MASHPEE — Before the Mashpee High girls’ basketball team tipped off against Hull Friday night, the Falcons held hands in a circle at center court. Enclosed was another circle with seven members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s Eastern Sun Singers.
The Eastern Sun Singers broke into two songs: one of pride for the Mashpee community, and an honor song for Ryan Hendricks, a former Mashpee Wampanoag student-athlete who was killed in a car accident last October. The group’s verses and the thumping sounds of their center drum echoed around the Mashpee Wampanoag Community and Government Center as a crowded audience watched in reverent silence.
Advertisement
“Honestly, it felt sacred — it felt sacred to our tradition,” said Mashpee senior Hialeah Turner-Foster.
The Mashpee girls’ basketball team has a unique relationship with the town and the tribe. About three-fourths of the players are members of the Wampanoag tribe or other indigenous groups around New England. That includes Turner-Foster and cousin Amiyah Peters, two of the three 1,000-point scorers in program history.
The seniors have become figureheads for Mashpee, helping to revitalize a struggling team while also becoming young leaders within their tribe.
“I feel like we are the team that shows more of our culture and our traditions,” Peters said. “Every single year is different, every day is different, but at the end of the day, we all bring it back to one community. And it’s not always the tribal community, it’s just our Mashpee community in general.”
Peters, a 5-foot-3-inch point guard, became the Mashpee Wampanoag Pow Wow Princess last Fourth of July weekend and carries the title for one year. She attends gatherings ranging from local Wampanoag socials to a Unity Conference in Minnesota with more than 2,000 youth representatives from tribes around the country.
Mashpee Wampanoag 2022 Pow Wow Princess and Chairman Brian Weeden @AmiyahUnique23 pic.twitter.com/lcKXTxgZEX
— Kristine (@WD96) July 8, 2022
“I was kind of shocked at some tribes and how different they can be, but also how similar they could be,” Peters said. “It comes down to how they smudge, how they dance, different footsteps during their dance styles — everything is not always the same, and it was a big eye-opener.”
Advertisement
‘I’m so happy for them. They’ve done such a great job, They brought eyes upon a community that everyone thought disappeared.’
Shani Turner, mother of Hialeah Turner-Foster on her daughter's basketball team's embrace of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and its culture
Turner-Foster serves with Peters on the tribe’s youth council and has accompanied her cousin to several delegations. When the two first joined the girls’ basketball team, it rarely preceded games with tribal ceremonies. Now they sage the court before every game, and for marquee contests, invite tribal leaders to perform a drum circle or prayer circle. On rare occasions, they leave their Mashpee High court behind to play in the Wampanoag community gym.
“We were a very young team and none of us really spoke too much and spoke up about our culture, and a lot of other traditions that come along with it,” Peters said. “But now that we’re older and we’re like the oldest on the team, I feel like it’s easier to communicate.”
Second-year coach Jazz Silva has opened her mind to her team’s culture. Mashpee won just four games the year before Silva arrived. The Falcons finished 17-8 in 2021-22 and are off to an 8-3 start this season. Peters is 78 points away from the program scoring record.
“I’m just honored that they welcomed me into their culture,” Silva said. “It’s been a journey and I can’t be prouder to be a part of it.”
Advertisement
Carlton Hendricks, vice chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and the father of freshman Ciara Hendricks, frequently travels to support the Falcons on the road. Hendricks is in awe of the “electrifying” home crowds.
Turner-Foster’s mom, Shani Turner, descends from the Wampanoag tribe and Nipmuc nation. She’s an avid supporter in a fandom that made the two-hour trek to Wahconah during a snowstorm last March, where 15th-seeded Mashpee upset second-seeded Wahconah, 47-45, in the Division 4 state tournament.
“I’m so happy for them. They’ve done such a great job,” Turner said. “They brought eyes upon a community that everyone thought disappeared.”
Brian Weeden, Peters’ brother-in-law, is chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and watches over the 3,000-member body. Weeden recalled learning from the great Wampanoag chief Earl “Flying Eagle” Mills about the days of inter-tribe basketball during the mid-20th century. He’s also on the school committee and has helped lead a collaborative effort to place Mashpee’s Native American roots at the forefront of education.
“Mashpee has been one of the largest Native communities and existences in this region forever,” he said. “A lot of the other tribes are kind of smaller, but the sense of community here has always been strong.”
Those efforts extend to the basketball team, where non-Native members like senior Stella Stecei appreciate the importance of rituals and traditions.
“It’s honestly been such a cool experience, and I’m so glad that I grew up here,” she said. “It just really opened my eyes to so many different cultures and all the different perspectives and everything.”
Advertisement
Peters says that while any Mashpee game brings a home-court advantage, those rare occasions to play in the Wampanoag community gym carry a special feeling of home. When the Falcons suit up, they represent a community that has been underrepresented for centuries — but a whole town and tribe has their back.
“I feel amazing that I’m in this position to do my part. I know I can only do my part,” Peters said. “But as I go through, especially as the Pow Wow Princess, and even just as a tribal member myself, I will just do as much as I can to give back to my community as what they gave me.
“As years go on, we’ve lost many things. We lost our land at one point. But we’re all bringing it back. As long as our community plays their part and everybody plays their part, we could make a difference.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/TO3UYU24DZCUFHIMMMFVHQUQO4.png)