 |
| Me and the Red Squad getting hyped for the days events. |
8:00 a.m. – Arrival
Students walk in
scattered, yet strategic alliances toward the school. The youngest—Class 1, 2
and 3-ers—clutch their mothers’ hands under the protective shade of brightly
colored umbrellas shielding them from the sun. The Class 4-6’s, having
graduated from the need for parental supervision, gather with friends to make
their way along the main road traversing the 200 yards of bush-land from their
village to the school building.
Girls with red
ribbons braided into their hair walk in groups segregated from green-ribboned
girls. Boys in red shorts and shirts roughhouse with each other in manly displays
of superiority, serving to both intimidate and challenge their green-clad
rivals.
On any other day,
the students might mingle, no barriers hindering their social interactions.
But, today, lines
have been drawn.
Today is Sports
Day. The Red Scare vs. The Big Green.
Ain’t nobody
messing with their cliques.
8:38 a.m. – Teuteu (Warm-Up/Preparations)
Chaos
ensues as impromptu contests of strength, speed and agility break out between both
teams across the pothole-ridden schoolyard, strewn with piles of horse manure
at semi-regular intervals.
The teachers look
on, making no attempt to restore order despite several altercations that have
escalated into tears.
9:04 a.m.
Teachers
begin employing students for event preparations. One boy wields a bush knife,
deftly sharpening the stakes that are to be used to line the track. Another
compact athlete in a bucket hat holds the stakes steady while Mone—one of the
teachers turned officiate for the day—staples sheets of white paper to the
sharpened stakes for makeshift flags.
9:33 a.m.
All
preparations complete, students and teachers alike continue to wait. Still not
sure why though.
9:58 a.m.
Teachers
assign select Class 6 students the task of corralling all the younger kids into
order. They comply by chasing them across the lawn swinging sticks and landing
blows on exposed ankles, legs, and backs. The thrill of the chase rapidly
vanishes as painful welts rise from the sharp whacks of the sticks.
10:17 a.m.
As
one big group, with clear divisions between red and green, the teachers lead
the students to the open field across the main road. Class 6 students run off
to deposit the flags in an oval-shaped formation covering the entire span of the
field.
10:37 a.m.
Parents
begin to arrive, laden with buckets and bins of every size filled to maximum
capacity with food: dozens of packages of cookies, loaves of peanut butter sandwiches,
plates of fried chicken and assorted root crops, of mayo and corned beef pasta
salads, of curry chicken and handfuls of plain hot dogs, and bowls of la’ipele moa. A recycled jug of
vegetable oil accompanies each bin, filled with different varieties of Tang or other sugary drink mixes.
A row of vehicles
in various degrees of functionality forms on the newly-trimmed lawn. The men
begin setting up rusted poles, covering them with grey tarps to make tents,
while the women lay out picnic supplies.
11:12 a.m. – Lotu Kamata/Lea
Talitali (Opening Ceremony)
Heu, the Principal
at Ha’atu’a G.P.S., stands up to lead everyone in prayer, then to make a speech
officially commencing ‘Aho Sipoti mo e
Fiefia 2015.
11:20 a.m. – Kamata Ngaahi ‘Iveni
(Start of Events)
800 m – Class 6
Class
6 girls and boys arrange themselves at the starting line alternating red and
green. The girls are scheduled to go first, boys to follow immediately after.
Mone raises his right arm in the air and calls out to the runners, “on your
mark…get set…go!”
The
girls start out at a dead sprint. One of the girls in green separates herself
from the pack by about 20 yards before even reaching three quarters of the way
through the first lap.
At
what should be the 300 meter mark, but probably isn’t really because the course
was just eye-balled, the girl in first place loses steam. She is passed by two
girls on red and another on green. At the start of the second lap she slows,
setting a pace just barely faster than a walk. The other girls behind and in
front of her have slowed to a similar pace.
The
runners slow their pace further, alternating a dozen steps walking with a few
desperate strides attempting a run. The four girls in front cross the finish
line running at a roughly estimated 2 mph. Those behind drop out and drag their
exhausted bodies from the course.
The
Class 6 boys start at a similar breakneck speed, but fare better through the
end of the race, with only one or two boys falling off around the 700 meter
mark.
 |
| Class 1 girls race to the finish line during the 30 meter dash. |
30 m – Class 1
Mone
and Mata’anga arrange the first heat of Class 1 girls in their respective lanes
at the starting line. After five minutes, the five runners settle into
position, waiting for Mone to signal the start.
Two
consecutive false starts ensue.
The
third attempt is flawless, the runners taking off as fast as their legs can
propel them forward.
The
girl in lane two face-plants after she slips in the woodchips used to fill in a
small crater in the grassy track. The parents in the audience erupt in
laughter.
She scrambles back
onto her feet and finishes the race, face strained with the effort of fighting
back tears while simultaneously exerting all the strength she has in her.
50 m – Class 2 & 3
The
runners continue to slip and fall on the unpredictable and rugged course.
The
parents continue to screech with laughter and arousing cheers of encouragement.
