New local Youth Coach

By Frank Neill

Youth Inspire has a new Wainuiomata

Youth Coach – former Wallabies Rugby player Pekahou Cameron.

Pekahou made his test debut for the Wallabies when they played Italy in Melbourne on 20 June 2009.

He went on to play 10 matches for the Australian national team.

Born in Wellington, Pekahou moved to Sydney when he was 13 and was selected for the Australian Schoolboys Rugby team in 2003 and 2004.

A prop who played on both sides of the scrum, he signed with the Western Force in 2006, playing 135 games and scoring five tries with the team.

Pekahou played for the Perth Spirit in the 2007 Australian Rugby Championships and also was a member of the top Japanese East League side Shimizu Blue Sharks.

“I have been so fortunate to be given the opportunity to help guide our rangatahi on their journey as part of my role as a youth coach with Youth Inspire,” Pekahou says “I love the fact I can connect with rangatahi on a cultural and personal level as well as having transferable experiences through my professional sporting career of 17 years to help better equip rangatahi with ways of thinking, habits and mindset for success.

“Doing all of this in a dynamic and varied work environment with a great team around me allows me to be at my best and make doing what we do even more fulfilling,” he says.

Q: What is your favourite overseas country to visit?

Switzerland. It’s stunningly beautiful. I went to Switzerland [some years go] and it was the trip of a lifetime.

India. When I was 18 years old I started practising yoga. The deeper I dived into yoga, India has been on my mind.

France,