Meet The Locals: Neli Sasulu, Anglesea Basketball Coach

While waiting for international borders to reopen, Nels Sasulu, a physiotherapist and ex professional rugby player, has put his time to great use and made a lasting impact on our local kids through coaching Anglesea basketball.

Thanks to his passion for sports and his motto of inclusion, kids have flocked to the court, and Anglesea now boasts ten kid’s basketball teams, plus a women’s team and men’s team. I chatted with Nels about his Samoan heritage, the importance of physical exercise for kids and how he came to be in Anglesea.

Hi Nels, thanks so much for taking time to talk to me today. Firstly, what brought you to Anglesea?

Well, we were living in Australia but about four years ago my wife Zoe and I took our five kids on holiday to my village on the island of Upolu, Samoa. I was born in New Zealand, but have been brought up in the Samoan culture and always made frequent trips ‘home’ to the island. My kids absolutely loved the village and didn’t want to come back to Australia. One cool experience I can share was a day when I saw my eldest son out with his cousins and one of them was wearing my son’s brand-new board shorts. When I asked my son he explained, “Well Dad, his shorts were fully ripped and you could almost see his bottom, so I ran home and got him my shorts and gave them to him.” As a dad, I thought if my kids can learn to be a little more empathetic and compassionate, I am all for it. I’d trade anything for them to have those sorts of experiences. So, we decided as a family to relocate to Samoa.

We put our Melbourne property on the market, packed our bags and moved down to Anglesea to my mother-in-law’s house, thinking we would just be here for a month or two. But the property took a while to sell, and then just as we were preparing to leave, COVID hit, the borders closed and we have been stuck here ever since. Samoa has finally announced it is opening its borders in August, so after visiting my grandmother for her 90th birthday in New Zealand in October, we will finally make it back to Samoa.

So, how did you become involved with Anglesea basketball?

My background is physiotherapy and functional strength training, and I’m a huge advocate for any form of physical activity and how it helps the mind and the wellbeing of a person, especially a young person. We didn’t expect the basketball to explode the way it has, I just went out there with my heart as a Polynesian, entered my kids in the team and started coaching. Suddenly loads of kids started coming, and we had to keep making new teams. When we arrived in Anglesea there were just one or two kids’ basketball teams and now we have ten kids’ teams, a women’s team and a men’s team.

Your motto is being inclusive of all kids, can you expand?

Polynesians are very inclusive – we always try to make things work out for everyone, for the greater good of the community. There are many different blessings and attributes that a kid can develop playing in a team sport. It’s a chance to be courageous and brave – not in a violent way, but in a way where they can learn to cope with pressure. But it’s also about participation and having fun with it – whatever their definition of fun is. Some of the basketball kids are very serious about the sport, others just want to hang with their mates and throw a ball around, and that’s fine too. My motto has always been to be inclusive of both those types of kids.

It must be rewarding for you, seeing the kids develop and grow in skills and confidence?

Yes, 100 per cent. We recently had a kid join the ranks. Halfway through the first training session this kid was ready to quit. I said, “I know it’s hard, but you have to put the work in, it’s just like anything in life, you can’t expect to have it on a plate.” A few games into the season this kid shot their first basket. It was the coolest thing for me as a coach – to see this child with a massive smile and the mum all teary. That’s what it’s all about, providing a vehicle which helps these kids believe in themselves. The sad thing about leaving Anglesea is saying goodbye to the kids.

So, what have you enjoyed about your time here on the Surf Coast, apart from coaching basketball of course?

Anglesea has a lot of the same community attributes that we have in the village back home in Samoa. Everyone knows everyone and people look out for each other. And everyone’s friendly; I have not met one rude person since we’ve been down here, and it’s been a fantastic transition for the kids. Life can be a little busy for us and it’s great that we have a good community here, and to have our kids play a team sport together has been awesome. We like having older people around too because in Samoa looking after the elderly is a huge part of the culture.

Creating opportunities for kids is obviously important to you, where does that stem from?

Since retiring from professional rugby, my life has been all about the kids. I didn’t have much growing up, and never had much time with my parents because they worked in factories. So, when I married my beautiful wife Zoe and we decided to start a family, we put all the focus on the kids and giving them the opportunities that I didn’t have. I am a freelance physiotherapist and map my work around the kids’ schedule. My wife being there full time is a huge blessing for our kids. Along the way they will learn life lessons like acting with compassion, gratitude and empathy – for me, these are the riches of life, not material things. One of my sons has already said to me, “Dad, if I ever make it in professional sport, I want to create a pathway for the village kids.” Hearing that made me realise that I am making an imprint with what I am doing in Anglesea – which is essentially creating opportunities for kids.

What are you most looking forward to with your move to Samoa?

The biggest thing is being able to slow down and live the simple life. I am also looking forward to sharing with my people that they should avoid falling into the trap of thinking that New Zealand and Australia are paradise. Because with the way the world is going at the moment, paradise is the Samoan life – you’ve got a house, you’ve got land, you’ve got your vegetables, so you can essentially survive just living off the land. When our people started coming over here in the 1940s their health was taken away and a lot of people now suffer from diabetes and heart disease through unhealthy diet. Without your health what sort of wealth do you have?

I will be starting a physio/rehabilitation clinic in the city, and we have lots of other projects in the works, including renovating my family property in the village – where there is a cafe over the water and some beach huts. You are welcome to come and stay with us, Robyn!

That sounds wonderful Nels, I might just take you up on that. Thanks again for making time to chat, and for being such a positive role model in our community. You will be greatly missed. Good luck with your move and we hope to see you back here in Anglesea sometimes.

For more information on Anglesea basketball, follow the Facebook page or email angleseaaireysbasketball@gmail.com.