Maria Tutaia
by Molly from Hastings
A hero, someone who is brave, loyal, determined, strong and someone who inspires. Well, at least that what a hero is to me. I believe Maria Tutaia fits all of these categories perfectly and is hugely inspiring. Also known as Solonaima Maria Tutaia or Namia to her loved ones, standing at 1.88cm Maria was always one to stand out, no matter how hard she tried. Born and raised in Tokoroa but with a huge Samoan heritage that has been a major part of her life.
" I used to come to Samoa every holiday as a kid" says Maria.
During her schooling Maria was always at the bottom team until high school when she knew she wanted to be a Silver Fern and started working for it. Tutaia has been a shooter since she was scooped up from the Silver Ferns at only the age of 18, with no major background experience she had a lot to learn. Maria knew she wanted to be a Silver Fern since she was 8 she was watching the Silver Fern play the Australian team and she turned to her parents and said, "That's going to be me one day!" After she ruptured her plantar fascia ligament in her left foot after the commonwealth games she has been taking a much needed break from netball. Namia shows resilience, determination and bravery.
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| Action shot (www.stuff.co.nz ()) |
"It feels like walking on glass sometimes," say's Maria to the NZ Herald after her accident at the Commonwealth Games but she showed resilience by playing the game even though, as said before, "It felt like walking on glass." I believe that resilience is something you find in everyone but Namia shows it in many different ways.
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| Maria Tutaia shooting a goal (www.mynetball.co.nz ()) |
From being in the bottom team for all of her schooling, Maria knew she was going to have to work hard to become a Silver Fern and represent her country. Scooped up by the Silver Ferns at only the age of 18, being the youngest to ever to play for the team. As I said before it took Maria a long time to get where she is now and it was hard work and determination that got her through it. When she joined the Silver Fern she was hit with how hard they trained, making the shooters do up to 300 goals a day and getting up at 6am and not finishing till after 9pm. Her determination of not letting the team down and keeping a high standard was really hard.Being the youngest in the team Tutaia needed to be brave and train even harder to prove herself. Known for her famous long shot Tutaia has to be brave while shooting that with a million little things going through her head like "What if I miss?" Moments like the last 45 seconds to go against Australia and they were down by two, Maria was right at the edge of the circle and she just had to shoot those last two goals into the hoop.
Solonaima Maria Tutaia; brave, determined and resilient and at only the age of 18 she represented had her country. Her big goals helped her to achieve what she wanted to do, which was be a Silver Fern. Maria Tutaia inspires a lot of young children because of her way to get on with things and be brave and determined. She is successful because she worked hard to get where she wanted to be.
Page created on 7/6/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 7/6/2016 12:00:00 AM
The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.
