The Land of Football

I have mentioned many times before how serious football is here in AmSam. The kids love it and many of the students dream of being in the NFL. This isn't very different than many other kids in the states except that our students actually have a decent chance. It is estimated that a boy of Samoan decent is 56 times more likely to play in the NFL than any other boys their age.

This came to the attention of 60 Minutes after the spotlight was on Samoa for the tsunami, and they have since run a story on football here on the island.


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There is also a little web clip of the Leone JV team doing there 'Haka' traditional war dance that they perform before and after the game. As three of my classes are sophomores many of my students are performing and it cute to see them so excited to do their thing. In the main video some of my seniors are seen and interviewed and it is great to see them so pumped up.


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Last Wednesday we had even more football fun when three players from the Cincinnati Bengals came to visit the island. Why where they coming here, you may ask… They are all from American Samoa. It's funny to think that three unrelated players are all on the same team, and from the same island of 65,000 people! The kids were pretty excited since the players coming made them feel like they really can achieve their dreams, especially because many of our students are related to one of the players. I feel closer to the NFL than I ever did in the states.