Wow, this was a wonderful experience.
Tomo and I went to Talafo'ou, an eastside village, to attend the Opening Day of the Basketball Season. We know a few girls on the Talafo'ou team.
Shortly after school lets out marking the end of the school year, the basketball season begins. Basketball in Tonga is not like American basketball. It is more similar to netball which I don't really know anything about. It is only played by girls and fakaleiti's (semi-flamboyant to flamboyant gay guys). Tongan Basketball is played on a field, there is no dribbling and the hoops do not have backboards. Girls are really skilled at getting the ball in the hoop, nothing but net. Although there are no nets in Tongan basketball. It is sort of like ultimate frisbee but with a basketball. The field is divided in three sections with two goal areas around the hoops. The players are assigned to a section and they can only play in that section. Once a shooter has indicated that they will shoot and are in the goal area, the defense must let them shoot with no interference. The game is often rough and I would be scared for my life if I played. The uniforms include skirts with tight shorts underneath.
This year's captain is our good friend Ofa. She had to prepare additional traditional Tongan stuff to give as a gift to the opposing team and their captain. The home team, especially on Opening Day prepares a lot of Tongan stuff to give as gifts to the visiting team, including food.
Ofa (team captain)
The whole community of the home team gets involved in this transfer of Tongan gifts and it was wonderful to watch. There are some photos here of the Talafo'ou team members wearing huge tapa cloths, fala, fabric and blankets over their uniforms before the game. One by one, they were called onto the field by position and they shed their Tongan wear and gave them as gifts to the cooresponding position player from the opposing team. This was done to fun dancing music provided by the DJ. The older women danced, so did the young children, the older men danced but mostly drank kava, and younger men were involved in preparing the umu to give to the oppposing team, the opposing team arrived in a caravan singing or honking their horns to the DJ's loud music and the community leaders spoke to each other welcoming each other to this occassion. It all was really very beautiful to me.
Oh and by the way, Talafo'ou won. That was the icing on the cake, some dang good icing. The score was something like 17 - 10. One thing I found maybe odd was that the spectators are all very serious during the game. No one makes noise. No cheering. Just clapping when a team scores. Tongans are serious about their basketball.
For more photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/vanessa.tuione/OpeningDayBASKETBALLInTalafoOu
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