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Rituals of the Native American Athlete

Native Americans have been competing in sports for decades. Being a great athlete had a big prestige, but the games was mostly to learn and give life experience to the young ones. Sports activities were used to develop strength, agility, and coordination, skills that could help the people be effective providers and caretakers. In their culture all the different games originated from spirituality, survival, or/and entertainment. Sports have always played and continue to play an important role in Native American culture.

Whatever games Native Americans played, it seems that entire villages participated. Apparently some games was used to gain land, horses, or cattle and it may have even been used to get a wife!

The Native Americans competed in many different sports, but what is admirable was also their preparation. Before major races, important runners and their entourages would withdraw from the community to prepare — sometimes for many weeks. Apparently metaphysical rather than physical conditioning was emphasized. Athletes in training variously prayed, fasted and dieted. In regard to diet, some felt that bad qualities could be transferred by the wrong food. Spiritual advisers massaged their athletes and oiled and bathed them with secret preparations.

Its easy to admire the spiritual and the conscious preparation from these athletes and their coaches. Sometimes they also had rituals which we now a days wouldn’t practice. For instance, as a final preparation the trainers whipped the athletes with thorny bushes until they bled. You could say, that this was done for the same reason as modern football players sometimes beat on each other before a game. The idea was to get the adrenaline flowing.

In their community team sports was a thing as well – and their mindset was like if it was war. The most famous ball game they called “the little brother of war”. There were substitutions only for injuries, and it was considered unmanly for a player who could still stand to leave the field. Body counts were high, and in most communities there were veterans who had been permanently crippled or disfigured in the ball games. They took this mentality from this game with them into real life – tribes across the country conducted war as if it were the greatest of all sports.

Their rituals went also further than trying to make themselves better. Sometimes they had spiritual coaches, also called a shaman, who would attempt to sabotage the well-being of an opposing athlete. One of the shamans favourite trick was to roll a large cigar of tobacco, dehydrated turtle and bat blood. If the shaman was successful in blowing smoke from this cigar into an opponent’s face the man’s running would be slowed down. Now a days we would consider that as bad sportsmanship.


https://kingstonyouthlacrosse.org/about-all/what-sports-did-native-americans-play-native-american-sports-encyclopedia-com.html

https://www.nagaeducation.org/history-of-native-americans-in-spor