“To Level 3 and Beyond”: How Rugby Shaped Adi Fika’s Life on and Off the Field

In 2018, inside the school grounds of Nausori Primary School, Adi Fika Seruitanoa made a decision that would change her life—and those of many girls around her. She was a teacher first, a mother of three, and at the time, someone who knew very little about coaching rugby.

But when a group of young girls came to her wanting to play, there was no one to guide them.

“All they needed was someone to say yes,” Adi Fika recalls. “And I couldn’t walk away from that.”

That moment sparked a journey that has taken her from the schoolyard to rugby workshops, national coaching camps, and now into elite territory, as one of only four women in Fiji to achieve a World Rugby Level 3 coaching qualification.

At first, coaching was about filling a gap. But as she studied, trained, and coached week after week, rugby began to shape her too.

“GIR Plus provided the platform to start coaching and that was where I achieved my World Rugby Level 1 accreditation.”

Ms Seruitanoa is the GIR Plus coach at Nausori Primary School and coached the Naitasiri Women’s U20 last season. With her recent accreditation now, she will now lead the Natasiri Women’s senior team in the 2025 Fiji Rugby Provincial competition.

“Rugby taught me how to lead under pressure. It gave me confidence, not just on the field, but in life,” she says.

The same lessons she gave her players; discipline, teamwork, resilience; she began applying in her own life. Balancing work, motherhood, and the demanding pathway to WR Level 3 wasn’t easy.

“There were times I questioned whether I belonged in that space. But then I’d remember the girls back at school. They needed to see a woman in rugby. And I needed to become the coach they never had.”

Hailing from Deuba, Serua with maternal ties to Saqani in Cakaudrove, Adi Fika didn’t grow up in rugby. The sport wasn’t available to her as a girl. Today, she’s helping to rewrite that story for others—on the field, in the classroom, and now in the World Rugby coaching network.

“Level 3 is a big step. It’s tactical, it’s technical, it pushes you,” she says. “But it also forces you to think about why you coach. For me, it’s about giving young women a platform to grow.”

Reaching Level 3 isn’t just a personal milestone. It’s a message—to young girls, to fellow teachers, and to women across Fiji that leadership in rugby is possible.

“Now that there are four of us women with this badge, I hope more will follow. We, coaches have pathways too; so I encourage other ladies who follow rugby out there to try out coaching.”

As she looks to what’s next, Adi Fika is staying grounded in her purpose: to grow the game, and to grow with it.

“Rugby gave me more than a role. It gave me a reason. I may have started out as a teacher trying to help some girls play, but rugby ended up shaping me, just as much as I shaped them.”