Samoan Gridiron Superstar Troy Polamalu and Fijian rugby legend Nicky Little have made strong statements about the importance of education.

In an interview with “Underkava” magazine,  the athletes urged parents to make sure the children had more than sports.

The publication is produced by the recently established Pacific Islanders Players Association.

According to Troy Polamalu “Not everyone can be a professional athlete, but education and knowledge is something no one can take away from you. That was very important for me.”

“Athletics are so natural to us Samoans and Polynesians that I feel it is more of an accomplishment when I see Polynesians that are lawyers, judges and doctors, that really commit to education. To me, that is way more of a success story than, say, me just playing professional football.”

 “Unfortunately professional sport is about entertainment, it’s about money. To me, education starts from the home. Parents have to be accountable to show the children why education is important. They can’t just take them to quarterback coaches, from a football perspective, and not take them to tutors. There are a lot of kids who will go to quarterback coaches from the age of seven, but if they don’t make it to the NFL they often have nothing to fall back on.”

The retired Fijian fly-half Nicky Little also gave his advice “I had always wanted to ‘teach’ rugby, so when I retired I knew exactly what I wanted to do and went straight to the RPA to get it.”

 “I applied for four jobs, got three interviews and in the end- I got it! Not having a degree was a bit of an obstacle, and I still wish I had stuck with Uni for it, but luckily it didn’t stop my future employers seeing my hunger and passion for developing young rugby players.”

“Find your degree, spread the work over a number of years, do courses/levels to show employers that you’re focused and not just a dumb rugby player.”