I was invited by my good friend, Julie, to take pictures at the All Poly Sports camp this year. This is a football training event for high school Polynesian kids, though you don't actually have to be Poly to attend. Football players from all over the country fly out to attend the Utah and Hawaii sessions, and the level of talent at this camp is amazing. Originally, I was asked to just take a group photo of the coaches and players. To date, this is the largest group photo I've done.
After doing the indoor shot, I had an idea to climb a tree and get a birds-eye shot of the group. Problem was the tree was too tall for me to just climb into it alone, so the guys actually had to boost me up. This was the resulting shot... well worth the effort, I think.
I was asked to come back the following day to shoot players in action during training, practice and scrimmage games. One of the first things that struck me about these athletes was the sheer size of them. These are high school kids?? Really?!? They dwarfed me :) But the second thing I noticed was the obvious presence of culture and community at this camp. It goes further than the big hair and tattoos. The attitude these kids carried was noticeable in everything they did. I realized this event was about much more than football... it was about preserving and sharing a heritage that is much more than skin-deep.
Watching these kids train, it's easy to forget you're watching teenagers. Some of them may not even be old enough to drive yet, but they trained like warriors, and the coaches pushed them like men.
Perfection was the goal, and nothing less than 100% was accepted. These kids were committed to getting the most from their mentors.
I liked this shot because you could see the Honolulu skyline in his helmet.
Halfway through the day, the clouds came in and opened up. Most people ran for cover, but the players and coaches didn't budge an inch. If anything, they played harder! It was amazing to watch... it reminded me of the end of an intense movie.
One of my favorite shots is of a group of kids, arms interlocked, singing and dancing in the rain. These kids are from various rival schools all over the island and beyond, but you couldn't tell during this camp. Today, they were brothers.
The coaches spoke to the players about the importance of humility and appreciation for the gifts these kids have. Specifically, one of the coaches pointed at the family and friends who came out to support these student-athletes, even in the rain. One of my favorite parts of this camp is how the coaches mix life lessons into the training event. Of course you'd expect the kids to come out of All Poly Sports as better football players... but what a wonderful bonus that they also come out as better young adults, too.
When the rain let up, the intensity only increased. The scrimmage games were full of hard hits, smooth passes and fast carries. Every play counted as much as the previous... you would've believed these kids were playing a Championship Game.
The only thing scarier than the players in action was their coach getting them fired up! So much of this game and camp is about energy, attitude and motivation, and the coaches were masters of generating all three.
The big finale was the "Goal line Challenge" during which different offense teams take turns trying to score against opposing defense teams. This was when celebrations hit their peak, and it was an awesome finish to an impressive day.
The kids gathered for one last time to hear parting messages from their coaches, and some players were even recognized for their outstanding performance. The man speaking in the shot below is Alema Teo, the Director of All Poly Sports and the visionary for this event. If you talk to him for 60 seconds you'll realize two things... he's passionate about what he does, and he cares about these kids. What an amazing guy.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to witness such a cool event, and if they ask me back next year I won't hesitate to shoot for them again. To all the participants, good luck in your future endeavors. And to all the coaches, staff (like Julie), and sponsors, thanks for making a positive impact in the lives of these kids. When they are men, they will remember experiences like this, and they will surely be better people because of it.
All of the pictures from the camp are available for viewing and/or free-download here:
1 comment:
OMG Speed! You actually brought tears to my eyes the way you captured the moments and they way you described the whole event. You are so talented and so amazing at what you do. Thank you, Thank you, for bringing your gift to the camp. And of course Alema is so blown away by you that you have to come back next year. Maybe one day you could be promoted to operations director, only if you are lucky. Thanks you so much.
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