TN Note: "His rise has been steep. It is just five months since he was first encouraged to pick up a rugby ball, yet he will already be playing his second international competition with the USA sevens side when they kick off the second leg of the IRB series in South Africa today. Any opponents planning to pick him up on his style choices, such as the black nail-polish on his thumbs, would be better advised to think again. He may be a rugby novice, but his skills on defence are already "beyond exceptional", according to his coach Al Caravelli, which is a relic of his days playing as a safety in the NFL. It was the destructive side of rugby which first attracted him to the game."
About decided to go into rugby, Leonard Peters said:
"I was done with the NFL and coach Al gave me a call to see if I wanted to give rugby a try. He said that there was a lot of running and a lot of hitting so I said, 'OK, sign me up'. It looked fun to me so I wanted to see if I could pick it up. For our team there is not a lot of money in it, but for some of the others there is. I didn't do it for money, I wanted to do it to learn a new sport." (TN)
TN Note: "For Peters, the last match in the group, against Samoa, carries the most significance. Peters was born in Fagaalu in American Samoa to Samoan parents, who moved to Hawaii when he was nine. He has not forgotten his roots, as evidenced by the fact his body is decorated by pe'a, or traditional Polynesian tattoos. The masterpiece has taken 179 hours so far, and is still far from the finished product."
About his tattoos, Peters said:
"Each symbol represents a generation of my family. I am not finished, there is still a long way to go." (TN)
Explaining why he puts black nail varnish on his thumbs, Peters said:
"One of the children had cancer. At eight-years-old he was going to pass away. We were trying to sign autographs for them but they were very, very shy. I saw the mother's nail polish on the stand, so I asked him if he would prefer to paint my nails. From then on, he started to talk to us and he painted my nails. Now I always paint them to remind myself how lucky I am.
When you are eight-years-old and you are going to pass away from cancer, it shows that us people who run around playing football are extremely fortunate, even if we do get some nicks and dings. If I'm sore or I don't want to practice or I'm having a bad day because I don't have enough money for gas, if I wave to someone, or whatever I do throughout the day, and I see it I remind myself how lucky I am." (TN)
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091211/SPORT/712109918/1173
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