Layla Sae: Type 1 and true grit
Team sports have always been central for rising rugby star Layla Sae. Her type 1 diabetes is something she manages on the side – her ‘normal’.
When we spoke to Layla for this article, at her home in the Manawatū, she had an hour to spare between her job and her training, and she was about to head off, the next day, to the Black Ferns camp.
The Kiwi Sāmoan 21-year-old isn’t counting on selection for the team this time – ‘I’m one of the newer players’ – but her goal is to wear that black jersey.
Last year, during the provincial season, the Black Ferns posted a video on their Facebook page of Layla playing for the Manawatū Cyclones, with the comment ‘Layla Sae – remember the name’. Layla is unfailingly modest about her achievements but admits that was exciting.
‘I like to try a bit of everything, and if I’m good at it I just give it my all.’
Early years
Layla was diagnosed with type 1 just after her fourth birthday. She says, ‘I guess the silver lining is that I don’t remember what it was like not to have it. It's basically my normal.’
Trying everything
After soccer, Layla turned her attention to other sports. ‘I like to try a bit of everything, and if I’m good at it I just give it my all.’ Her ability to throw herself wholeheartedly into seemingly any sport has seen her play at the highest levels, often internationally.
A passion for fashion
As well as sports, Layla loves clothes. She says modestly, ‘I don't really know how to sew that well, though.’ Still, when the opportunity came up to enter the 2018 Wearabull Arts Awards in Bulls, after the local Pasifika Fusions Wearable Art competition, she thought, ‘I want to make something but what's another way I can do it?’
After some research, she came up with an ingenious idea for a white plastic-bag ball gown.
She was still at school then – St Peter’s College. ‘I got everyone to donate plastic bags. I put it in the school newsletter – if anyone has any spare plastic bags, can I please have them?’ To the pride of her school art department and Pasifika group, Layla’s gown placed second.
‘I do like wearable arts,’ she says, ‘but I just haven’t had time to get back into it. But I’d like to do more. Sport is the main thing that I do.’
‘In normal daily life, you might say to someone, “I’ve got your back.” But on the field or court, you actually show that.’