Te Puke teacher Kamal Nair’s ‘other life’ as a goalkeeper

Kamal Nair (centre) with the championship winning NZ Middlemore team.

Students wondering how one of their teachers spent his most recent holidays now have an answer - winning an international football tournament.

Te Puke High School acting associate principal Kamal Nair played in goal for the winning NZ Middlemore team playing in the masters section of a sporting tournament in Fiji.

Normally held annually - but disrupted in recent years due to the global pandemic - the Sangam Convention is a sporting gathering that attracts teams from Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States. The football tournament this time featured 69 teams in super premier, premier and masters competitions.

Karam’s team reached the masters final by beating a team from Queensland 4-3, and then won a penalty shoot-out against another New Zealand team, NZ Sangam Masters, 4-2.

“It’s an annual tournament where Fijians from all over the world come - there’s also netball, golf, snooker - all sorts of sports,” says Kamal.

Travel restrictions meant Kamal last played in the tournament in 2019 when he was part of an open-age side that reached the semifinals.

“I turned 40 in 2020 - it’s hot, we played seven games to get to the final [this year] - I decided I couldn’t do open and masters, so thought I’d stick to the masters.

“[Because of the pandemic] this time it was a massive event, with all the families, drums rolling and big crowds, because a lot of people come to visit all their family and friends who have come from overseas.”

This year’s event was held in Nadi, and next year will be in Suva.

Kamal with the trophies the NZ Middlemore team won.

Over the winter Kamal plays for Pāpāmoa FC’s Bay 1 side and says his pre-season training helped his preparation for the Sangam tournament. His Fijian side had two training sessions together before travelling, but also plays in tournaments organised by NZ Fiji Football during the summer months.

“We play at least three tournaments every year and they pick the teams from there to travel to Fiji.”

He says the tournament is a great experience.

“Next year I want to take my family over, take my daughter and hopefully she can join a netball team later on and be part of it, all the culture and the food.”

Kamal was raised in Fiji and came to New Zealand when he was 17, completed Year 13 and then went to Waikato University.

He has been teaching science since 2005 and moved to Te Puke High School in 2019.

He is also president of the Bay of Plenty Fijian Community.

“There is a big Fijian community here in Te Puke and the community is growing in Tauranga as well.

“We are there to support the new immigrants who come in and we organise a big Fiji Day event and also do a few events through the year to get the community together.”