The 2015-16 American Samoa High School Athletics Association football season is set to begin on Thursday — that’s tomorrow — starting at 4 p.m., in the Varsity division only. It features the two superstars of high school football in this division, the Vikings vs. the Warriors.

The Junior Varsity season opener is on Friday, at 4 p.m. between the the Vikings and Warriors, while Saturday’s two games begin with the JV game — the Lions vs. the Sharks and ends with the Varsity game between the Lions vs. the Sharks.

Samoa News continues our Pre-Season Promos – this time, from the Home of the Mighty Sharks, Samoana High School, which has a new head coach — with a twist — Pati Pati is a Leone High School graduate and was the Lions’ head coach for 8 of the 16 years he was a coach for the Lions.

Pati brings to the Sharks an impressive resume: he led the Lions to four championship appearances, and has two championship titles under his belt as head coach before stepping down.

Pati stated, “Even though I graduated from Leone – but I bleed ‘Blue’ now. My family is here, my kids go to school here and I am dedicated to being a Shark. I’m all Blue inside and out now. I know my alumni might not be happy with it, but it’s okay, we’re going to see them on the field and we’re going to take it to them.”

Pati, who is also known to be one of the top music instructors in American Samoa, is definitely sounding a victory bell. He says, “Our ultimate goal is to become champions this year, even though this is our first year doing this (together) — but we want to set the bar high, and we have players and coaches here that can do that.”

He pointed out that “we’ve also re-established our booster club… and it was just an awesome turnout with the parents, probably over 60 parents came out wanting to support – and I think it’s due time we bring the championship title back here to Samoana, and that’s our goal for both JV and Varsity.”

As for their overall team preparation efforts for the upcoming season, Head Coach Pati told Samoa News that “first of all I want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to lead such a great program such as Samoana’s – their program is very prestigious and it has a lot of tradition here at Samoana.”

He added, “Our preparations throughout the summer have been very successful. We started with about 130 kids, and as of now, we have about 80 to 85 kids on the roster for both Varsity and JV overall. It’s been good so far, the kids are hanging in there – we are trying to instill discipline, commitment, dedication, and overall we are just trying to bring the tradition back to Samoana. We are trying to build a team that this central side of the island can be proud of.”

According to Pati, discipline includes the simple idea of commitment. “Just kids coming on and off to practice, some of our student athletes are used to coming late to practice, but we have really been strict on discipline, and we’re saying that if there is discipline on the field, then the game and the winning will take care of itself.”

With Head Coach Pati making big changes to Samoana’s game plan, he has also installed a huge change in their coaching staff as well. He notes, “This year, my coaching staff consists of all Samoana Alumni.

It goes way back to 1984 when Maselino Tautu was their defensive coordinator; we also have Keith Meauta, who also graduated from here; as well as Faraimo, and Galo Tuiolosega, who are all graduates of Samoana — then we have Lauoi Mageo… so we are looking forward to a great season for the Home of the Sharks.”

Samoa News asked Pati about their experience throughout the summer with the Troy Polamalu Fa’aSamoa Initiative Football Camp, and its impact on the Sharks football program. Pati responded, “It was great, I think it brought our team just a little bit closer together. I think it taught our team to bond and grow stronger together, and that’s our biggest thing.”

He added, “The kids can play, there’s so much talent here, but it’s just the process of bringing it together and making sure that everyone is on the same page – and the Polamalu Camp helped us to become better as one, and again, we as a team are looking forward to a great season.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sharkies’ football head coach sends out thanks to all those who have supported them throughout their preparations for the upcoming season. “I first of all want to thank God for the opportunity to coach this wonderful program here at Samoana, and also a special thanks to our principal Talosia for her never-ending support, and always making things happen for us here at Samoana.”

He further called out a thank you to “our parents booster club and parents for their support, and a shout out to the parents and fans of the Sharks to come out and support your team —and a special thanks to my coaching staff and my players for their patience throughout our preparations.

“I would also like to acknowledge some of the alumni for their words of encouragement. And lastly, I would like to send a special thanks to all the wives of my coaching staff. We had a coaches’ wives get-together because they are a huge part of this as well. They let us come out here to practice everyday, and if it wasn’t for their support, this wouldn’t have been a great season to look forward to.”

Pati wishes good luck to all the teams, and acknowledges that Fagaitua and Tafuna are still the best teams, and “they are the teams to beat.” He said though not to discount Leone, which has a very talented team, and “we know that.” Of Voc-Tech, Pati said he knows they have “a new coaching staff there too and they’re all full of talent.

“So it’s going to be a really interesting season this year, and we’re looking forward to doing our best in representing the Blue, and the Fagaloa area as well as the districts here. Come out and support your Samoana, and Go Blue!”.