Tradional Games & Field Sports

July 3rd
Location: Sea Breeze Stadium
Time: 1:00pm

For more information contact:
Ken Stevens: kstevens@quinault.org
Alicia Figg: alfigg@quinault.org
Leilani Chubby: ljones@quinault.org

SPORTS AND GAMES
History

Throughout the world people at all times and in all places have always gone in for sports which tested strength and games which tested skill. The same is true for the people who have always lived along the coat of the Olympic Peninsula.

The Quinault and their neighbors competed with one another in inter-village contests of strength and of skill and daring. In the old days men and women prided them selves on their strength, endurance and physical stamina. Boys and girls played games and sports, which improved their abilities to do the kinds of work which would be required of them as adults. The competitions were usually held at special occasions when people were gathered together for ceremonies or other social events.

WEIGHT LIFTING

One of the contests that men and boys engaged in was a kind of weight lifting competition. Indifferent communities they would hold a rock-lifting contest. The object of the game was to see who could hold the rock the longest or highest.

TUG-OF-WAR

During celebrations men and women from various villages would form teams to compete in tug-of-war, a game of strength. About eight to fifteen teammates were chosen for each side. Unlike tug-of-war as we know it today, rope was not always used. Sometimes the two centers would just grasp a stick at each end, the next person in line would grasp the center around his waist, and so on until both teams were lined up opposing each other. The heaviest person was usually at the end, but the strongest player was almost placed at the front of the line, as center. A line was then drawn behind the last man, called the anchorman. To win, the opponent’s anchorman had to be pulled across the line. A team could also win if the opponent lost hold of the stick. Each team had one player on the sidelines serving as a judge. Prizes were awarded to the team that won this contest of strength.

SHINNEY

Pete Pickernell and the rest of his fellow teammates used to be good runners with well-developed lungs, which helped them, run a long way at one time. They enjoyed playing shinney, an old Indian game that required and developed good wind and strong leg muscles.

Shinney was a team sport often played between tribes. From five to twenty players were on each side with one referee representing each team. The teammates would often wear headbands to make them easily spotted by each other. For example, when Taholah would play Queets, the Taholah team would wear cedar bark headbands dyed red and the men of Queets would wear headbands of cedar bark usually dyed black.

Equipment for the game included some sort of dry hardwood ball about two inches in diameter and a special stick for each player. The sticks were usually branches with a curved end, and a flat base resembling a hockey stick. The players preferred vine maple or young hemlock.

To get the ball into play, one player from each team advanced to the center of the field, where the ball was buried a few inches deep. Once the starter blew a whistle or used some type of signal to start the game, these two chosen men would begin digging with their sticks to get the ball out of the ground. Usually the man who did not give the final thrust to unearth the ball was the fellow who had the best chance of taking the first swing at the ball, attempting to send the ball to one of his fellow teammates to continue maneuvering it. As soon as the ball was unearthed, the two men in the center were allowed to grapple with each other, using their sticks or pushing one another, in an attempt to keep the other from gaining control of the ball. During this initial stage in the game, these two players were allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Hand contact, however, was not allowed once control was gained, and the ball was in play with the rest of the teammates.

Once the ball was in play, the opposing teams would attempt to maneuver it with their sticks and try to send it over the other teams goal line. Pete remembers the long distances the players had to run just to get the ball or keep it going. The fields weren’t measured standard size, but they were always big. The game was played on a big open field or on the beach where there was plenty of room. Not only did the game require a great deal of stamina, but skill in dodging opposing players was also needed. Goalies were not used, so the entire team had the responsibility of guarding their own goal line. Usually when one of the teams scored, the teams would exchange goals. Scores were kept low because the fields were so long and it took a long time for either side to score.

The game was usually considered over once one team successfully scored two goals. After the game was over, if the losers were not satisfied they would challenge their opponents for a second game, but they rarely played the same afternoon because the game was so rough and exhausting.

Both teams would sometimes bet high wages, which increased the rivalry in the sport and occasionally resulted in rough play, including tripping and fighting. Pete can remember the players stepping on each other’s sticks as a favorite trick. There were no penalties for rough play. These tricks wee all just part of the game.

SWIMMING
From one end of the bank to the other.

DIVING CONTEST
See who could dive and stay under the water the longest

WADING CONTEST
See who could wade under water the farthest.

FOOT RACHES
Between two men from different villages. 100 yards two hundred yards.

JUMPING CONTEST
Two men from different villages or tribes competed. Two men, one from each, held a cord or pole between them, the contestants taking turns. The jumper faced the barrier and jumped from a standing start. There was also a running broad jump.

WREST WRESTLING (men)
One man would grasp the wrist of another with his left hand and the arm, just above the elbow, with the right and attempt to bend the arm at the elbow. A strong man could keep a straight arm. Men would pull fingers, pairing all four.

Ski’ikutcaniam (hiding stick between fingers, later a button, similar to ‘button button whose got the button.”)

(Girls form two lines - face each other sitting - use a stick or bone 2 ½” long. Have a blanket that covers everyone’s hands, hide stick in hands, drop blanket and each person guess who has the stick - the one who guesses gets turn. (No winner just for fun)

Sxwate’xam (persons head) or Oeh the Cannibal Women
A group formed two sides and formed a model of a persons head in damp sand, with pebbles for teeth, which was about thirty or forty yards apart. A stick 5’ long was stuck in the sand in front of each person. One would say, “You better come and get my stick” A girl would attempt to walk to the stick, while her opponents attempted to make her smile or laugh by shouting, making faces or telling jokes. The trick was for the girl to reach the stick without showing even a trace of a smile. Then she had to return when all of one side had failed the others got their turn. The side, which gained possession of the sticks the great number of times, won the game.

HOOP AND POLE GAME
In the hoop game, sadjala kukuum, men and boys formed two sides and took positions facing about 50 feet apart, each side forming two lines separated about 20 feet. A strong man cast the hoop with an overhand throw. As it rolled between the opponent’s lines they attempted to spear it. The following hits counted: if the dart passed threw the hoop, if the dart entered so that the hoop remained impaled; if the hoop rolled close enough for a player to catch it on his dart and raise it above his head. In case of the last the opponent forfeited a dart - an ordinary stick about 10 feet long. The number of points, which constituted a win, was decided before the game. Now and then bets might be laid on the outcome of a game, never on a single throw.