A HURRICANE'S IMPACT
LAVENGAMALIE, Tonga: No! I am not the most fittest person in the world nor am I a skillful rugby player, but I know that even up to it's smallest measurement, I know I am making progress. It's all thanks to God and surprisingly a group of guys who call themselves the LAVENGAMALIE HURRICANES. The same guys who I hang out with after the school day is over, the same guys that still throws a positive facial expression at me even when the youth practise is too long. The same guys who I can call friends.
What started out as playing touch rugby for fun, now leads to rugby training. I'm not anticipating of actually playing. For now, my calling is in the classroom, and I intend on staying in there for as long as God wants me to. But what's the motivation behind going to rugby training? The motivation is all about the inspiration that you get out of every training session.
Just like everything else in Lavengamalie, the training starts with a word of prayer. One would think that they only do so simply because its a Lavengamalie protocol, but no, its because that's how a Christian should start things. What makes a Lavengamalie training unique, is that every once in a while throughout the training, the players would huddle up under the direction of the captain not only to specify the next course of exercise, but just so that the players could also quote memory verses. These verses are not read out in a normal volume, but it is shouted out so that the whole village could hear. I can tell by the intensity that this is what fuels them. After all, they refer to this part of the training as "kumi ivi" meaning "seeking energy". I believe that it is fair to say that while the All Blacks have their haka, the Hurricanes have their memory verses!
Lavengamalie has made it a tradition for them to shout out memory verses before and after every game. Nowadays, every other local team in Tonga are following this tradition as well. If you were watching the Rugby World Cup, you would notice that Tonga's national team known as the 'Ikaletahi were also quoting scriptures for the rugby world to hear.
Second to their source of motivation, is each other. You can hear a lot of pep talk. I on the other hand notice that every time fall behind from the rest, there's always someone the tap my back and say "don't give up, keep going."
To conclude with, all I have to say that when you hear the word "hurricane", it strikes a sense of fear into you. But that's not the case with the Lavengamalie Hurricanes, you only witness destruction during game time, but afterwards its all about the brotherhood in Christ.
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| Pre-game citing of memory verses |
LAVENGAMALIE, Tonga: No! I am not the most fittest person in the world nor am I a skillful rugby player, but I know that even up to it's smallest measurement, I know I am making progress. It's all thanks to God and surprisingly a group of guys who call themselves the LAVENGAMALIE HURRICANES. The same guys who I hang out with after the school day is over, the same guys that still throws a positive facial expression at me even when the youth practise is too long. The same guys who I can call friends.
What started out as playing touch rugby for fun, now leads to rugby training. I'm not anticipating of actually playing. For now, my calling is in the classroom, and I intend on staying in there for as long as God wants me to. But what's the motivation behind going to rugby training? The motivation is all about the inspiration that you get out of every training session.
 |
| Skipper: Amatakiloa Taufa |
Just like everything else in Lavengamalie, the training starts with a word of prayer. One would think that they only do so simply because its a Lavengamalie protocol, but no, its because that's how a Christian should start things. What makes a Lavengamalie training unique, is that every once in a while throughout the training, the players would huddle up under the direction of the captain not only to specify the next course of exercise, but just so that the players could also quote memory verses. These verses are not read out in a normal volume, but it is shouted out so that the whole village could hear. I can tell by the intensity that this is what fuels them. After all, they refer to this part of the training as "kumi ivi" meaning "seeking energy". I believe that it is fair to say that while the All Blacks have their haka, the Hurricanes have their memory verses!
Lavengamalie has made it a tradition for them to shout out memory verses before and after every game. Nowadays, every other local team in Tonga are following this tradition as well. If you were watching the Rugby World Cup, you would notice that Tonga's national team known as the 'Ikaletahi were also quoting scriptures for the rugby world to hear.
Second to their source of motivation, is each other. You can hear a lot of pep talk. I on the other hand notice that every time fall behind from the rest, there's always someone the tap my back and say "don't give up, keep going."
To conclude with, all I have to say that when you hear the word "hurricane", it strikes a sense of fear into you. But that's not the case with the Lavengamalie Hurricanes, you only witness destruction during game time, but afterwards its all about the brotherhood in Christ.
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