Rwandan Traditional Games
Senior 4 · Physical Education
Rwandan Traditional Games
Lesson 1 of 3
25 min
Long before football and volleyball reached Rwanda, Rwandans played their own games, imikino gakondo. Children chased each other in guhana ubute; young people competed in jumping (gusimbuka urukiramende, Sebutimbiri), aiming (kumasha, intembe), wrestling (gukirana) and thinking games (igisoro, kubuguza). The Kinyarwanda Wikipedia article on these games says they built friendship, love and unity among children, youth and adults, sharpened the mind and kept the body healthy. Many are rarely played today, and Rwanda's museums now help to keep them alive.
In Senior 1 you practised running games, the traditional high jump and igisoro. In this lesson you revive three more physical games with clear school rules, and analyse them as a coach would: what fitness each one trains, what can go wrong, and how to make it safe.
Definition
Imikino gakondo: Rwandan traditional games, played before the arrival of modern sports.
Guhana ubute: a chasing (tag) game. The player who "has the ubute" tries to touch another player to pass it on; whoever holds it when the game ends has lost.
Sebutimbiri: a jumping game in which players jump with both feet together over a line of low bars, up to six, each about 50 cm high; touching a bar loses.
Gukirana: traditional wrestling between two players who grip each other around the waist and push and pull, without striking, until one brings the other to the ground.
Plyometric exercise: repeated jumping in which a muscle is stretched on landing and contracts at once to take off again, which trains power.
Agility: the ability to change direction quickly while keeping balance and control.
Traditional play. Players run and dodge; the one with the ubute touches someone to pass it, and that player chases in turn. Ending the game "holding the ubute" was a small shame, so everyone tried hard not to be caught.
School rules. Mark a square of 20 m × 20 m with cones. Start with two chasers in bibs. A tag is a light touch on the back or shoulder, never a push or a pull of clothing. A tagged player takes the bib at once and counts "rimwe, kabiri, gatatu" before chasing (so there is no instant tag-back). Play rounds of 2 minutes with 1 minute of walking rest between them. Anyone who leaves the square becomes a chaser.
What it trains. Short sprints of 2 to 5 seconds, sudden stops and turns, then a few seconds of jogging: this is interval work that trains speed, agility and the phosphocreatine system, while the whole round keeps the heart rate high for aerobic fitness.
Traditional play. Up to six very low bars (inkiramende), about 50 cm high, were set in a row, and players jumped them one after another with both feet together. A player who knocked a bar was out.
School rules. Use light bars (bamboo or plastic) resting on cones or pegs so they fall when touched; never fix a bar. Start at 30 cm and raise it only when the whole lane is cleared cleanly. Jump on grass or sand, not concrete. Land softly on the balls of the feet with bent knees, and go straight into the next take-off.
Worked example
Worked example 1: the physics of a Sebutimbiri jump. To clear a 0.50 m bar with the knees tucked, Byiringiro must raise his centre of mass by about 0.40 m. Find his vertical take-off speed, his time in the air, and the horizontal speed he needs to travel 1.2 m from one landing to the next take-off point in one jump (take ).
Interpretation. Six bars mean six of these jumps in a row, each with a hard landing. That is why Sebutimbiri builds leg power (plyometric training), why it tires the legs quickly, and why the number of jumps in a session must be limited for growing bodies.
Traditional play. Two players grip each other around the body and push, pull and twist without striking; the winner is the one who puts the other on the ground. Wrestling of this kind is found across Africa.
| Part of the class rules | Rule |
|---|---|
| Ground | Soft grass, sand or mats, at least 2 m clear of walls, posts and other pairs |
| Pairs | Similar size: body masses within about 10% of each other; same level of experience |
| Start | Standing, chest to chest, each with both arms around the other's waist, on the teacher's word "Tangira!" |
| Scoring | One point when any part of the opponent other than the feet touches the ground; bouts of 1 minute; best of three |
| Forbidden | Striking, kicking, gripping the neck or head, twisting a joint, lifting the opponent above the waist and dropping him or her, holding clothing |
| Stop | Both let go at once on "Hagarara!" or when one partner taps the other twice |
| Before you wrestle | Nails short; no jewellery, glasses or hard objects; practise falling first: tuck the chin, round the back and slap the ground with the arms |
Worked example
Worked example 2: making fair, safe pairs. Six pupils' masses are: Ishimwe 48 kg, Keza 51 kg, Gatete 57 kg, Uwase 58 kg, Mugisha 66 kg, Habimana 74 kg. The rule allows a difference of at most 10% of the lighter partner's mass. Which pairs are allowed?
Decision. Mugisha and Habimana do not wrestle each other in competition. Habimana practises technique with a lighter partner who only resists lightly, or with the teacher, until a partner of similar mass is available.
| Game | Main fitness components | Main energy system | Biggest risk and its control |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guhana ubute | Speed, agility, aerobic endurance | Phosphocreatine for each sprint; aerobic over the round | Collisions: a marked area, light touches only, players look where they run |
| Sebutimbiri | Leg power, coordination, balance on landing | Phosphocreatine | Falls and ankle injuries: falling bars, soft ground, limited number of jumps |
| Gukirana | Strength, muscular endurance, balance, core stability | Anaerobic glycolysis in a 1-minute bout | Falls and joint injuries: matched pairs, soft ground, forbidden holds, a stop signal |
Video (in Kinyarwanda): "Twiyibutse imikino ya kera!", IGIHE Sports. A report that looks back at Rwanda's old games and asks what their value is and what could bring them back. Note which games are named and which benefits people mention.
Tip
Analyse any game with three questions. What does it train? (fitness components) How long are the efforts? (energy system) What could hurt someone? (risk and control). This works for every traditional or modern game.
Warning
Common mistakes. Fixing Sebutimbiri bars with string or nails: a bar that cannot fall trips the jumper. Wrestling on a hard floor or near a wall. Pairing a much heavier pupil with a lighter one "because they are friends". Tagging with a push in guhana ubute. Some traditional games, such as kunyabanwa, a stick-fighting contest once played by herders at watering places, are studied as history but not played in school, because the risk of injury cannot be controlled.
Practice
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each traditional game to what it mainly trains.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
