Within Samoa's volcanic soil and lush rainforest lies a natural treasure that is a kick start to good health

The turmeric root or ago which grows abundantly in Samoa has been used as a natural Smaoan remedy for centuries with its healing benifits being handed down through the generations.

Steven Adams tipped off the 1st of his 3 'Steven Adams Basketball Camps' this morning at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland.

This is the 3rd year he's run the camps in NZ and he's extremely passionate about giving back to the sport and country that has given him so much.

Boys and girls of all skill levels aged between 7 - 17 have the opportunity at each of the camps to learn individual and team fundamentals from Adams and his Oklahoma City Thunder teammates and coaches, in an atmosphere where the young basketball players will have the opportunity to improve and have fun at the same time.

Each of the participants were also given a basketball and 'Steven Adams Basketball Camp' t.shirt as they walked through the doors.

We caught up with him at the Press Conference prior to the camp - here's what he had to say on a few subjects ....

On playing in the NBA Western Conference Playoffs

"Playoffs are just on a whole new level.…more

KRIT & THE IRON SQUAD 

Our roving correspondent Krit catches up with some well known faces from NRLs Cronulla Sharks & gets the low down on their 'Iron Squad' group.

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Ben Makisi aka The Polynesian Pavarotti - our very own international Opera Singer singing his way around Europe! 

Benjamin Fifita Makisi was born in Wellington, NZ and is of Tongan and Samoan descent.

He began singing at a young age with the Tongan Wesley Methodist church choir in Wellington.

He graduated with a Master of Performance (Opera) with High Distinction from the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from Victoria University Wellington. He had also received his tutoring in New York, London and in Italy.

By Courtney Sina Meredith 

Courtney Sina Meredith (1986–) is a poet, playwright, fiction writer and musician. Her play Rushing Dolls (2010) won a number of awards and was published by Playmarket in 2012. She launched her first book of poetry, Brown Girls in Bright Red Lipstick (Beatnik), at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair.  Meredith describes her writing as an ‘ongoing discussion of contemporary urban life with an underlying Pacific politique’. Her poetry and prose have been translated into Italian, German, Dutch, French and Bahasa Indonesia.  She is of Samoan, Mangaian (Cook Island) and Irish descent.

She leaves tomorrow to be New Zealand’s representative for the Fall Residency at the International Writing Program, Iowa University from August to November 2016.  After Iowa, she will travel to the Island Institute in Sitka Alaska as a Teaching Artist in Residence.

Check out the rest of her amazing bio here

'Tail of the Taniwha' (Beatnik 2016) is Meredith’s first book of short stories.  We've included an excerpt of one of her short stories in 'Tail of the Taniwha' below ....…more

Carlos Ulberg grew up bouncing from foster home to foster home. Now he is about to travel to China for his first professional MMA fight. He tells us how his rough beginnings shaped him into the person he is today, as well as what it was like to train with Mark hunt in Las Vegas and what he hopes to achieve in the fight game.

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Carlos cooks up a meal for Pani & Pani on Mr Lavalava

Check out 11 year old Muay Thai fighter Rhyme 'THE RAGE' Loto

Fijian architecture enthralled early European voyagers and history writers when they set foot on Fiji more than two centuries ago.

Many wrote about the beauty of its design and magnificent sizes and shapes of these traditional houses, generically known in the Bauan language as ‘Vale’ (house) or ‘Vale Vakaviti (Fijian house). They were also in awe of the master- designers and architects, traditionally called mataisau, whose design and workmanship resulted in creatively built houses that have been admired the world over. Despite its magnificent reputation, modernization has brought in a lot of changes to houses in Fiji today. In some rural areas of Fiji, traditional ‘Bure’, pronounced as ‘Boo-ray’ can still be seen however many villages have adopted the use of modern materials such as bricks, corrugated iron and treated wood to build their houses.

In every traditional Fijian village, there were many different types of dwellings depending on the occupants and their purposes or functions.  Burenisa was a dwelling for young men and burekalou (priest-house) was the tallest building in any village.…more

The world's Greatest Diver Ever!

Spectacular diving footage of Greg Louganis at the '84 Summer Games by legendary Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan.

Greg Louganis was born to parents of Samoan & Northern European ancestry.  They were both 15 yrs old and gave Greg up for adoption when he was 9 months old.   He started diving when he was 9yrs old winning his first championship at the Junior Olympics national competition at the age of 11yrs.

He had a troubled childhood but turned to diving as this was one area in his life which gave him self-confidence & success.

He went on to win numerous national & International Diving awards and is the only male & the 2nd diver in Olympic history to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic Games.  He won Gold at the 1984 & 1988 Olympics on both the Platform and Springboard.  In 1984, he received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.…more

11 Year Old Muay Thai Fighter 

11 year old Rhyme 'The Rage' Loto is about to fly out to Thailand to fight in the IFMA Youth World Championships. Last year he won the silver medal. This year he's hoping to bring home the gold.

You can donate to help with Rhymes expenses getting to Thailand by donating to his 'Give a Little' page here

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11 Year Old Rhyme raging to the top 

Mark Hunt Fighting the Past