Teen tennis ace hopes to inspire

By Talaia Mika 15 December 2019, 5:00PM

A 15-year-old Samoan tennis ace hopes her success on the court that led to her securing a scholarship can inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

Penina Kamu was offered a scholarship at the Meriden Anglican School for Girls in Sydney, Australia, after a standout performance at the 2018 Oceania Tennis Championships.

It has been a year since she moved to the New South Wales school which is an independent Anglican single-sex learning institution that takes on early learning, primary and secondary school girls and is located in Strathfiled in Sydney’s innerwest.

Last month, Penina was awarded the highest achievement award in the Waikato Junior Open 2019 Tournament (singles girls 16-under) with scores 61-6-0.

With such a score, she is confident she can keep climbing up the ladder in the sport and provide a platform for younger tennis players from Samoa to be exposed to such opportunities.

Penina’s goal is to make it to the U.S. for tennis and school where she expects bigger dreams to happen. 

In order to qualify, she has challenged herself to win as many International Tennis Federation (ITF)-sanctioned tournaments in order to get high rates. 

Penina is a former student of Robert Louis Stevenson’s College and Primary School and is proud to inspire her peers to follow her journey.

According to her mother Lisa Kamu, their family is proud of her daughter’s achievement as she keeps surprising them. 

“Even in our family, she’s always so competitive and hardworking like when she fights for something she wants, she fights to get that goal like how she’s doing right now,” she said.

“We’re super proud as her goals were to improve her game (tennis), skills and tactics, getting fit and her education.”

Penina was also a top student the RLSS and her dream in education is business.

But for her mother, tennis will not the only priority as the family also wants her daughter to become a business woman to take on the family’s business. 

The Kamu family is the owner of the Indoors shop in Apia.

By Talaia Mika 15 December 2019, 5:00PM

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