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East Side racks up unprecedented eight championship trophies

[photo: Blue Chen-Fruean]
blue@samoanews.com

It's just an east side thing! Last Friday, during the awards ceremony for the summer games, hosted by the Diocese of Samoa Pago Pago, the East Side Zone left the competition in the dust — taking home more first place wins than all of the other three zones (West, Central, and Fagaloa), combined.

Racking up an unprecedented eight championship trophies in four sports categories, the Catholic churches and parishes representing Laulii, Masefau, Sailele, Aoa, Amouli, Faga'itua, Alao, and all villages in between, had every reason to celebrate.

A motorcade with the screaming champs riding in vehicles with blaring horns, paraded the trophies down to the east side following the prize giving ceremony which was held last Friday at the Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tafuna, following the track and field competition, emceed by Rev. Father Vaiula Iulio who heads the Nuuuli Catholic Church, Christ the King.

"The summer games were just beautiful," Father Vaiula told Samoa News yesterday afternoon. "I am grateful for all the different committees that facilitated the various events. They all did such a great job."

He also expressed gratitude to all the outside help, including representatives from the government, the American Samoa Basketball Association (ASBA), and also the Department of Education who officiated the games and assisted in areas where neutral presence was needed.

Throughout the summer, hundreds of youth and children from Catholic churches across the island formed new friendships with members of their respective zones, and they all came out to compete against their peers in games that included cricket, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and track and field.

The goal of the program was to promote healthy living, exercise, fellowship and most importantly, the Christian spirit of love amongst the young people of American Samoa.