Euless Trinity's New 'Haka'
Euless Trinity practiced at Pennington Field on Wednesday afternoon, where I met up with them and got a little lesson the 'Haka.' For those of you who don't know, the 'Haka' is a traditional dance form of the Maori of New Zealand. It was originally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess in order to intimidate the opposition. Euless Trinity has done this since 2005 and had ignited media attention from ESPN to the CBS Evening-News, but this year the team wanted to make some changes.
The boys wanted their 'Haka' to tell the story of Trinity and Trinity alone. Their new 'Haka' captures the blend of cultures at their school as well as the Trojans team phrase, 'hold the rope.' I had to ask the boys what exactly that meant, and they said that if you were falling off a cliff who would you want to be holding the rope. I thought that was pretty powerful idea, and when I took a stab at learning this 'Haka,' I was definitely in need of someone 'holding the rope' for me.
I just had a couple of minutes to try and learn some of the 'Haka,' but the players spent a week learning it, which trust is not easy. Twenty-percent of the boys are from the Tongan decent but the other eighty-percent had to learn a new language in order to be a part of the 'Haka.' This is the ultimate 'team-bonding' experience, and we'll find out tonight, if they can unite on the football field to beat the Allen Eagles and get their second win on the season.
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