Sione Moa feels at home in Ha’akame. Photo credit: Pasifika TV.
It was only a matter of time before Sione Moa would make a “homecoming” of sorts, returning to Ha’akame, the small village in Tonga, where his namesake, hails from.
A running back for the Utah-based Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars American Football team, Sione was recently in the Kingdom of Tonga with a cohort hosted by the United States Embassy in Tonga.
Cougars Head coach Kalani Sitake, the first Tongan to coach a NCAAA Division 1 football team in the US, led the cohort, which included several players, BYU Pathways staff and the We Are One Foundation and donors, who were in Tonga to encourage sport, education and employment in the Pacific nation.
Born in Victorville, California, Sione says he grew up hearing stories of life in Tonga from his family, but until the recent trip, he had never had the opportunity to travel to the Kingdom.
“Growing up my Grandpa, my dad, my grandmother, they would always talk about where they grew up and had all these stories,” Sione says.
“It was only a matter of time until I came to check out where I am from, where my heritage is from…this has been my first time here and it has been amazing.”
Several of the cohort have connections to Ha’akame, so a visit was planned, and the village’s approximately 735 residents provided full Tongan hospitality, including a street parade for the cohort, gifting of mats, a kava ceremony and concluding with a feast.
It was a special moment for Sione, who says visiting Ha’akame felt like a homecoming.
“As I was walking down the street, I was getting emotional just looking around seeing…my family, it was definitely an emotional rollercoaster of happiness and then tears were coming.
“Coming here and feeling the love of the Ha’akame people and the love of the people…it is everything that my dad and my grandmother, grandpa, everything that they talked about, they didn’t lie at all.”
Gifts presented to the BYU Cougars cohort by residents of Ha’akame village. Photo credit: Pasifika TV.
Following the visit to Ha’akame, Sione and the cohort staged a player and coaches’ clinic, where over 100 youth attended and learnt foundational skills.
The clinic is a lead-in to the launch of the US Flag Football program in Tonga, during August 2026.
Flag football has been named an official sport at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, and the Pacific, which has an established Polynesian pipeline of football players, is seen as an ideal recruitment ground for potential Olympic athletes.
Cherishing his experiences in Tonga, Sione will return to Utah to finish his Business Management studies, and has his eyes set on making the National Football League, under the tutelage of Coach Sitake.
Offering invaluable advice to aspiring athletes hoping to pursue football at college or with pro-league, Sione says to keep working hard and do not give up.
Visit the US Embassy in Tonga and Pasifika TV for more information.