Our Commonwealth Games star

Valerie Adams

Full name: Valerie Kasanita Adams

Date of Birth: 6^th October 1984 (Age 29)

Height: 1.93m

Weight: 120kg

Birth place: Rotorua, New Zealand

Valerie Adams is the daughter of Sydney Adams and Lilika Ngauamo, she has 17 siblings one being Steven Adams the New Zealand basketball player.  Her ethnicity is Tongan/pakeha. Valerie attended many South Auckland schools for her education.

Valerie first started training in shot put at the age of 17, because she is from a poor background she started off with no training gear; she didn't even have shoes.

She is the world champion in shot put currently; she has had that title four times.  Valerie has participated at the Olympics and the Commonwealth games many times.

Valerie was once married to Bertrand Vili, he is also a professional shot putter; however they divorced in early 2010.

Valerie has inspired us because even if you come from a poor background, it doesn’t matter because there are riches at the end, to get to those riches you must show the world your talents and work hard to achieve them.

By Benn, Milika and Lose

Why and how do cats purr?

Cats purr when they get stroked, so when they are happy and also when they are frightened or feeling threatened; especially when visiting the vet.

A cat’s purr begins in their brain and the sends messages to the laryngeal muscles causing them to twitch at a rate of 25 to 150 vibrations per second; it causes the cats vocals to separate when it inhales.

Cats purr when they are co-operating with one another and sometimes purr when they are self-healing.

Not all cats purr though. Some of the big wild cats like lions don’t.

So when your family cat starts purring, think about what is causing it… is it because it is happy??

By: Teuhiva, Benn, Lose, Ayden, Rhea & Losana