NFL: JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER - POLYNESIAN PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
It's been another huge year for Samoan NFL player Juju Smith-Schuster. At the end of last month, he was voted by his Pittsburgh Steelers team-mates as their 2018 MVP and today he was announced as the Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year by the Polynesian Pro Football Hall of Fame for the 2nd consecutive year.
Check out his year in review in the video above.
The Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award recognizes the most outstanding professional football player of Polynesian Ancestry. Arizona Cardinals Offensive Guard Mike Iupati was selected as the inaugural recipient in 2015, Tennessee Titans Quarterback Marcus Mariota was selected as the recipient in 2016 and Smith-Schuster also received the award in 2017.…more
TOFIGA MEETS JASON MOMOA
Our very own Tofiga Fepulea'i meets Jason Momoa in Sydney for the premiere of Jason's latest movie AQUAMAN.
Check out how Jason feels being the very first Polynesian Super Hero in this exclusive interview & Tofiga also gives us his Aquaman review.
Follow Jason BTS on his Aquaman world tour here.
Full interview coming up on FreshTVs new season!
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Thank you Warner Bros for Aquaman interview & movie footage
Thank you Undertow Media
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Tofigas review Camera Operators - Danny Aumua & Junior Meredith
Edited by Danny Aumua
JASON MOMOA: DEDICATED TO POLYNESIA - HAWAI'I PREMIERE
Jason Momoa is back in Hawai'i this weekend & hosted a private screening of 'Aquaman' for his family and friends & as a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i (Check out his visit with them in his instagram post below - those Ula Loles tho!).
Hundreds of fans gathered outside the theatre to catch a glimpse of him.
He addressed the crowd saying "I'm so honoured to play this role because it represents all of us, all of Polynesia. A wise man once told me, we as Polynesians - we're not separated by land but we're connected by water - Fijians, NZ the maoris, Tahitian, Kanaka Maoli, it's all one tribe, all one nation ...."
Watch the rest of his speech in the vid above.
KEYS DOWN, REAL TALK ft SWISS
Keys Down, Real Talk – True Story #3
“You know your parents shouldn’t be drinking and driving but you don’t say anything because you think it’s going to be alright…they’ve been doing it for years”
Here is the 2nd #KeysDownRealTalk story featuring Swiss. The campaign message is simple: there’s no safe level of alcohol when you’re driving.
#KeysDownRealTalk is a new campaign aimed at reducing drink driving. The community-led initiative features three video stories created in collaboration between, South Auckland award winning sound/music & video producer Anonymouz, and three popular South Auckland urban music artists - Tha Movement, Mareko, Swiss and Ōtāhuhu-based DB Breweries.
#DontDrinkAndDrive
JASON MOMOA: HAKA - LOS ANGELES AQUAMAN PREMIERE
Go behind the scenes with Jason Momoa in the lead up to performing the haka at the Los Angeles premiere of Aquaman.
Maori Television spoke to Tuhoe kaihaka Shannon Borell who was instrumental in helping put together the haka "Tangaroa Ararau" for Jason Momoa Aquaman's premiere in L.A. He also collaborated with Momoa and other Māori martial art fighters during the filming of Aquaman in Australia over a six month period to integrate mau rākau into the fight scenes.
The former Te Matatini leader said the Hollywood actor only had 30 minutes to learn the haka with members of the Manawa Ora group, who train in Māori weaponry on the Gold Coast including TV star, Cole Smith.
"We wanted Jason Momoa to be likened to Tangaroa, god of the sea.…more
JASON MOMOA: AQUAMAN WORLD TOUR
'AQUAMAN' has finally hit NZ theatres and gone straight to #1 at the New Zealand box office with the highest Boxing Day opening of all time AND the biggest opening for a Warner Bros film this year.
There's loads of action, the visuals & under water scenes are amazing, the cast is very cool - shouts to New Zealands own Temuera Morrison & did we mention more Jason Momoa? Here's our Coco crew review ...
"Great story of the families. Good mix of land and sea. Awesome to watch the underworld in this way. Heaps of action scenes, family story and deep meanings. Good references of our poly/maori heritage. Colourful and fast paced in some places and then slows down to five the audience time to breathe and digest what just happened" - Elizabeth Koroivulaono
"Heaps of fun! Full of action, amazing visuals and colour - the underwater world is awesome. Lots of Polynesian and Māori easter eggs in there for the peoples! Jason Momoa is a likeable renegade antihero.…more
NFL: VAI SIKAHEMA - SOLE BROTHERS
Watch the beautiful story of how former NFL players Vai Sikahema and Barret Brooks are bonded for life over a simple act of Kindness.
Vai Sikahema has been a pioneer for his island nation of Tonga. He's the first Tongan to win a football scholarship to Brigham Young University, the first Tongan to play in the National Football League and the first Tongan to play in the Pro Bowl.
Upon retiring from the NFL in 1994, Vai was hired by then-CBS owned and operated television station WCAU in Philadelphia to do weekend sports. He later moved to weekdays, becoming a morning news anchor as well as the station's sports director.
In 2002, Vai graduated from BYU — 17 years after he left the school to join the NFL! As of 2018, he's been at WCAU for 24 years. He also regularly contributes a column, generally related to religion rather than sports topics, to the Deseret News.
Credit: NFL Films
KEYS DOWN, REAL TALK ft MAREKO
Keys Down, Real Talk – True Story #2
“I didn’t think anything of it, that anything was serious at the time”
Here is the 2nd #KeysDownRealTalk story featuring Mareko. The campaign message is simple: there’s no safe level of alcohol when you’re driving.
#KeysDownRealTalk is a new campaign aimed at reducing drink driving. The community-led initiative features three video stories created in collaboration between, South Auckland award winning sound/music & video producer Anonymouz, and three popular South Auckland urban music artists - Tha Movement, Mareko, Swiss and Ōtāhuhu-based DB Breweries.
#DontDrinkAndDrive
TOGETHER ALONE
By Indira Stewart, RNZ
Read RNZ’s full investigation into Pasifika mental health here: http://shorthand.radionz.co.nz/together-alone/index.html
Mental health will become the most important issue for Pacific people in New Zealand over the next decade, a South Auckland psychiatrist says.
Dr Siale Foliaki says self-harm and suicide attempts are growing issues in the Counties-Manukau district, which has the country's largest Pacific population.
"They sometimes end up in an intensive care unit. We see all sorts of self-harm, the sort of self-harm that would frighten you if you saw them, so some serious trauma. And you've got to ask yourself [what] the state of mind of a young person has to be able to inflict that level of trauma,” he says.…more
College Football: TUA TAGOVAILOA - HEISMAN TROPHY FINALIST
Each year in December The Heisman Memorial Trophy aka the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman, is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football in the United States whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.
This year Samoan Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (born and raised in Hawaii) who plays for the Alabama Crimson Tide is a finalist. It's the first time in 84 years that the top 3 vote getters are Quarterbacks of colour!
Another Samoan Quarterback born in Hawai'i - Marcus Mariota won the Heisman in 2014.
The 2018 winner of the award will be announced tomorrow night in New York. All the best Tua! Check out his 2018 highlight reel in the video above.