Forever Strong..Kia Kaha!

I am not a great fan of competitive team sports. To me, the focus is all on winning or losing and I HATE that someone loses. It gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think of how the "losers" feel. Allysa's soccer teams have lost more than their fair share of games. What good comes out of it? They leave thinking of themselves as failures, as not good enough - no matter what their parents tell them.

I have a new (or renewed) sense of appreciation for team sports because of this movie, Forever Strong.

It's a great movie. Same basic formula as all feel-good sport movies, but I LOVED it! It is Allysa's current favorite. I learned so much from that movie. It is about a HIGHLY successful rugby team here in Utah. I thought they were based in Highland, Utah because that is their name, but Haley told me the school is actually in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake. She knows because she filmed a movie there!

In 32 years, they have 17 national championships and a 367-9 record.

"Never do anything to embarass yourself, your family, or your teammates"

"More important than building championship teams
is building championship boys"

"Learn to be forever strong on the field so you will be forever strong off the field"

One theme that struck me was how each individual team member gains strength from all their family and team members who have passed on. They refuse to let those people down. That's why they perform the Maori Ka Mate Haka a couple of times in the film.

Watching that is a good reason to see the film!

P.S. The Highland Rugby Club of SLC do the haka with the permission and blessing of the Maori community in New Zealand.