Rheilli Uluilelata, a Year 9 student, has won a Porirua Youth Award for Excellence in Sport in recognition of her hockey successes, presented by John Key at an award ceremony this week.

She has represented Wellington in hockey since the age of 8 and is currently in the Wellington U15A Wellington Representative squad. In 2009 she captained two teams – the Rangikura First X1 Premier girls team who were the first Porirua team to win the Primary Premier 1 competition in Wellington. She also captained the Wellington U13A Collier squad and was the first Pacific captain. 
 
Her list of achievements this year include: 

• MVP at National Hockey Tournament held in Napier
• MVP – U15A Girls Wellington Representative (Hockey)
• Latham Cup Winner – Eastern Hutt Women’s Hockey Club
• MVP – First XI Hockey Team (Wellington East Girls' College)
• Sports Premier Award – John Cook Trophy (Wellington East Girls' College)
• Nominated for College Sports Wellington for Hockey (prize giving next week) 

The magnitude of these awards is made greater due to the fact she is has always been one of the younger players selected in all the squads she has played in and is only 13 years old.  Her leadership skills in the classroom have also been recognised and she has also won a Dean's Award for leadership as she is Class Captain.
 
Rheilli’s dream is to become the first Samoan black stick. The money she received with this award will be invested in hockey development programmes to help her progress in the game.