Every time the Poletti sisters run onto the rugby field, or over a mountain pass, their dad, Pat, is in their hearts and in their heads. A rugby-loving farmer and father of four girls, Pat Poletti passed away in June last year from cancer. Whenever his eldest daughter, Nina, and youngest, Caterina, take the field in the Farah Palmer Cup or compete in an adventure race like the Coast to Coast, they’re reminded of what their dad taught them. “Because all of us girls are six feet tall, or thereabouts, and solid, it was very much Dad who supported us through puberty, with body image issues and stuff like that,” says 24-year-old front rower Nina. “He was always like ‘Use your strength and put it on the rugby field’. “That was probably the biggest thing that he left us. All the key skills we've got now for our rugby and adventure racing, like ‘Don’t give up, you can do it’ and the ‘Go-hard-or-go-home mentality’, a lot of those things are from Dad.” Click the link to read more.
