Spirit around the world

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Heidi Kalmari

Spirit through Song

"I'll buy you anyhing, if you do what I want," the South African Juniors chant to the South African Open players in a game against Ireland. The boys are lifting up their feet slowly, clapping their hands at the same time and moving towards the sideline. The boys are singing in their native Xhosa language. "This is a traditional sport and battle song. It is used to give force. The boys are singing when they see the enemy", explains Pindi May who's travelling with the boys.

Some of the songs have been made by the boys themselves, but some are from the time when South Africa was fighting for it's freedom. Music has always been inside of these boys. "It is the most amazing thing that these boys cheering up for us", says # 1 Matthew Shaes with a big smile on his face.

A little samba in the game

"People always hang around with us in the tournaments, because we have the best party!" This is guaranteed by # 81 Alan Rotenberg and # 28 Marco Aurelio from the Brazilian Open team. They promise that this is the team in which everyone has a smile on while playing, even in the tight games. Afterwards they promise to give every opponent team a rhythmic greeting from Brazil.

What about the drums, you ask?  "Unfortunately they didin't fit into our bags," he says. With or without the drums the Brazilians promise to show some new moves on the field. "We have a free flowing strategy and we try to keep our play creative and individualistic", comments Rotenberg and admits that some of their moves can be compared with a smooth samba steps.