Description
My name is Maama Vaipulu and I am a 16 year old, I have a dream!
I am a Tongan Maori girl living and growing up in South Auckland. I started playing volleyball at college, first at Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate and then when we moved to Papatoetoe. I continued to play and learn the game at Aorere College. I have been in the Aorere Premier girls team ever since I started as a junior.
The Aorere College girls team has consistently been in the top three of the Auckland competition and last year was our best year at Nationals where we finished fourth in the country. On top of my school involvement I am also part of the Manukau South Volleyball club which helps me a lot with my development and progress as a volleyball player.
My older sister represented NZ in volleyball and I want to do the same. I know my parents are doing their best to make sure that my 5 siblings and I realise our sporting dreams. My older brother Kali is a representative rugby player who is in negotiations with a number of unions about his playing future when he finishes at Aorere College at the end of this year. I have been chosen to represent New Zealand in the junior national team where we will be travelling to take part in the USA High Performance Championships in July 2019. The cost for members of the team to take part is $6000. That is a lot of money.
If I could relieve the strain on my parents of trying to come up with the whole $6000 I need to be a part of the NZ team it would be amazing and incredibly humbling.
I am a young woman from South Auckland wanting to break the stereotype that a lot of people have of South Auckland. I am the proud daughter of a Tongan father and a Maori mother who are trying to give me every opportunity to shine not only on a national stage but to spread my wings and venture out into the international stage. Playing volleyball is a legitimate career in places like the USA and Europe and I would like to explore those opportunities by experiencing what it is like to play against the best in the volleyball world.
There are a lot of people from my parents, my siblings, my extended family, my volleyball family, and my teachers who are helping me to raise the money I need. I stand on their shoulders in trying to reach what at the moment seems like an impossible task but I trust that all our efforts will come to fruition and I will be able to take part in this amazing opportunity.
