Believe In What You Preach

Believe in what you advocate was the word from Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) Chief Executive Officer Lorraine Mar to participants that attended an Athletes and Communities Engagement (ACE) workshop held over the weekend (Nov 6 & 7).

Seventeen athletes from various National Federations participated in a two-day refresher training workshop facilitated by ACE mentors.

Also presenting was Fiji National Sports Commission (FNSC) representatives JosaiaTuinamata and Vilisoni Rarasea along with Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) representatives Stephanie Dunn and Ili Veibulu.

FASANOC's Athletes Commission chairperson Hilda Kunau and Women in Sports Commission chairperson Vivian Koster were also present.

Lorraine encouraged participants to be an example of the messages they advocate on.

"It's not enough that you just advocate on your programme message but to live it," she said.

"It is not enough just to learn the messages, because anyone can learn them and deliver them, but to be an example of what you advocate on is the challenge."

The ACE Champions have been delivering the messages of Stay Strong, Stay Healthy, Stay Active, Play True, Play Safe, Go Green and Be A Leader.

Lorraine also thanked participants for giving up their weekend to attend the workshop.

"It is unfortunate that most of the workshops and outreach activities happen on the weekend which is precious time.

"So we at FASANOC appreciate the dedication and time that you have put into the programme to deliver the ACE messages," Lorraine said.

FASANOC's Athletes Commission Chairperson Hilda Kunau also reminded participants of the importance of having conviction when delivering the programmes messages.

"The ACE messages should be something we should all stand over and live and also to share with our National Federations, families and community," she said.

Workshop facilitator Matelita Vuakoso said at the end of the training, participants will be able to recall, define, demonstrate and apply the ACE messages.

"Most of the participants have been actively participating in outreach programmes," she said.

"But since COVID-19 lockdown, the programme has not been active for the past five to six months.

"This workshop was just to reset and refresh the minds of our champions and get them back into the right mindset and update them on the latest tools to help equip themselves when they go out on outreach programmes," she said.

"This was the first time for our programme to include FNSC and FWCC and our participants including us as facilitators were able to learn new concepts and ideas for the promotion of the programme," she said.

FNSC updated participants on some of the Commission's outreach programmes while FWCC spoke on gender based equality, equity and gender based violence.

The ACE Programme serves Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committees’ (FASANOC) vision to "Inspire the People of Fiji through sporting excellence" through its mission and aims to encourage, engage and empower athlete leaders and communities in Fiji in the advocacy of Olympic Values, True Spirit of Sport and Social Messages.

FASANOC sincerely thanks the IOC Olympic Solidarity and the Oceania National Olympic Committees for the continued support of the ACE programme.

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