Athletics
For hundreds of years, the Kanienkehaka, one of six Native American nations that comprise the Haudenosaunee, have been playing the game of Tewaaraton in which players catch, carry, pass, and shoot a ball using long sticks with a net at one end. Most people know the modern-version of the game as “lacrosse”, a name given to it by French explorers to Haudenosaunee territory in the early 1600s. But Kahentaienni (Ga-hahn-da-yanni) "Yanni" Thompson, a Tewaaraton player from Akwasasne, NY, is keeping the history and traditions of his people alive by bringing his culture and talents to the Phillips Exeter Academy community. Yanni, who is a postgraduate at Exeter, graduated high school early with stellar grades from Salmon River School District where one of his teachers suggested he pursue a postgraduate education and recommended that he apply to Exeter, among a handful of other schools. “But for many Native Americans, attending a school like Exeter presents not only a financial, but a social and cultural barrier,” says Matthew Callahan ‘09, head coach of the boys lacrosse program.
From the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed from their homes and placed in boarding schools operated by the federal government and churches. Once at the schools, they were punished for speaking their native language, banned from acting in any way that represented cultural practices, and stripped of traditional clothing, hair, and belongings that reflected their culture. Given this history, Yanni’s mother was understandably nervous about him leaving home for a boarding school.
