Te ano is a team sport played with 2 balls in which two teams face each other about apart on a ''malae'' (meeting ground or playing field). Two balls are used simultaneously in the game with each ball being about in diameter, It is a traditional game played in Tuvalu, and also in the

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

of Tokelau & Sikaiana. The team members stand in parallel rows of about six people behind two central players on their team, the captain and catcher. The ''alovaka'' (captain) and ''tino pukepuke'' (catcher) stand in front of each team, who are the ''vaka''. A game starts on the call of an elder spectator, both catchers of each team throw a ball to their captain, who in turn hits it towards the other team. Each team tries to score points by forcing the grounding of a ball in the other team's court. A tactic is to target the less skilful members of the other team. Using their hand, a player hits a ball to another player on their team, with the receiver needing to stop the ball from hitting the ground, but without catching the ball, with the aim of hitting the ball to another player on the team, and eventually to the catcher of the team. Only the catcher can throw the ball back to the captain to hit it back to the other team. When either ball falls to the ground the other team scores a point, and the first team to score 10 points wins the game. When the game finishes, the winning team will sing and perform a fatele, while the losing team will sit down and watch the winning team as they sing and dance the fatele. The balls are woven by men and women who use three strips of dried

pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...

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leaves to weave a core followed by an outer layer. The ball is very hard and heavy as the core is usually filled with a mixture of things such as dried leaves, pieces of coconut shell, and small stones. The ''ano'' can be woven in a round shape, or can be in the form of a cube, which can be woven with dyed pandanus leaves to create a patterned ''ano''. The cube shaped ''ano'' is also used in the Tuvaluan game called ''poo ili''. While ''Te ano'' is played by mixed gender teams and with team members of different ages, it is also played in single gender games. Female teams may choose to play with the cube shaped ''ano'', while males may prefer to play with the round shaped ''ano''.

Notes

{{Reflist, 30em Sports rules and regulations Ball games Tuvaluan culture Youth sport in Tuvalu Men's sport in Tuvalu Women's sport in Tuvalu Sport in Tuvalu by sport