THE indigenous sport of shatong makes a well deserved comeback on Dec. 13 through the 1st KCT Sports & Tourism Foundation Shatong Tournament at the Camp Lapu-Lapu grounds in Cebu City.
This will be the foundation’s third native sport event since its founding in late 2014 after holding the Takyan and Chinese Garter tournaments last January and August, respectively. The former had 35 participants while the latter drew 44.
Organizer Karen Cimagala-Tan said, “We are aiming to promote our local sports again to give chance to today’s to experience our true Filipino sports,” Cimagala-Tan said. “It would be a shame if we just let it be a memory,” she added.
Tan is hoping to draw more participants to promote the social skills of children. She is expecting players from outside Cebu City.
The champion team will take home P15,000 while runners-up will pocket P10,000 and P5,000, respectively.
The competition will have an Open division for teams consisting of five, 16-under players.
Interested participants may inquire through facebook.com/KCTFoundation or call (032) 520-2020 and look for Hilary or Looch. Registration will be until Dec. 13 before the start of the event at 9 a.m.
Shatong is played using two sticks – one is six inches long (‘shorty’) while the other one is a foot long (long stick or LS) – and a furrow. Each team member takes turn. The first one lobs shorty off the furrow using LS. The team must be careful that the opponent can’t catch shorty. If the other team catches it, the current team loses its turn.
If shorty is hurled by the current team, the members will go to the stick’s drop site.
From there, except for the hurler, (if it’s a two-man team, only one will have to shout “Shato!” until the player reaches the furrow. The opponents will check for your consistency in shouting the word. If one failed to reach the furrow and ran out of breath, the opposing team makes their turn to hurl. No points are made.
If it is successful, the team can count the distance from the drop point and furrow using the LS.
If the hurler hits the shorter stick with the LS as he launches shorty off the open space, and the “shato” runners don’t lose their breaths, then the count is doubled. If the hurler launches shorty and hits it twice before it goes off to its drop point, shorty is used to count the distance instead.
If the hurler hits shorty thrice before it drops, then shorty is used to measure the distance, and the count is increased to threes. The team with the highest points win.
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