Athletes championing athletes – FASANOC CEO tells Team Fiji

The Team Fiji Pacific Games Assembly is an opportunity for our 25 sports including our Para sports to come together as a team, because they are leaving as a team.

Fiji Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee CEO, Vanessa Kilner highlighted this during the Team Fiji Assembly saying while they have been training and preparing individually, it was about bringing them all together so they can bond as a team.

She says the sessions are really about athletes championing athletes.

Kilner says this year they have split the sessions so there was an athletes specific session and an entourage session.

She says the entourage is made up of the coaches, managers, strength and conditioning trainers, all the support crew including the headquarters team.

The CEO says the athletes session was run by athletes within the FASANOC Athletes Commission, while the entourage sessions were run by the Olympians, like Carl Probert and Makelesi Bulikiobo.

She says the Olympians have been through the athlete pathway and have transitioned into entourage where they have been trained on some of the skills that they delivered yesterday.

There is also something different that Team Fiji is doing at the Pacific Games this year and that is the “Cibi” which will be performed at the opening ceremony.

The athletes can also perform the “Cibi” in their semi finals and finals or even the closing ceremony.

Team Fiji is also in the process of changing the way they choose the flag bearers.