SUVA – What would you do to make your dreams a reality? How much would you sacrifice to achieve your goals? These are hypothetical questions that most people casually throw around in their head. For Fiji’s Esala (Sonny) Banuve, these aren’t hypothetical questions at all, they are his life.

Sonny comes from a family of 7 with a low household income. His family works very hard to provide for one another but sometimes that’s not enough. Sonny is the Fiji Women’s National Under 18s Head Coach and he is also going to be representing Fiji in the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers.

For more information on FIBA’s new competition system click here.

These are both amazing achievements, but they become even more spectacular when you learn more about Sonny’s daily routine. Sunny commute to work is a 6km run from his home in Kinoya to the Vodafone Arena in Suva, followed by a full day of coaching; training his Fiji U18 women’s national team and visiting local schools with the other ‘Hoops for Health’ coaches. By this time any normal person would be exhausted, but not Sonny, he still has national team training, preparing himself to take on some of the best nations throughout Asia and Oceania next year. Now it’s time for Sunny to go home and enjoy a well-deserved rest; after his 6km jog back home that is.

Coach Sonny during a Hoops for Health school visit

Sonny’s passion for basketball is what drives him to push through these barriers and continue to succeed. His love for the game started in primary school where he played competitively for the first time. His passion has turned basketball from just a fun game into a way of life and he is doing everything he can to give back to the sport that has given him so much.

Through his involvement with the Fiji National team, Sonny started to become more involved with Basketball Fiji (BF). He is now a coach in the Hoops for Health (H4H) program. Sonny and the other H4H coaches travel to local schools to expose children to the game of basketball. They also use basketball to promote healthy eating, the prevention of non-communicable diseases and the value of proper exercise.

Coach Sonny making a young fan's day

Sonny has been able to take his talent, hard work and passion for the game of basketball and turn it into something special. Who would have guessed that a young student shooting around during lunch time would grow up to achieve so much? With Fiji now competing in Asia through FIBA’s new competition system, Sonny is destined to add a few more chapters to his inspirational story.

Fiji's H4H program is funded by the Australian Government through the Pacific Sports Partnership program.

FIBA