Elle Tournament. Cricket tournaments for the men and boys abound. And there are sports competitions for kids. Rarely are there ever organized sports competitions for the women. Our CCD Officer in Hikkaduwa set out to change that and organized a 16 team Elle Tournament for all of our women's societies. Elle is baseball (using a tennis ball), crossed with dodgeball. Once you bat, while you're running the bases, the opposing team can get you out by nailing you with the ball. Which women here are not afraid to do at point-blank range, apparently. The presentation of the teams...

The lighting of the oil lamp...

Ruwantha tells the women the rules of the game...

The judges' table...

The score board... (and, as a side note, the little lady in the dress to the left of the score board was not just a cheerleader -- she was a competitor.)

The Akurala team - ready for their turn...

After weeks and weeks of rain, we had fantastic weather. Families and friends watched wherever they could find shade...

One of the Final Four teams...

A home run...

Celebrating a home run...

One of the heavy hitters...

As you MIGHT imagine (we didn't)... 16 teams of women from 16 different communities getting together to compete in what, for some of them, was a once-in-a-lifetime sports competition in front of their families and friends... meant the stakes were pretty high - as were emotions. Unfortunately, sportsmanship and healthy coping skills were not so prevalent. As you MIGHT imagine (we didn't) -- when girls do not engage in sports while growing up and are never taught how to win or lose "well" -- this resulted in a dramatic fit-throwing rage following each match... when the losers could not cope with the disappointment of loss -- and the winners thought it was their job to remind the losers that they lost. As the day progressed, and, obviously the stakes were getting higher and the teams felt they had a lot invested -- tension increased. To the point that we actually requested that the police come monitor the final round as a "preventative" measure.

Three officers showed up. And, following the championship match, before we could hand out the awards to the top four teams... the police officers promptly watched the women beat the tar out of one another... and allowed Adam to go break it up.

This guy DID go pick up a bat. We're unsure whether this was a precautionary measure (so the women didn't grab the bat and go after one another) or a proactive measure (he was going to start swinging on them).

OK, right. And, back to the awards ceremony...

Adam hands the winning team members their prizes... saying, and I quote: "Congratulations. Stop fighting."

Well, we like to call this a "good learning experience." The CCD staff that worked their tails off organizing the tournament, visiting communities to coach them during practice, etc. were mortified and apologetic... and promised to never organize another event like this again. We challenged their response -- and asked them to consider WHY the women behaved the way they did: because there are no sports programs for them and because they've never been taught how to win and lose. With a commitment to sports ethics education, more sports opportunities, and a no tolerance policy that says, "You start mouthing, you and your team all go home, immediately," -- we're looking forward to the next women's Elle tournament extraordinaire.

Adam and I couldn't resist agreeing: "Man, that was like the parents at the peewee league in America!" "Yeah, or church league basketball..."