PROPOSED ACADEMY

REPRESENTED BY THE BLUE BOX, THE ACADEMY WILL BE SET ON 10-ACRES OF BEACHFRONT LAND IN VUNILAGI CO-LOCATED WITH THE PROPOSED NATEWA RUNWAY, A DOMESTIC AIRPORT CAPABILE OF RECEIVING IINTERNATIONAL PLANES

ACCOMMODATION

The Academy will be located on 10 acres of pristine waterfront with a white sand beach in Vunilagi, Vanua Levu. Accommodation will be tailored to different groups:

  • 3 Dormitories for high school teams

  • 12 twin rooms for open teams (stage 1)

  • 80 room resort (stage 2)

AMENITIES

State-of-the-art amenities will include:

  • A 5,000-seat stadium

  • An lagoon pool with an Olympic-length lap pool

  • A world-class gymnasium (a training certification facility for Fiji Fit)

  • A dive academy (preparing players for careers after rugby)

  • A sailing academy (focused on vocational skills and qualifications)

  • A Yoga Academy (designed by Julia Morrison, founder of Wave Yoga Retreats)

  • Horse stables (supporting a adventure tourism micro business prototype)

  • A Spa and Sports Therapy Facility

  • Two restaurants and a café

The Academy is expected to be fully operational within three years. In the meantime, the Rugby Lodge at The Remote Resort will be used to test the concept, build the customer base, and gain early reviews.

CAREER PATHWAYS BEYOND RUGBY

The Academy will act as a launchpad for professional players transitioning into diverse careers:

  • Real Estate & Investment: Helping players like Semi Radradra, who owns freehold land in Taveuni Estates. We want to help him lead by example showing other players how he can create an income streams by building an Airbnb Holiday House which is an entry level Tourism Investment in Fiji.

  • Dive Professionals: Off-season opportunities for players to progress from Open Water Certification to Dive Instructor and eventually manage or own dive shops.

  • Commercial Captains & Sailing: Led by Olympian Viliame Ratulu, the Sailing Academy will train players for sailing regattas, progress MSAF international certifications — eventually producing professional captains and engineers for global maritime careers.

  • Village-Based Microbusinesses: Returning players like Semi Kunitani will be supported to develop agritourism and adventure tourism businesses, such as horseback tours through Fiji’s waterfalls and vistas.

  • International Brand Building: We would like to work with Andrew Durutalo and Oxford University MBA to develop a certified personal trainer program which could potentially be rolled out worldwide as a hotel brand standard. The program will allow Fijians worldwide provide personal training services to a partner hotel brand.