75 m – Class 4 & 5; 100 m Class 6
As
the runners compete, the spectators from each of the teams on the sidelines
engage in a Tongan cheer-off, flavored with spontaneous dance battles. Some of
the parents join in zealously.
 |
| Green's supporters cheering on their team from the sideline. |
Lele Faingata’a (The Obstacle
Course) – Class 1-6
Class
1-4 teachers, Ane, Mata’anga, Meleuini and Mone, converge to set up for the
next event. They send several groups of students back to the school building to
retrieve the obstacles for the next event: six wooden benches, and three
multi-person desks from the classrooms. The older boys come back carrying the
obstacles on their shoulders, and set them down in the middle of the track.
The
race begins with the runners sprinting from the starting line to a point about
30 yards away where the teachers placed an empty plastic water bottle and an
unripe moli (Tongan orange) in each
lane. Each student is supposed to pick up one of the objects, turn, and sprint
back to the starting line. They repeat this, picking up the second object on
the second down-and-back. On the third take-off from the starting line, they
sprint to the next obstacle: two school benches stacked sideways on top of each
other to form a small hurdle. The students have to jump over the hurdle,
continue running forward, and then dive under one of the three wooden desks set
up as the next obstacle. From there they regain their footing, and continue
sprinting through the finish line.
 |
| The boys from Class 4-6 carrying in the benches and desks to set up the Lele Faingata'a. |
On This Week’s Not Top 10
1) Tevita,
a kiniti (kindergarten) student—not
even at the primary school yet—jumping in with one heat of the Class 2 races,
and running off with the water bottle and moli.
2) Toafa,
a Class 3 boy, soaring over the hurdles then diving under the desk, only to
smack his head straight into it in the process. The desk toppled over on top of
his head and body. He fought free, leaped to his feet, and continued to the
finish line.
1:15
p.m. – Kai Ho’atã (Lunch)
Parents lay out
plates and cups, unloading the buckets of food pre-made at home. The meal is
communal style. Women prepare plates for their children and themselves, but
also pass around helpings to other groups of women and children around them. Sugary
drink mixes are poured into cups, chugged in just a few gulps, and then the cup
is refilled and passed along to the next person. One woman, Mele, shoves a
plate of fried chicken, boiled eggs and hot dogs onto me, to share with her
toddler who has plopped himself down comfortably in my lap. When I’ve finished
that plate, another woman invites me to join her circle and urges me to scoop
handfuls from her macaroni corned beef salad, with chunks of hopa to wash it down.
 |
| Meleuini, the Class 1 teacher, reps the green team while feasting at the lunch break. |
The
kids take about a 10-minute break to eat, then clamber to their feet and run
back to the track to continue racing against their friends. Over the shared
food, the moms talk, gossip and laugh about the various mishaps from the day’s
events thus far.
2:00 p.m. – Lele Tangai (Sack
Race) – Class 1-6
At
the starting line, the Class 1 girls climb into creased white sacks and
position themselves behind the starting line. At Mone’s signal, they leap
forward instantaneously. Of the five competitors in the race, only one stays on
her feet, just barely, as the others crumble to the ground in various degrees
of disarray, tangled up in the sacks. Somehow, they find their feet and
continue to hop clumsily, falling again every couple of hops, until the finish
line.
One
mom comes to her daughter’s aid in the race, scooping her up from the ground
and attempting to hop with her, only to stumble over the sack herself and slam
back to the ground on top of her daughter. She rushes to regain her footing,
grabs her crying daughter up in her arms and thunders to the finish line.
 |
| The leader of the Class 2 boys looks back at the others he's leaving in his duct. |
To
the great disappointment of viewers, coordination increases with age as the
Class 2-6 girls and boys follow suit. At the Finish line, brief but intense
brawls break out as the older students fight for ownership of the sacks, at
times savagely ripping them off the bodies of the younger ones.
 |
| Class 6 boys and girls rip the sacks away from the younger students at the finish line. |
Fusi Maea (Tug-o-War)
Students
get dragged, trampled, smashed and shoved. The lines on each side, green and
red, starting with 7 kids on each team, rapidly increase as students and
parents alike rush to their team’s rescue. Bodies pile up one on top of
another, young and old, in a jumble of flailing arms and legs.
400 m Relay – Class 4, 5 & 6
Thinking
himself clever, one boy running the third leg of the Class 5 400 meter relay
lets the others get ahead of him, then he darts across the field cutting off
more than half of the 400 meters. The crowd howls with laughter and cheers. A
mom of one of the leading boys runs out to the track and tackles the cheater,
trapping him in her arms until the other boys catch up, and then releases him.
Each of the last runners holds back, wary of their cheating opponents, and makes
the move to beat them to it, each cutting off the track at a point earlier than
the others.
All hell breaks
loose. Parents storm the field. Kids on the sidelines sprint to catch up,
shouting at the runners to throw the stick to them so that they can finish
transporting it past the finish line. The race ends in fits of indiscernible
shouts and laughter.
3:00 p.m. – Fakamãlõ mo e Lotu (Thank
You and Closing Prayers)
Day
of sports and happiness. Light on the sports. Heavy on the happiness.
Sports Day Highlight Reel:
Ha'atu'a GPS Sports Day