The AYFS 49ers football team, who represented American Samoa in this year’s All Star Tournament hosted by Hawai’i, returned to the territory last week Friday in high spirits despite their record 0-2 losses during the tournament.

In a brief statement, a 49ers team member said they had a great time sightseeing and visiting places like the Polynesian Culture Center and the water parks in Hawai’i, “especially for the kids who went there for the first time.”

The statement cited what it called “good-news” when the team paid a visit to Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga at the ASG office in Honolulu. (See photo of team with the Governor on front page of Friday, June 27 issue.)

The governor “told us that this was a blessing for him to see the youth of the territory come out there not only to compete, but to visit him as well”, the team member says, adding that the governor also relayed that “he was ‘getting better and there was nothing to worry about’, but we could tell that he was still very ill.”

“We want to thank him so much for his blessing, encouragements, and help while we were there,” the team member said.