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Four Tuj Lub courts open in Keller Regional Park I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Four Tuj Lub courts open in
Keller Regional Park
Submitted by adminl on Wed, 09/23/2015 - 8:37am
By: Erin Hinrichs
Stepping up to the launching pad in his flashy Hmong New
Year's vest, Norm Vue, 54, takes aim at his target: spinning
tops located about 10 feet away. After a brief pause in action,
he slings the top that's held at the end of his stick by a string.
He scores, sending tops flying in all directions, and eliciting
cheers from the crowd that's gathered around the playing field.
Even though it's been at least 30 years since he last played,
he says, he's not intimidated by the presence of local
dignitaries and professional Tuj Lub players.
Akin to remembering how to ride a bike, Vue says he grew up
playing Tuj Lub (pronounced Do Lu) in Laos and never forgot
how to play.
"I have the experience, so I know what needs to be done," he
says, pleased with his performance.
Vue's experience being reunited with a traditional Hmong
game in Minnesota is one that project planners hope many
others will experience in the coming months.
With four new paved Tuj Lub courts coming to Keller Regional
Park in Maplewood this spring, this game will forever have a
safe haven.
It's a milestone that both the Hmong community and area
leaders celebrated Sept. 16 at a groundbreaking ceremony at
the park.
"The Tuj Lub game [has been] well preserved by the Hmong
community for hundreds of year," state Sen. Foung Hawj,
DFL -St. Paul, told the crowd, first in Hmong, then English.
"Today, we are safe from harm now, and adults and children
alike will be outside playing freely again."
A game of skill
The sport, which involves a sawed-off golf club with string tied
to it, a spinning top, and a playing court, sometimes draws
comparisons to bocce ball.
It's a nostalgic sport for many Hmong men, who played it back
in Southeast Asia before migrating to the U.S.
The game is played in a series of eight different playing levels,
each level with its own objectives and gameplay. It starts with
State Sen. Foung Hawj spoke at the Sept. 16 Tuj Lub
groundbreaking ceremony at Keller Regional Park in
Maplewood. Shown playing the sport above, he championed
the project at the state Capitol, along with fellow DFLer Rep.
Leon Lillie. He was accompanied by project supporters,
including Ramsey County Parks and Recreation director Jon
Oyanagi, state Rep. Leon Lillie, Ramsey County
Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, and Maplewood Mayor
Nora Slawik. (Erin Hinrichs/Review)
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State Sen. Foung Hawj, DFL -St. Paul, thanks project
supporters for bringing Tuj Lub courts to Maplewood. (Erin
Hinrichs/Review)
Hue Chim Xiong, 2, gets ready to toss his Tuj Lub top at
Keller Regional Park. (Erin Hinrichs/Review)
Tony Yang, 21, and his father, Chia C. Yang, 43, president of
the St. Paul Tuj Lub Club, test out the new Tuj Lub courts at
Keller Regional Park in Maplewood at the Sept. 16
groundbreaking ceremony. (Erin Hinrichs/Review)
two teams battling by spinning their tops onto a 2 -foot -square
platform — one player spins a top on the platform and another
player launches a top with the goal of knocking over the other
top, while keeping their top spinning longer than the
opponent's.
The complex game then proceeds through different rounds,
which ultimately culminates in the players sending their tops 70
feet down the playing court, trying to hit a small target.
The four courts at Keller Regional Park, along with two newly
constructed courts at St. Paul's Duluth and Case Regional
Center, constitute some of the first Tuj Lub courts in the United
States.
The only other official court can be found in Westminster,
Colorado, says Brian Murphy, landscape architect for St. Paul
Parks and Recreation.
There are about 15 competitive teams in the Twin Cities, and
some of the players are in their 20s or younger.
Shon Xiong, 45, doesn't play at the professional level, but he's
already training his 2 -year-old son, Hue Chim Xiong, in the art
of the sport.
He grew up in the mountainous jungles of rural Laos and
began playing with his dad when he was about 10 years old,
he says.
He fled from the violence in Laos in 1987, escaping to a
refugee camp in Thailand until coming to California in 1989.
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In 2011, he moved to Minnesota with his family, happy to find Tuj Lub survived the journey as well.
"It feels great," he says while testing out the new Tuj Lub courts in Maplewood. "Back in Laos, we were so scared of soldiers.
We could never have the freedom of playing what we wanted."
$300,000 project
The courts at Keller Regional Park— now outlined on the grass —won't be fully constructed until next spring. Butthat didn't
stop those in attendance from testing out the new amenity.
After spending months championing the project atthe state Legislature, Rep. Leon Lillie, DFL -North St. Paul, was ready to
challenge Senator Hawj's skills at the groundbreaking event.
Getting to that point, however, required a lot of teamwork.
Talks began back in 2010, when Chia C. Yang, 43, president of the St. Paul Tuj Lub Club, presented his idea to the
Maplewood Parks and Recreation Commission.
Unlike many of his peers, he didn't start playing Tuj Lub until coming to Minnesota. Here, his brother-in-law introduced him to
the sport, he says, and he was hooked.
With more than 15 years of experience, he now spends his time coaching new players. He'll likely be a fixture atthe new
courts, where he hopes to someday train an Olympic competitor, introducing the sport into the international competition.
Yang testified before the Senate, to help secure $150,000 through the state Legacy Fund. Hawj and Lillie authored the bill,
with the support of area legislative members. The project was fully funded when the city of Maplewood and Ramsey County
each pitched in an additional $75,000.
Utilizing the new courts his father helped bring to Maplewood, Tony Yang, 21, worked up a sweat at the Sept. 16 event.
While the significance of the occasion was not lost on him, he sees the game as an outlet—just like any other sport. It
requires skill, he says, that newbies will need to study and practice in order to unlock the sport's full potential.
"In Maplewood, we're really competitive now," he says, before rejoining his teammates back out on the field.
Patrick Larkin contributed to this story.
Erin Hinrichs can be reached at 651-748-7814 and ehinrich so_lillienews.com. Follow her at twitter.com/EHinrichsNews.
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