify for Division A from the U16 Women’s Asian Championship 2023. What I expect to experience is playing out of position and facing new and different game scenarios. However, I am excited for these challenges as people only improve through getting out of their comfort zone."

It seems like big ambitions for Samoa who are currently unranked in both the FIBA World Ranking in both Women’s and Girl’s category, but it might not be too much to imagine considering what the program has been able to achieve just in this calendar year.

In 2022, Samoa has already finished in 4th place in the U18 Women’s Asian Championship and, as mentioned above, won the U16 Women’s Asian Championship.

There’s still quite a journey to go through before reaching the expectation set by Afualo, but it’s definitely refreshing to know that the 15-year-old has such high ambitions.

And it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering how much pride she takes in being a part of the national team program.

"Being able to represent Samoa means so much. It’s always been a dream to represent at this level," she said. "All I knew is that I wanted to experience an event as such to help me further develop my basketball intelligence, skill and love for the game. Now having the opportunity to represent my motherland on such a big stage gives me pride, as I get to learn and share more about my beautiful culture whilst playing the game I love most."

At the U15 Oceania Championship in Guam, Samao and Afualo will be going up against the likes of Papua New Guinea and Northern Mariana Islands as well as New Zealand and Australia.

"It’s a huge honor," said Afualo of being a part of the upcoming competition. "Having the opportunity to represent a nation let alone my motherland is such a blessing to receive. I feel stoked knowing that I’ll experience such an awesome event with such humble and hard working athletes, and consider myself very lucky to be under the care of brilliant coaches who dedicate so much time to everyone’s development."

It’s easy to feel from what Afualo says about playing for Samao and at the U15 Oceania Championship how much basketball means for her.

"I first began to play when I was 8 years of age where I played my first game in junior league. However, I had always been to many mini ball camps, workshops and trainings prior to playing my first game."

"Basketball has always been a part of my life from a young age."

Yet, it was only until recently when she decided to really take the game more seriously.

"My main turning point was the end of last year. My family and I experienced one of the greatest challenges in our lives, which really forced me to reflect on the important aspects of my life," she revealed.

"This is where I promised myself to focus purely on my own development, no matter how fast or slow the progress, and that I would be patient and kind to myself. I applied this to basketball, and what I found was beyond anything I could’ve hoped to experience. I finally understood that the more I put in, the more I’ll get out of it and this helped me trust and believe in myself more."

"This is when I realized I wanted to play internationally for a team I’d be proud to represent. I would’ve never known that I’d be given this opportunity so soon and I praise God for such an amazing gift."

That team is the Samoa national team which Azaniah Afualo will be representing at the U15 Oceania Championship 2022. We’ll get to see how far she and the team will go, but judging from what we’ve seen from Samoa in the recent months, it’s safe to that we’ll see them trying their best to prove how good they can be.

The FIBA U15 Oceanian Championships serve as qualifiers for the FIBA U16 Asian Championships 2023 with the top two teams going through.
The FIBA U15 Oceania Championships will be hosted in Guam from November 21 to November 26. Follow the event here!

FIBA