Howdy, Kidstuffarians!
CEBU, Philippines - Have your parents mentioned any “Laro ng Lahi” to you? These are Pinoy games that we really need to revive because of their health benefits to the body, mind and
social growth of a child.
You see, in the past, we never had those techie gadgets and gizmos you’re engrossed with today – the PSP or the Xbox. We invented our games. So, that alone, measures how creative your grandparents are.
In our neighbor-hood in Lutopan, for example, we got this big space where my playmates and I would converge on weekends when schoolwork was set aside and our parents allowed us to be with kids our age, to discouraging us from watching too much TV.
I know that most Cebuano children today don’t know how to play “shatong” anymore. However, if you’re interested to learn how it builds camaraderie and sportsmanship among children, aside from the clean fun it offers, you can initiate a revival movement.
To play the shatong, you would need two teams with two players each. The method allows us to distribute ourselves evenly, so as not to hurt our peers.
In shatong, you need two sticks that’s an inch in diameter thick – one should be six-inch long, the other a foot long. To make things a lot easier to explain, I got big help from blogger Ate Ann who said that the shorter stick is placed perpendicular to the elongated groove/furrow.
The longer stick is used to launch the shorter stick off the ground and that whoever catches the short stick or whichever team that child belongs to starts the game. We call that “mano” from manohan which refers to the hand.
Players have to create a shallow first, an elongated furrow on the ground. Usually, the oldest in the group would initiate the play by using the longer stick for this task.
What is the mechanics of this Pinoy outdoor game? Each team member takes turn. The first one hurls the short stick off the furrow using the longer stick.
He/she must be careful that the opposing team does not catch the short stick. If the other team catches it, the current team loses their turn and the opposing team takes over the short stick launching.
Now if “shorty” (nickname for the shorter stick) gets hurled with none of the opposing team catching it, all the members of the hurling team will go to the drop site (the exact point where shorty fell).
From here, except for the person who hurled shorty, (so if it’s a two-man team, only one will do this) will have to run up to the furrow shouting “shatoooooooooooooooong!” The opponents will be with you all the way to make sure you did not lose your breath or stop saying the “magic word”. If you fail to reach the furrow or run out of breath and stop, the opposing team takes their turn to hurl. No points are made.
If you are successful, then your partner (the one who hurled shorty) gets to count the distance from the drop point up to the furrow using the longer stick.
If the hurler hits shorty with longer stick as he launches shorty off to open space, and the “shatong” runners don’t lose their breaths; then the count is done by using the long stick (multiplied by two). If the hurler launches shorty and hits it twice before it goes off to its drop point, then instead of long stick, shorty is used to count the distance from the drop point to the furrow (making the score much higher).
If the hurler hits shorty three times before it drops, then not only is shorty used to measure the distance from drop point to furrow, the count is also increased to threes! This is called the “sampuribot.” This is one of the benefits of shatong – kids get to develop some pretty mean “batting” skills as hitting “shorty” is not that easy.
Teams tally their respective scores to note which team has achieved the highest point.
With team play, children learn the value of taking turns. Children also get to practice their Math skills as with skip counting (by 2s and 3s). They exercise that is coupled with lots of fun, fresh air, and the bounty of the great outdoors.
More important is the ability to accept one’s defeat, or being the “hago.” The “hago” would pay the consequence of defeat by shouting “shatong tambalilong” from where the winning team would want members to start back to where the furrow has been created.
After that, players instantly forget that they are two groups. They come back as one, ready to take afternoon snacks of Dakuykoy curls (taste closer to cheese curls), cinnamon bun and lemonade.