Washington County Enterprise-Leader
SEQUICHIE’S GRIDIRON PASSION HAS ROOTS
FARMINGTON — Spirituality was a major part of the ancient Cherokee sport of stick ball and is a part of football for Farmington junior defensive end Gabe Sequichie.
According to Tavia Fuller Armstrong, who grew up in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, participants prepared for a game through a series of elaborate rituals, which sometimes included fasting and abstaining from sex for a full moon before the game.
In her May 13, 2012, online column “Cherokee Stick Ball is Traditional Excitement” published by Yahoo Sports, Armstrong writes, “Spiritual beliefs played as much a part of the old stickball tradition as did the athletic component of the game.”
Stick ball was referred to as “the little brother of war” and often used to settle disputes. Injuries to players were common as in football and the Cherokee literally practiced the old sports cliché of crushing an opponent and they also had cheerleaders involved in performing dance routines as a way of acting out a defeat of an opposing team.
According to the Cherokee Nation Cultural Resources Center online history, in times past there would be a dance before the ballgame, in which ballplayers participated, along with seven women dancers. Each woman or cheerleader represented one of the Cherokee clans. Throughout the dance, the women would step on black beads, which represented the players of the opposing team, and were placed on a large flat rock by the conjurer.
There are two ways to score in stick ball by either striking a wooden fish or ball on the top of a pole approximately 28 feet in height (seven points), and when the ball strikes the pole (two points). In football, advancing the ball across the goal line by running or passing scores a touchdown ( six points) and kicking the ball through the uprights of the goalposts counts as a field goal (three-points).
The Cultural Resources Center blurb states in earlier times, only men with the greatest athletic ability played the game and the conjurer for each team often became as important to the team as the players themselves.
Small wonder that Cherokee citizens, such as Sequichie, have taken up the sport of football, which has several distinct parallels to playing stick ball. Football coaches, who conjure up formations, alignments, assignments and play calls, are just as important in deciding the outcome of a game as the players on the field and playing time is earned through demonstrations of athletic ability.
“He’s real spiritual, too,” said Matt Wilson, a cousin Sequichie has grown up with and now a teammate at Farmington. “The way he gets when he gets motivated. He loses himself in the moment, nothing else matters.”
“Every time I step out there I want the people to know the name Gabe Sequichie. I want the person that I hit to remember that number and I want to be the best,” Sequichie said.
Sequichie is a starter at defensive end and leans on his spirituality to strengthen his resolve. He has grown up the hard way, not of his choosing.
“I never had a stable life. I had to remain strong, it built character.”
Sequichie has a lot of favorite Bible verses but the one that sticks out is Philippians 4:13, ‘I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.’”
“That’s the one that has stuck with me through the years,” Sequichie said.
Stephanie Hoops was one of the teachers at Woodland Junior High which Sequichie attended in Fayetteville, who helped Sequichie choose a path to progress which marked a turning point in his life.
“The teachers knew that he had challenges and that football was his lifeline. They really cared about him so they tried to foster that and tried to use that,” Hoops said.
Sequichie’s role model is Farmington teammate, Chas Turner, who plays receiver.
“Everybody has a bad day at least one time out of a week. You can never tell with Chas. He’s always got his head up high, just walking into the locker room and looking at Chas you know that’s a man of Christ.”
For Sequichie losing a football game is akin to taking in a gulp of rank water.
“The feeling of a loss is dreadful. I can’t stand the taste in my mouth.”
Yet, he prefers to keep a setback in perspective while focusing on the long-term goal.
“We can go with one or two losses in the season and still win a state championship. It’s about how you play in the playoffs.”
Sequichie is heart.
“Native Americn comes within the spirit. It’s the way you believe.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
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