Recently returned to Ōtaki from his first Commonwealth Games, swimmer Kokoro Frost talks to Kāpiti News about representing Samoa and competing at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Born in Japan to a Japanese dad and Samoan mum before moving to New Zealand when he was 2 years old, Kokoro Frost had three options to choose from when it came to representing a country for swimming.

Starting swimming lessons at the age of 8 to learn basic water skills, Kokoro quickly fell in love with the sport and began begging his coach to enter competitions.

After he turned 10, Kokoro's coach Alan Dris said he was ready to compete and Kokoro started competing in Wellington at the regional championships followed by the junior nationals, nationals and then open water nationals.

Kokoro Frost, about to swim in the 50m backstroke.

As he became more serious, Kokoro decided to follow in the footsteps of his Auckland-based cousin Jelani Freesir-Wetzell in competing for Samoa.

"She lives in Auckland and was competing for Samoa at the Oceania Swim Championships in 2018, and my family encouraged me to do the same."

Growing up an only child, it was Kokoro's big Samoan family scattered around New Zealand and Samoa who he most relates to.

"My dad was an only child too, so I didn't know much of his family in Japan, but I've grown up with lots of my Samoan family here in New Zealand and visited them in Samoa too.

"I definitely relate most with my Samoan heritage."

Kokoro first visited Manase and Fasitoo'uta, his villages in Samoa when he was 14 years old before heading back to Samoa for the Pacific Games in 2019.

"After Jelani competed for Samoa I reached out to the Samoa Swimming Federation and after getting a Samoan passport and all the paperwork done, I competed for them at the Pacific Games in 2019."

Kokoro Frost, second left, with members of the Samoan swimming and athletics teams.

It was after this event that Kokoro started taking swimming seriously.

"It wasn't that I wasn't taking it seriously beforehand, but the environment definitely inspired me to get more serious.

"I realised then, that this is an avenue I could actually go down."

After the Pacific Games, Covid-19 hit which left a big hole in 2020 where Kokoro wasn't able to train in the pool.

"At the start of my last year of college, I moved to Kāpiti College to train with Jon Winter at the Raumati Raptors.

"Training got more intense and I started going to the gym more.

"Jon is a really good coach and has been putting programmes in place for me to work on."

Ōtaki Titans coach Jon Winter and Kokoro Frost.

Kokoro was picked to go to the FINA World Swimming Championships in Dubai at the end of last year but couldn't make it because he couldn't get an isolation spot on the return home to New Zealand.

The next big event was the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

"I had to do a couple more competitions in New Zealand, the Wellington Swimming Championships in January and the National Swimming Championships in April to get times good enough to qualify for the Samoan swim team.

"When I got selected to go to the Commonwealth Games I couldn't tell anyone for a while but at the start of July, I was finally able to share the news with everyone which was a relief.

"Everyone was really stoked for me and I was really proud to represent Samoa, I nearly cried at one point."

Kokoro Frost with his mum/coach Segua Frost.

Arriving in Birmingham, brushing shoulders with famous athletes and being treated like one himself was a new experience for Kokoro.

"It was like an out-of-body experience seeing all these famous people and brushing shoulders with them was amazing.

"The amount of travel to get there was a burden, but it was worth it and luckily Mum, who helps coach me, got to come and we were able to explore a bit too which added to the experience."

In Birmingham, there were three athlete villages with Kokoro staying with the Samoan swim and athletics teams along with the swimming teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

"Those were the big teams so it was amazing being around them, and also seeing the New Zealanders who I know from competitions back in New Zealand."

As with most young athletes, Kokoro spent a lot of time in the dining hall.

"We spent heaps of time at the dining hall - the food was really good and there were lots of really cool things to do in the village.

"There were big games rooms and screens showing the other athletes competing and we spent a lot of time watching the others on the screens as we didn't have time to get to many other events."

Kokoro competed in the 50m and 100m butterfly and backstroke events, the mixed 4x100 medley relay and the mixed 4x100 freestyle relay.

"The relays were really good to be a part of because it was the first time Samoa had ever had a relay team competing at the Commonwealth Games.

"It was history-making."

Swimming a personal best time in his first race, Kokoro swam 26.00 in the 50m butterfly.

"I was stoked to get a personal best on a big stage like this - I was ecstatic and it was great to get it straight away."

But with three races within 15 minutes Kokoro's next event was hard work.

"I had the 100m backstroke straight after the 50m butterfly which was quite hard.

"Five minutes after the backstroke we also had the relay so I had to refocus quickly because I wanted to make it a good one with the rest of the team."

Going on to break the Samoan national record in both the relays, Kokoro said, "Relays are a good opportunity to swim with a team, not just by yourself.

"It was great we could get a Samoan relay team together for the first time and it was so cool to experience the games with Samoa.

"It was an amazing experience, I have so many feelings of gratefulness."

Now back, Kokoro is heading to the Apollo Projects New Zealand Short Course Swimming Championships in Auckland next week with the goal of qualifying for the FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne at the end of the year.

He is also finishing a degree in communications at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in intercultural communications and minoring in Samoan.

- Rosalie Willis, NZ Herald