BYU Cougars player Viliami and his dad and coach Sione Po’uha during their visit to Ha’akame in Tonga. Photo credit: Pasifika TV.
A recent visit to the Kingdom of Tonga has left former New York Jets defensive tackle and now associate coach for the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars, Sione Po’uha, anchored in his identity.
Journeying to his homeland with his son Viliami, who plays for the Big 12 BYU Cougars under the tutelage of his father and head coach Kalani Sitake, made the visit even more poignant, he says.
The pair were part of a cohort, supported by the United States Embassy in Tonga and consisting of several BYU football players and coaches, BYU Pathways staff and the We Are One Foundation plus donors, who visited Tonga in late June 2026 to encourage sport, education and employment opportunities in the Pacific nation.
As part of the tour, the cohort visited Ha’akame, a village of approximately 735 residents, where they were welcomed warmly, Tongan style – with food, kava and great hospitality, Sione says.
“This trip has been a year and a half in the making…one of the main things we wanted to accomplish was to see what Tonga life was like from a little village perspective,” he says.
“It is divine we chose Ha’akame… it is a million times of what we thought it would be in terms of excitement and energy.”
Ha’akame also happens to be where Viliami’s maternal great grandmother comes from, with his great grandfather hailing from a village down the road, and Sione says he is privileged to be adopted into the Ha’akame family.
Having heard so many stories about the village growing up, actually seeing it with his own eyes is a moment Viliami will treasure, he says.
“It is really nice to put a name to a place – I can imagine my grandparents meeting here, walking to church down the street…I can just see our family starting here,” Viliami adds.
Raising the profile of American and flag football
During the Tonga visit, the BYU football contingent held clinics in Nuku’alofa to encourage youth, coaches and administrators to get involved in American football as well as flag football, which will make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Sione says the platform of football provides an opportunity to share something as a community.
“We might not all speak the same language, but worldwide we love seeing competition and our favorite heroes running on the field,” Sione says.
“We represent the universal language of sport, and I think as we use that platform, maybe to create more athletes, but to create more unity and service in different communities, that has been our number one goal.
“We will take the four pillars of Tonga back to America…reemphasize to American Tongans – those raised in the US – and say, ‘hey, our cultures and values still thrive’.
“We will go back with a better sense of pride.”
USA Football Sports Envoy
Meanwhile, Tonga is set for yet more football, with the US Embassy in Tonga, hosting a USA Football Sports Envoy from August 5-9, including head coach of USA Football’s 17U Girls’ Junior National Team Joshua Saunders, along with the team’s assistant coach Nadia Bibbs, a former cornerback and wide receiver for the US Women’s Flag National Team.
The USA Football coaches will offer guidance and knowledge to Tonga’s emerging coaches and youth from various schools in Nuku’alofa and wider Tongatapu, in a series of coach-to-coach and after school youth clinics, before leaving for Fiji on August 10 to run the same program in Nadi and Suva.
Contact NukualofaPD@state.gov or visit the US Embassy in Tonga for more information on the Sports Envoy program in Tonga.