Sophiana Moala is a 13 year-old who has never met her parents.
The third child in a family of five, her parents migrated to New Zealand shortly after she was born leaving her and her siblings to be raised by their grandparents.
A talented athlete, Sophiana has been involved in a number of different sports, including Tonga Football Association’s Just Play Programme, and believes football will offer her the means to make her dream come true: a face-to-face meeting with her parents.
“I joined athletics, rugby and soccer in school hoping that sports might be a way for me to meet my parents. After being involved in these different sports, soccer was the one that I was most interested in and now I hope that my talent will be a great opportunity for me to meet my parents one day.”
After growing up in a community that dosen’t offer any sports, Sophiana went to Nukuhetulu, a village with strong roots in volleyball, where she joined the local football club, Nukuhetulu FC.
However, since Just Play instructor Lafaele Moala introduced the Just Play programme, young boys and girls have shown a keen interest in the beautiful game and the club now has both a men’s and women’s side playing at premier level.
Sophiana is proving to be one of Tonga’s brightest young football stars, earning the top goal scorer record in both the U-14 and U-16 local youth leagues.
As a Just Play participant she’s not only learning skills she can apply on the field, but how to develop a healthy lifestyle through the different curriculum subjects including Health and WASH, and Sport 2 Life.
“I love the Just Play Programme because it encourages me to believe in myself and to strive for the best in football,” she explained.
“It helps me in making good choices on and off the field and for the long term. Since I am dreaming to meet my parents, this programme motivates me to keep going because one day I might meet them through my journey in football.”
After joining the training squad for the Tonga U-16 national team in 2023, Sofiana was then selected for the squad and the dream opportunity to meet her parents came within her grasp.
Her mother, Melanie Moala, was as excited as her daughter at the idea of coming face-to-face after 13 years.
“I cried when I heard that she had been selected for the final squad, I knew it was my chance to finally meet my child,” Melanie said.
Unfortunately the dream reunion wasn’t to be as Sophiana was deemed too young to travel with the team.
“Despite finding out she was still too young to join the team, I felt sad but didn’t give her hopeless words. Instead I wanted to motivate her to keep going because one day we will meet in God’s perfect timing.”
Sophiana hasn’t let this experience deter her in her quest to represent Tonga as she continues to train hard with the objective of once more earning the right to play for football for her country, with the hope it will also see her dream of reuniting with her parents come true.
She is currently participating in the Talent Development and the U-15 Development squad that are preparing for the OFC U15 Girls Development Tour 2024 in New Zealand.
