Historical game of Shinny makes its way into Charles City County

Wesley Adkins chips the ball away while playing the position of goaltender.

Robb Johnson photo

A game built on traditions that span back to the 1600s is making waves once again. And Charles City County is one of those stops.

The game of Shinny is a combination of sports, with elements of field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and rugby all intertwined as one. Shinny games range in age range, allowing old and young people as well as different cultural backgrounds to participate in them.

In Charles City, games have been conducted on the Chickahominy Indian Tribal Grounds, with the latest one being this past Sunday. A team from Charles City is part of the Powhatan Shinny League (PSL), which is in its third year.

Shinny is played primarily for fun and not in a competitive nature. The game does not have a score limit and concludes when a player calls for game point. Scores usually aren’t kept due to the wild flow of the game.

The concept of the game is to use a stick (closely resembling a field hockey stick) or a foot to cross goals that are set up around the field. Games can have teams as small as four and as many as 20, and at times even more. During the game, there are no out-of-bounds area and the object is to accumulate as many goals as possible.

Games are initiated through a prayer. The elder tosses the ball in the air to indicate the game has begun. Body protection is recommended as players can get knocked to the ground or hit with the ball.

As games played on the Chickahominy Tribal Grounds, T.J. Tupponce, who helped found the PSL, spoke about the original concept and creating the league.

“About three years ago, we were looking for something athletic for the kids to do,” he commented. “We going to tie it back to lacrosse.

“But we started digging back through the journal entries of Williamsburg and Jamestown historic documentation and lacrosse never really made it this far,” Tupponce continued. “But what we play is a game called Shinny and it’s more akin to field hockey with all the physicality put back into it.

“Documents said players with crooked sticks would drive the ball between trees operating as uprights,” Tupponce added as he wrapped up his comments. “The game helps people come together and build community with the elds and the youth. It is something that people can do as one bigger family.”

Ivey Tupponce, the wife of T.J. Tupponce, commented about her observations and the impact of the league.

“I have seen so many positives with the communities coming together,” she said. “We have had kids as young as three and those 60 years young out here.

“This brings tribes together and it involves everyone, not just from the Native American Tribe,” she added. “We welcome anyone to play. It’s about family and community time, and we are putting out into the world a piece of Native American Culture and this normalizes it.”

In Charles City, Wesley Adkins spearheads the team that calls the Chickahominy Tribal Ground home.

“This is a great way to get everybody involved and it is becoming popular,” he said. “It is also telling another story, one of historical precedence of our culture.

“We gather every Sunday at different locations, and this is something that we enjoy sharing and doing,” Adkins concluded.