By Beth Henderson, Grade 5 Class Teacher
On February 15th, the grade five class from HWS and the class from Trillium Waldorf School in Guelph visited the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena on Six Nations for the First Annual Traditional Games Gathering. We are grateful to HAWI, who partnered with Onkwehonwe Games, for this opportunity to learn and experience three traditional games.
Bone and Toggle is deceptive in its simplicity: a bone carved into a circle is attached by hide to a gently pointed stick. The goal of the game is to swing the bone up and catch it on the stick. We had a rousing experience - especially when we were shown how to play this game in competition with each other.
Three-person Tug of War: in version of tug of war, the rope is attached to itself so that three players can form it into an equilaterial triangle. Behind each player is a ball just out of their reach. When the whistle blows, each player has to pull the rope and their two opponents far enough to grab the ball from behind them and hold it up, all while never letting go of the rope. It is a great challenge and is important to ensure players of similar size are set as opponents for each round.
Lacrosse: an energetic and complex game that teaches more skills than we can list here, including strategy, endurance, and team work. Though we did not have the opportunity to play a full game due to the weather calling an early end to our day together, we were able to have a lot of fun with drills, building a foundation for skills that would be used in the games. The children had a ball making a relay race out of the drills and supported each other beautifully. It was such an amazing experience to be in a professional lacrosse arena, where so many great players have trained and played. We were honoured to take part in it this year and we hope that the classes coming up behind us have the same wonderful opportunity!!!
