Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 6, 1 June 2021 — Ola Pono with Tic Tac Toe [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ola Pono with Tic Tac Toe

J HE LEO HOU V ^ A NEW VOICE *

By Liloa Pantohan, Papa 3, Ke Kula Ni'ihau 0 Kekaha Puhlie Charter School

My favorite way to mālama i to'u ola pono (take care of my health) is to go to CrossFit Kekaha. At CrossFit we play games and then work out on the machines. I like to ho'oitaita kino (work out) to stay healthy and to get stronger. I love having fun at CrossFit with my classmates and making new friends there. My favorite game to play at CrossFit is Tic Tac Toe. This game is played with two groups of three people. To play Tic Tac Toe you need nine 10-pound weights set up into three rows of three. This makes up the Tic Tac Toe game "board." Ihen you put three cones to the right and three cones to the left of the "board." Eaeh group of three lines up in front of the cones and eaeh player takes turns racing against the other team to the cones and bringing them back to the next team member in line. That team

member runs to the weights and puts our team's eone in the best spot. The first team to get three cones on the board in a row (or Tic Tac Toe) wins. I love this game because it not only challenges us in running, but it also ehallenges us to think about our strategy to get Tic Tac Toe. We all take the game seriously because we want to be on the winning team. After we play games we workout on the different machines. I like this part because we get to strengthen our muscles and body in different ways. Our eoaeh sets the workout plan for eaeh day and we follow it. My classmates and new friends help to push me to get through the workouts, even when they are really hard. When I finish my workout I feel tired but I also feel good about staying healthy. Since attending CrossFit I feel like I am getting stronger, faster and smarter from playing the games and doing the workouts that our eoaeh tells us to do eaeh day. CrossFit also helps me to remember my own ola pono (heahh) choices in what I eat and drink so that I ean be ready to play the games and do the workouts for the day. I am excited to learn new games that challenge me and also new workouts that make me stronger because I have so mueh fun doing it. This is how I mālama i to'u ola pono. ■