The Isle of Genetic Marvels
13 October 2006If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Recently I saw a nicely done TV show on the inordinate, disproportionate number of Polynesian professional football players. The TV cable show focused on American Samoa. What combination of conditions exists on this tiny island that continually creates genetically gifted, psychologically aggressive athletes? What odd combination of diet, weather, social environment and training combine to continually produce world-class athletes? In Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi classic Dune, the best fighters were from the mythical prison planet of Salusa Secundus. The Sardukar soldiers were raised on a barren inhospitable desert planet, the weather conditions so harsh the weak were weeded out starting at birth. The survivors were subjected to merciless military training – the end result was a never ending legion of physical hard-asses that could out-run, out-cuss, out-fight, out-eat and out-drink all the other soldiers of the galaxy. Here on earth Polynesian athletes are on the roosters of 26 out of 28 NFL teams. Giant linemen, lean as steel post defensive backs, linebackers, runners – the Polynesians “out physical” opponents: one trait they all seem to possess is great strength. This raw power is coupled with physical aggressiveness and love of hard physical contact. The TV crew crawled Samoa, leisurely taking in the locale and the inhabitants. The men were uniformly thick and stout, some were tall, others short, all seemed cut from the same physical cloth. Some were lean, some were absolutely gigantic and all were athletic. On an island where there is not a lot to do (and where there is a large population of young males) organized team sport offers bored youth something to do to pass the time. There is sameness about rural island existence that leads bored men to seek pastimes and distractions, some good, some bad. Sport offers the thrill of participation and a lot of island folks come and watch these rugged men blast and batter one another in football and rugby, basketball and beach sports.
Samoa has no tourist industry. It is heavily Christian and the families are large. The youngest males in these large families tend to be the world-class athletes. If you have four older brothers, all active in organized sports like rugby, American football and hardcore street-style basketball, if you are at the end of a long end of series of beatings, if you play against older, tougher, bigger opponents and suddenly you are unleashed on kids your own age and size….lord have mercy on those normal kid athletes. The world beaters typically came from large families with lots of male athletes…dads, uncles, cousins, brothers…who gather at the playing fields and test themselves. Skills are perfected, hitting and taking a hit taken for granted, pain tolerances extended, endurance and stamina improved by playing different sports all the time. The Samoan professional athletes shown were uniformly versatile and proficient at more than one sport. One athlete spotlighted was a 6-3, 315-pound 21-year old with perhaps 9% body fat. He was shown gracefully driving to the hoop and performing a 360-dunk. He was a defensive lineman who went on to start in the NFL. He could dance like James Brown and was agile as a cat. There is a lot of Purposefully Primitive-style Old School weight training done at outdoor concrete weight pits in Samoa. Barbells and dumbbells are hoisted in the powerlifts and the overhead lifts are extremely popular. I had the good fortune of being friends with the greatest master (over 40) lifter of the past decade: Junior Fausimuli. Junior was a Samoan and a typical world beater. Had Junior been blessed with height he no doubt would have ended up an NFL all pro nose guard. He stood 5-8, weighed a ripped 275-pounds and could squat an effortless 900-pounds anywhere, anytime. He’d back that up with a 500-550 bench press and a 700-730 deadlift. He’d then collect his gold medal. He was never beaten as a master lifter.
Stacy and I had a memorable meal with Junior F in a Montreal Bistro after the IPF world master’s championship a decade back. I took the silver medal behind the Hungarian Lovaz. Junior decimated the field and captured the “champion of champion” trophy given to the single most outstanding lifter of the entire three day world competition. We ate ample amount of homemade soup, crispy roast pork and French bread that night. He didn’t drink. He described Samoa at my prompting. I had long been fascinated by the athletic phenomena, the over-representation of Polynesian athletes in pro football and international rugby, even way back then. At the time Samoan Junior Seau was the dominate defensive player in the NFL. Junior F waxed poetic about the Samoan food (lots of pork, lots of fruit) the variety of activities even away from the organized games: they would swim and fish and run everywhere. Not much to do though and most young men sought some way to see the outside world. Junior F joined the US Army and was finishing the 20th year of his career the night we ate. He was considering moving back “home” after he retired. If he were to, he would likely become involved with one of the island’s athletic programs as a coach. A goodly number of ex-Samoan athletes morph into coaching after their careers are over and they insist on high standards of athletic excellence. It all combines on Samoa: top athletes are churned out consistently in this fascinating bit of athletic Darwinism.
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