For close to a decade gun Stingrays centre Junior Vaivai has been a strong ambassador for growing the game of rugby league.
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Vaivai has already had success promoting the game he loves to a much broader audience when he represented USA at the 2017 World Cup.
This September the Stingrays coaching director and the Shellharbour Stingrays Open Women's Tackle team will play against teams in LA and a USA Select women's rugby league team in Hawaii's capital Honolulu.
Vaivai sees the trip as an opportunity of a lifetime for his players and for the growth of women's rugby league in America.
"The idea behind the trip is to try and create a pathway for women rugby league players in America," he said.
"Hopefully, we can build a relationship with the Stingrays and get them to come over here to experience rugby league in Australia.
"We're hoping that one day some of the girls from the US would want to come out and play a season out here with the Stingrays and see what rugby league is about in a place where rugby league is popular."
The trip will include a three-day rugby league camp before any games get underway, with more than 50 players from the USA including Los Angeles, Jacksonville, New York, and Cleveland registered to attend.
Vaivai, a former NRL and English Super League player who has also played for the Illawarra Cutters and Wests Devils, said the opportunity to make this trip arose primarily through his long-standing relationship with USA coach Adrian 'Ady' Cooney.
Vaivai and Cooney, an Englishman living in the US, became firm friends when Vaivai was playing for the US national team.
"Obviously, whilst I was playing for the US, I was pretty passionate about growing the game over there and I'm in a position to do that now through trying to create these clinics to go over and help teach the game in hope of obviously helping the US women and men grow a competitive team that can actually compete at a World Cup level," he said.
'We saw Hawaii as a halfway spot to run these clinics. The weather is awesome, who wouldn't want to go there. The girls certainly did when I asked them."
The Stingrays players were also hopeful the opportunity would present itself to meet up with Vaivai's cousin, actor Dwayne 'the Rock" Johnson.
"He's busy with his stuff and if there's me time available that would be awesome. But normally he's a very, very busy man as you can imagine," Vaivai said.
"It'd be great for the Stingrays girls if they got a chance to meet him, but this trip is not about that, it's about creating that pathway and trying to help the game develop in America.
"The athleticism is obviously there in America, it's just trying to teach the game, especially the technical side of it.
"I want to do my bit to help Ady try and develop the girls over there so that they can put together a competitive team for the World Cup, hopefully also for the men's."
Vaivai got the opportunity to play for USA at the 2017 World Cup due to his grandmother and mother being born in America Samoa.
"Obviously going over there a few times and watching the game over there and also playing alongside some of the boys there, the urge or the motivation is there to play at a higher level," he said.
"Teaching the fundamentals of the game is something that rugby league in America needs desperately at this point in time.
"The fact that we had something like 50 registrations for the clinic in just 48 hours shows how keen they are to learn the game."
Vaivai hopes the trip will become an annual event, aiming to take the Stingrays men's team over next year to play against the USA men.
Though Vaivai and the Stingrays immediate goal is to make this trip a success.
The club is seeking sponsors to help fund the trip. Please email donnasingleton@stingraysrlfc.com for more more information or to help.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
