Talanoa Session - Carletta Yee

Jeremy Lardner (0:01)

I begin this episode by paying respect to the Ngunnawal and Nambri people, the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast is produced. I pay respect to their elders, past, present and emerging, and I extend that same respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners of this podcast.

Bula Manaka, Talawha Lava, Maluwelele, and welcome to the Dua Moana Pasifika Rugby Podcast, where we bring you Pacific voices talking Pacific rugby. I'm your host Jeremy, and I'm blessed to be joined in the borough today by none other than Fijian Rua and Fijiana star Carletta Yee. Welcome to the podcast. It's an honor to have you on. Now your rugby journey, there's so much there, and there's so much that I'm really, really excited to speak to you about and hear about and learn about. But before we get to that, as we always do on this podcast, I'd love to just hear a little bit about your early years, your younger years, and just where you grew up and your family and that kind of thing, if you'd like to share that.

Carletta Yee (1:35)

Sure. I grew up in Suva. My whole family grew up in Suva. Growing up, I didn't know much of rugby. I didn't even play any rugby growing up.

My father and my older sister represented Fiji in athletics.

Jeremy Lardner (1:49)

Oh, wow.

Carletta Yee (1:51)

Yeah. So they ran like they were sprinters.

Jeremy Lardner (1:53)

If you got some pace too.

Carletta Yee (1:55)

I should switch my position to ringer. Yeah. So growing up, all I knew was athletics and learning how to run and working on my speed.

And it wasn't until I was in Form 3 in high school during COVID, and one of my friends approached me to go for training. And I went and the rest is history.

Jeremy Lardner (2:15)

Yeah. Amazing.

Do you think, and we have so many people come on to this podcast and talk about how other sports that they played, especially when they're younger, influenced their rugby in different ways. Do you think having that, I guess, well, professional training, I guess, training alongside your sister and your father, who obviously ran and performed at athletics at a very, very high level. Do you think that's helped you in your rugby career, just having that technical grounding in terms of even just how you're running?

Carletta Yee (2:51)

Yeah, definitely. I think just the technique of running during the importance of activation and warming up before training or before games. And even now, my dad still gets at me on my technique of running.

It's not as high standard as he would want it to be. So yeah, just having knowledge of those things growing up really helped me in my career, I would say.

Jeremy Lardner (3:16)

Oh, lovely.

Now, you spoke there about your friend who invited you to your first rugby training. Can you just take me back to, I guess that afternoon and what you remember from that first session that afternoon that sort of, I guess, drew you to the game initially?

Carletta Yee (3:36)

Well, we sort of live in the same neighborhood. So we were playing volleyball together one afternoon with the other kids in the neighborhood. And she just told me, if you have nothing to do tomorrow, come join us for training. We'll be at the tracks. I think they were doing some conditioning that day. So I went. I tried it out. And I think the thing that really drew me was the bond that the girls had.

That both are off field and on field bond. And the intensity of the training, like not everyone can do it. Not everyone can get through it.

So if I could be as good as them and get through these training sessions, just to imagine how.

Jeremy Lardner (4:22)

Yeah, I mean, it's a good starting point, right?

Carletta Yee (4:24)

Yeah, it is. It really is.

Jeremy Lardner (4:28)

Well, another thing that sort of stuck out to me about your career in particular is that there's these sort of these moments and these themes of leadership that have popped up throughout your career. I mean, you're captain, NGMs under 18s, and then obviously the Suva under 20s Marama Cup, Marama Trophy, sorry, side.

Can you just, are there any moments that sort of stick out to you in your mind of times where your teammates or your team needed you to step up as a leader? And I guess how you approach that, was it daunting or is leadership something that's always come naturally to you?

Carletta Yee (5:15)

I think being given a leadership role is always a privilege, knowing that the coaches have the trust in you to lead the girls on the day. And for me, it wasn't really a moment, just I think the biggest thing for me as a leader was by leading by my actions.