Lelann Latu
July 16, 2010—Heading into his freshman year at Brigham Young University, Lelann Latu was expecting a typical college experience at the Provo, Utah campus—with plans to receive an education, prepare for a mission, and compete as a student athlete. To his credit, Latu accomplished each of those goals, but his experience turned out to be a little different than he planned, and was anything but typical. Photo courtesy of Paul Meyers, byurugbyphotos.com
LatterDaySports: You just recently completed your freshman year at BYU. How did you like it?
Lelann Latu: It was nothing I expected. Going to the school, I just went to it like it was any other school, but BYU is a special school. Especially for me it was perfect, right before my mission. That’s exactly why I wanted to go there, because I figured that would be a good place to prepare for my mission. It’s a prefect atmosphere for a pre-missionary. I really enjoyed it up there.
LatterDaySports: Were you considering any other schools?
Latu: No. From high school I only applied to BYU because I figured it was the best place to be before a mission.
LatterDaySports: In what specific ways did it help you prepare for a mission?
Latu: I think the biggest way that it helped me was everyone there—or mostly everyone there—is a member (of the church). Most of the teachers are members. Every Tuesday they do devotional where we go and hear spiritual speakers. The prophet came and spoke at the beginning of the school year. Just overall, you always feel the spirit while you’re on campus.
Lelann Latu, a 6-1, 200 lb. wing from Kahuku, Hawaii, recently completed his first season of organized rugby with the BYU Cougars. Photos courtesy of Paul Meyers, byurugbyphotos.com
LatterDaySports: You have a major yet?
Latu: No. I’m undecided until after my mission. I was thinking about doing mechanical engineering but I don’t want to make any declarations before I know for sure.
LatterDaySports: A mission will help you figure things out a little bit.
Latu: Yeah, that’s what a lot of my friends told me. It helps you get your priorities in place.
LatterDaySports: What kind of things did you do for fun up there?
Latu: In Provo? For fun? In the beginning of the school year there’s a lot of dances so I went to a lot of those but after a while it was mostly just going to sporting events—volleyball games—and kind of just hung out with a lot of my friends. There’s a lot of ward activities because there are singles wards everywhere. They want us to mingle so they took us out on a lot of activities.
LatterDaySports: While you were there you played rugby. How did that come to be?
Latu: At first I wanted to play football, so I went and tried out. After the tryouts, the rugby coaches were there watching too and they announced that rugby tryouts were the next day. So I figured I might as well just try it out. I always wanted to play rugby, but my dad never let me play back at home. I went out the next day and tried out and that’s how I got into it.
LatterDaySports: You played football in high school?
Latu: Yeah, I played football (for Kamehameha Schools).
LatterDaySports: What position did you play?
Latu: I played linebacker.
LatterDaySports: What is your position on the rugby team?
Latu: In rugby, they have me play at wing. At first they had me at center, but it was hard for me to pick up the whole mental game of it, so they kind of just told me to play wing. (They said) once you get the ball just run straight and score. So that’s kind of the whole theory of wing. Just hang out there until they swing it out to you and try and score.
LatterDaySports: So the first time you played rugby was at BYU?
Latu: Yup. Pretty much everything I learned about rugby all happened up there. I thought it was pretty cool that they just won a national championship the year before and then they allowed guys like me, who have never played rugby before, to just walk on. They basically take you from scratch, from nothing, and turn you into a rugby player. I mean, I still don’t know a lot of stuff about rugby and I know a lot of my teammates and coaches are sort of laughing, watching me play rugby, but it was just a good experience being able to learn it up at BYU while I was there.
LatterDaySports: Are there scholarships offered, or is it basically for fun?
Latu: Nah, there’s no scholarships because there’s not enough funding for it to be an actual sport for the school, so right now it’s still a club sport. Hopefully later, it will end up becoming one of the actual sports that the school supports.
LatterDaySports: The teams that you guys play are all in the same boat?
WITH LELANN LATU
College or high school?
Oooooo … college. College because I like the independence. Besides being able to say, “Yeah, I’m a college guy,” I like being able to make choices on my own and just being independent—being away from what I’m used to and trying to see how I can fend for myself.
Xbox or Wii?
Hah! That one I’ve got to go with the Xbox. I think it’s funny how they make those workout videos with the Wii where you step up and down on top of it. I grew up with the Xbox so I got to go with the Xbox. I don’t know how you can play Madden on the Wii. It’s kind of awkward. I think the only sports games I can play on the Wii are bowling and baseball.Night owl or early bird?
It depends. Saturday night I’m an early bird because I gotta go to church in the morning. Friday night, night owl because I just gotta go hang out with friends.Rugby or football?
Ohhhh … that’s a hard one. I grew up on football and had one year of rugby and I loved it. I think I gotta go with the rugby because I didn’t make it on the football team (at BYU), but I made it on the rugby team, so I like rugby.BYU Creamery or Angels Ice Cream?
Angels has the tropical flavors … Creamery is cheaper. I gotta go with the Creamery.
Latu: Yeah. They’re all clubs.
LatterDaySports: How does rugby compare to football as far as the physicality?
Latu: As far as physicality, I really thought rugby would be more physical—I don’t know, they’re both physical in their own way. Just the whole pads and no pads thing, it seems like you have to be more tough to play without pads but I think it’s pretty even as far as physicality.
I like rugby because the coaches give you a lot more freedom as far as what you can do because it’s continual play. Pretty much everything you do is all on your own instincts so you have a lot more freedom to do what you want to do and make choices in the game. In football there are set plays and assignments that you have to do specifically, so that’s why I like rugby—the freedom to do what I want when I’m playing.
LatterDaySports: When do you leave for your mission?
Latu: I report to the MTC on August 4th.
LatterDaySports: Where are you going on your mission?
Latu: To the Philippines Iloilo mission, speaking Tagalog.
LatterDaySports: Do you have any Filipino cultural background or knowledge?
Latu: Because people think that I look Filipino? No. Yeah I don’t have any background with the Philippines. I got a couple of cousins that have gone there and served missions so I’m excited to go there too. I’m going to be completely out of my element but I’m excited to get there and start doing some work.
LatterDaySports: Do you think you’ll play rugby after you come home?
Latu: I’m sure I’m going to play rugby after I get back. I’ll be excited to come back and do that.
LatterDaySports: When I e-mailed Coach Kimball (Kjar) about this interview he had some nice things to say about you. He said you were a “real find” and he hopes you will come back from your mission and be ready to plug-in right away.
Latu: (Laughter) Ahhh … yeah I hope they’re still around when I come back. I’m planning on coming back and playing—learning more of the game … and I want to win a national championship with BYU.
LatterDaySports: How close did you come to winning this year?
Latu: I think it’s been the last five years BYU and Cal (Berkeley) have played together in the national championship game. We made it back again. Last year BYU won, but this year Cal won again. I think it’s their 25th national championship and BYU only has one, because most years the national championship was played on Sunday so BYU wouldn’t play in it.
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[...] from either BYU-Hawaii or native born Hawaiian athletes. Most notably, 2010 freshman standout Lelann Latu was a walk-on who made a big impression on the Cougar coaches and eventually started with the 1st [...]