Volleyball

(written Sunday, July 22)

The pictures are: a view of Piliura from the top of the hill, Morris tossing a patangue ball in the tourney and the Eagles in the volleyball semi-finals.

On Thursday some people strung up the volleyball net again and some people came out that are usually too busy to play. The level of play intensified quite a bit and we even had one guy ref-ing with a whistle. We, a mix of women and men, were diving, spiking, blocking, etc., and I had a blast. With this new level of play they now were digging out of the net, which greatly satisfied me. Many Ni-Vans are short but there are definitely some tall people and if you’re tall here you know how to play volleyball.

After we played I told them my idea of getting a tournament going and they said there was already to be a 6 on 6 competition in the neighboring village on Saturday and we should form a few teams and join. We agreed we’d practice the next day and form the teams. Well the next day it rained all day so no practice and team forming. That night I spread the word that we would meet after breakfast in the morning and get the teams together. I went to the next village to drink a couple shells of kava and proceeded to get pretty stoned on just two shells. Not my intention, as I was only trying to catch a small buzz but the kava was strong.

The next morning I awoke with a hangover but was dedicated to play and met with a few people and went to Launamoa to go register our teams, now two: one men’s and one women’s. The competition was part of a big fundraiser for the string band and included petangue competition (like bocce), various carnival-type games, volleyball, and food and kava for sale. Fundraisers are very common here. There’s usually at least one a week for things like school fees, aid posts, string band, and really any community-based cause. Most are just some Mama’s cooking some food and selling it, but there are some bigger ones too. This fundraiser was well organized and even had music and announcements coming from a sound system.

Kalo and I signed up the teams (about $3 entry fee/team) and we waited for the tournament to begin. The men’s team name was the Piliura Bears after a joke I told a few days before about a bear and a hunter. I got in a round of petangue with Laonamoa’s chief and another guy before the people started playing for keeps, and I actually won. After about a couple hours of watching patangue and chilling our men’s team had three players and we had one woman for the women’s team. Not looking so good. But, as luck would have it we got enough people from our village to show up and we, the men’s team, started the match.

The court was grass with lines, complete with attack line, made with sand. The first two games were to be rally scored to 25 and the third game, if necessary would be played side-out style to 15. The rules were laid out officially by the whistle-equipped ref, a flip-flop toss for serve (no coin needed), and we were on our way. It was a good match and we took it to the third game but lost by a couple points. When we lost our guys immediately blamed it on the smaller court size used in Launamoa. I told them that was a not good excuse and explained that we played well. Nothing to be ashamed of.

The M.C. announced over the loudspeaker the result of our match and that there was still another opening for another team to join to make the full six teams for the tourney, or… a team could play again if they lost. This seemed to be an indirect hint as we were the only team as of yet that had played and lost. So… new life! We entered the tourney again and our first match was with the “Piliura Girls”, who now also miraculously had enough players. They gave us a run for our money. We had the advantage of height and power, but they had better passing and common sense including not always trying to kill the ball. Sounds like differences between men’s and women’s volleyball or basketball in the States huh? We ended up winning by a few points in the third game and went on. I definitely made a point of telling the mamas what a good match they had made it as it was true and they were really good.

The next match we played we won in two games, although they were close and advanced to the championship game. We were to play “The Eagles”(a name I think they chose because they love playing “Hotel California” out here), and I got a chance to look at their team in the semis. This team, consisting of athletic guys from Launamoa, looked pretty tough. In fact, they are the team in the picture. Its them in the semis with one of their players hitting into a block.

As we were to begin the match there was a new seriousness present as some of the players were pep talking about smart play. We were close to a tie in the first game when Watson, one of our best players went down. He hurt his arm falling on one of the plays and was out for the game. They grabbed some 12yr old boy from the sidelines to fill his spot and we all were a little worried about our chances. We lost the first game, but someone picked up a different guy, Sam, as a sub for the rest of the match. Sam filled the shoes of Watson quite well, almost like Watson never left. We took the second game in a nail-biter. All around good play: people were getting good kills, well-timed dinks, excellent blocks, and digs coming out of nowhere. In the last game we got on top early, capitalizing on their mistakes and won the tourney. We shook hands with the other team and thanked them for a good match and walked away with smiles and a new air of pride.

Our prize was a lemon pound cake and it was good. The following morning, one of the villagers, who didn’t attend the event, asked me how we did. When I told him we won he first called me a kiaman (liar) and then was pretty excited for us. They have another tournament in about a week for Independence (July 30 here) and they want me to play with them, but I’ll be in Nguna for their celebration. But, the guy who asked how we did is about as tall as me and a good player so I told him to play for me. Nguna, too, has a tourney for Independence so I might join a team if they need a player. Dom out on Nguna made All-State California for volleyball during high school. Maybe try to convince her to play too.

Overall, it was the best day I’ve had in Vanuatu yet and I’ve had some good ones so far. I played four good matches of volleyball, hung out all day in a cool BBQ-like atmosphere, and our village walked away victorious. Only thing I could of used was a beer or two at the end. Instead I took down a shell, not the same but it’ll work.

Other stuff going on…I won’t get out to Vila to catch the Cubs game as I had hoped. I’m going to help Dom with some stuff her village is doing, setting-up their conservation area. Mere, her village, is part of the Nguna-Pele MPA so seeing as there’s not much work for me here as of yet, and a member village needs help I’m going. Part of he trip over there too is celebrating Independence with Dom, Rob, and Gleny on the 30^th. After, the three of them and I are going to work on planning a village-by-village workshop that will go to all the 16 villages on Nguna and Pele. We’ll be tring to look at conservation needs of villages and how those fit with goals of the MPA, and also helping these communities identify their already-existent human resources.

Other than that I’ve just been meeting people and players in the Pele community and talking about all types of things, conservation and everything else under the sun. I was asked to be a guest speaker for Childen’s Day this Tuesday, a Pele community event. The speech is to be on children's rights, so I whipped a speech out in Bislama the other day. Have to remember to write next week how it went. I focused on rights to health, education, safety, choice, and clean environment. Although right to swing around a machete should be in there too. There are no qualms about little kids playing with knives here. Small kids use machetes or “bush knives” as they’re called here and are pretty handy with them. That’s all for now…