The Road Less Traveled : Attack of the Moms

It is now my favorite time of the Tongan school year – Sports Day. For those of you who don’t remember from last year, Sports Day is when the schools, first regionally then by island group, meet to compete in a series of track and field events. Sports days are a staple of both the GPS’s (primary schools) and high schools’ yearly calendar.

Our Sports Day was held last week, but preparation for the big day began several weeks ago. For a myriad of reasons, my principle has allowed me to pretty much run our school’s fitness programs, which means that I am in charge of making sure our school doesn’t embarrass ourselves during the competitions. I have to admit that I enjoy the role. I love the idea of coaching, and I genuinely like teaching the kids how to start, properly pass a baton in a relay race, or how to breathe properly after the race is over. And…I also have to admit that I am as competitive as the students and I want to see them win.

Most of my work centered on the older kids, Classes 4 to 6, who would be competing in most of the events. We worked on stretching before and after each practice, so that they understood the importance of not just going straight from sitting all day to running full blast. We ran the 100, focusing on pure speed and a fast start. In Tongan races, the count down is announced in English….On your mark….Get Set…..Bang! and we worked on recognizing when to launch yourself into the race.

The 200 meters and the 400 meters race were more of an endurance test, a sharp lesson for kids who are fast but rarely run for more than a minute straight. Particularly challenging was the 800 meter race for the Class 6 kids, who during practice understood the concept of not running the first 400 too quickly, which inevitably lead the first 400 being run at a snails pace and the second to be run as if it were the 100, with the kids flying down the lines.

The funniest and cutest times were when we raced the younger kids, Class 1 to 3, and though we weren’t even sure if they would have an event to race on Sports Day, the kids were eager to practice with the older students. With incredible earnestness, the little kids would run as fast as their small legs could carry them. The races were epic, eliciting laughter from the older students, a few face plants into the grass, and even the teachers would poke their heads out of their classroom at these moments to watch the youngest kids flash by.

For two weeks we practiced. We spent a lot of time on the relay races, making sure the kids knew not to just wait for the person to pass them the baton, but to actual start moving before so as to build up a head of steam before they even started to really run. Were we ready? I think so. In truth I already knew who would win and who would lose, as I had trained the kids in our entire region last year and the students are of course the same every year except the oldest ones. Regardless, the kids and I both had a fun time preparing.

On the Sports Day, of course a brutally hot day, my students, their parents, and I hopped onto the school bus to take the short drive to the largest school in our region where our school and three other schools would compete. On arrival, the parents, with their mats and containers of food for lunch, quickly commandeered a tented area near the field to be our home for the next 6 hours.

For me it was time to work. During the day I was in charge of making sure the kids were ready for their races, and helped coach them during the actual events. The trial heats were in the morning with the finals in the afternoon after lunch. I won’t go into too much detail of the races, as we did not to do very well, but our class 6 boys did win most their events in their age group and will compete in the all island sports day.

The most ridiculous events occurred during lunch. Some of you may remember that last year during our Sport Day – where I was the only non-Tongan out of as many as 500 Tongan students, family members, and teachers – I was “attacked” by a bunch of moms, who lifted me up, attempted to unbutton my shirt, and I only was able to run away when they dropped me and felt bad just long enough for me to make my escape. This year I came prepared, and beyond a few occasions where I had to run away from a too-bold mother, I had survived well.

Of course that doesn’t mean that the moms were not their normal crazy sports day selves. They raced alongside the kids. Lifted them up. Tackled each other. At one point they got so rambunctious, the teachers in charge made them race each other in the 100 meters but rather than race they all ended up tackling each other again. It was pretty hilarious watching these large mothers wrestling each other in front of so many laughing spectators.

During lunch, I ate way too much food that was generously provided by several families from my village. We sat on the floor and ate the chicken, root crop, pig, sausage, and even a crab with our fingers in the Tongan style. After we finished eating, my principal asked me to take part in our schools concert to raise money. I reminder her about the attack last year and said I would stay behind, but gave her some money as my contribution.

A few minutes later and our school was called. It was time for the concert and we had to dance. Two of the mothers grabbed me and tried to get me to go with them. I again told them what happened, joked that they did not help me last year, and sad that I already given money. This did little to dissuade them and after several minutes of pressuring me I made them promise to (even going as far as to make them pinky swear) to protect me if the women from the other villages came after me. They said they would.

We were up and running. I danced with the students and for a few minutes I was safe, until the more rambunctious mothers from the other villages tried to get me again. At fist, the women from my village kept their promises and would surround and shield me from the other women, but eventually they got bored and “betrayed” me. Luckily, I now have the loyalty of my students after working with them for such a long time, and whenever a woman came by 20 of them would stand between us a moving shield. This lasted for a few minutes, until one of the women decided to really come after me, and started tossing the kids left and right (and I mean literally throwing them into the air), until I booked it as fast as I could -thankfully I was a bit faster than her - to the laughter of everyone watching.

That was my last scare. Afterwards, I told the new female volunteer who works in one of my region’s schools, how lucky she was that as a girl that she didn’t have to worry about the “attack of the moms.” She just laughed. Regardless it was a fun day and now I can’t wait for the all Sports Day in a few weeks.

Thanks for reading – I know this was a long one. Enjoy the photos.