Young Fijian sevens players to showcase their rugby talents at Kiwi AIMS games

The Tauranga tournament is expanding its international reach.

A Fijian school and its sevens team is confident it can win at this year's AIMS Games in New Zealand.

Gospel Primary School will be the first Fijian school to travel and compete at the tournament in September.

One of the coaches, Jesoni Naivalutoki, says his team has trained well and is hoping for a win to "bring the cup back here to Fiji" he says.

The primary school has a role of more than 800 students and was founded by New Zealand missionaries in the sixties.

Fourteen students and a group of parents will travel to New Zealand, through the help of sponsorship and generous donors.

AIMS Games is the largest intermediate aged tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, boasting more than 11,500 athletes from 368 schools, and in recent years it's encouraged Pacific nations to compete.

Event director Vicki Semple, says it's important to have international students at Aims Games as it shows "sport is a universal language".

Education New Zealand says these types of tournaments prepare students for a global world, and helps develop global citizenship.

It says it helps students understand different cultures and to value different ways of living.

Amelia Baro, who will travel to New Zealand with her son, says the cost and all the planning is well worth it.

"For me to see my son with a smile of his face, that smile says it all."

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