By Amellia Wood
Now, amongst the male dominated leadership in her country, Lome has hope for the Pacific Women’s Sports Administration Program to commence a new era for Samoan female governance.
Having been involved with netball for well over 25 years, Lome’s personal experiences in leadership justify the need for such initiatives.
“When I moved to Samoa it was definitely a series of new experiences at all levels,” Lome said. “I was in a new country, adapting to being a mum to my first newborn child, and living in an extended family environment.”
Prior to her life as a Netball Samoa CEO, Lome worked in the hospitality trade as a food and beverage assistant while studying. She then found purpose at the Samoa Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture as a Project Manager for two major education sector projects which connected all secondary schools and colleges in Samoa.
“Joining a netball club helped me meet new people, make friends, observe and learn the new norms of Samoa which I could apply to work.,
“The best part was I felt part of a connected netball community again.”
As a young child Lome shadowed her mum at netball practices and looked forward to Saturday mornings at the netball courts.
“Going to the netball courts, I made a lot of friends with other girls whom I eventually played against and with at school netball competitions, and eventually played at the same club,” she said.
“I loved watching my mum play and then some of my aunties joined in, so it became a great family outing for my female cousins and I every week during the netball season, while my male cousins would go to rugby with their dads and uncles.”
A passion sparked in her youth became Lome's primary mission five years ago, when she was offered the most significant title there is for netball in her country, Netball Samoa CEO.
Lome believed it was an opportunity to take the skills gained and lessons learned in previous jobs and blend it into a role she felt capable and confident of making a difference in.
Achievable but meaningful changes including increased participation and registration, heightened media exposure and the creation of clinics in schools, clubs and villages stood at the top of her agenda.
“I aspire to be the combination of a visionary, coach, pace setter and leader,” Lome said.
“It's phrases like ‘walk the talk’, ‘every task must be done by someone and if there is no one then you need to do it’ and ‘have empathy for others but do not be their doormat’, these are always in my mind.”
In her time in charge, success for netball has grown through a variety of initiatives such as the establishment of Netball Samoa's flagship development program, Oriana. Player development at all levels has ensued and inclusion across genders has diversified.
“This year we had the best numbers of participation in our National Netball League,” Lome explained. “We had 36 registered teams in the Age Group Division and 35 registered teams in the Open Division.
“Within the primary and secondary school sector netball is played by all, and if we were to look at a ballpark number, then it would be over 25,000 participants that engage in some form of netball activity/program per year at the moment.”
“My favourite parts that are now second nature are planning new activities that will grow the sport of netball, seeing young girls that join our programs taking the new skills learned in their game and having my staff and volunteers enjoy what they are doing.”
Lome hasn't been without hurdles in the Samoan sports leadership landscape. Self-reflection, sleepless night and unexpected challenges have all been experienced in the role.
“The administration part was not a problem because I had worked as a Project Manager, but being a leader was quite overwhelming with the fear of failing.
“Sometimes I would find myself at a crossroads of what to do or say, so the challenge was finding that common ground in order to move forward.
“As a woman I tend to get emotional on certain issues, especially with internal club communications, so I am constantly telling myself to stay focused on the issue and remind myself it is important to have a good team that surrounds you to keep you grounded to make well informed decisions.”
Much of the responsibility to grow netball in Samoa falls on Lome's shoulders. While passionate volunteers form the foundation of her organisation, the real change she wants to see in her sport needs proper funding and government support.
“There are many opportunities in the respective sport codes of sports administration, but the biggest challenge is finding paid employment opportunities.”
Introduced this year, the Pacific Women’s Sports Administration Program aims to create avenues in the Pacific for women’s leadership in netball, and to enable associations to advance women in decision-making roles.
The program will work to promote gender equality, leadership and economic opportunities and livelihoods for women across the region. In providing more resources and training to partner countries, it is a goal to reduce barriers to female participation and increase the safety to participate.
For Lome, it is the bridging step for volunteers in her community to become professionals.
“We will finally have tools, resources and the capacity to build opportunities for Netball Samoa to be a sustainable association for longevity in our sport sector,” she said.
"As a CEO, this program will empower my existing staff and assist with recruiting the right person for the jobs available through a robust recruitment and selection process.
“It will support with the development of policies and procedures for office operations and establish different approaches of review techniques to ensure that they are current and in the context of our environment.
"We want to be an association that upholds the best practices of good governance, and that is recognised not only regionally but contextually in our culture, environment and economic landscape to build relationships with stakeholders and private sector providers.”
Time will tell what is next for Netball Samoa in its ambitions to continually grow for the sports sake, as well as its family-oriented community.
While in Lome's hands, the possibilities are boundless.
“What are my hopes? Easy, to be ranked in the top 10 in the World Cup and World Youth Cup, to have a netball office established and operational in Savaii, and to leave my role as CEO in a better financial position with capable staff to manage the administration duties.”
“I just want women in sports and administration to know, your scope of work is as big as you want it to be...”
