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Two brothers are giving the Keeshig-Soonias family of Red Deer a reason to be proud as the Canada Summer Games approaches.
Dallas Soonias, 17 will be a competitor in volleyball and Sarain Soonias, who turned 19 on June 19, is travelling as an alternate for the basketball team.
Dallas said that strikes him as "pretty cool." The young men are the only athletes in the family; their two sisters are in their 30s with families and don't play competitive sports at all.
Sarain and Dallas and their mother Beverley Keeshig-Soonias are Oji-Cree and are members of the Chippewas of Nawash reserve in Ontario. Their father was born at the Red Pheasant reserve in Saskatchewan.
On June 18, Dallas talked about the route they have travelled to get this far.
He plays club volleyball and accepted the challenge of an invitational tryout for the Canada Games teams.
That took four months, he said, and took his team all over Alberta.
"The first tryout was in December in Sherwood Park. They made the final selection at the Junior Nationals in Saskatoon at the end of May," he said.
"We start July 1 and practise more or less every day through 'til the Canada Games, which is in late August. So we'll be travelling all over Canada to train and play." The games will be held in London, Ont.
In addition, Dallas said the Alberta Canada Games team to which he belongs will be coaching a volleyball camp in Jasper this summer.
As Sarain was not available, Dallas described his brother's role on the basketball team. It was clear he admires Sarain's accomplishments.
"Say they take 15 people; 12 of them are players and are on the team, three of them are alternates." He said the alternates will be at the Canada Games too in case someone is hurt or there is some other misadventure that requires a team member to be replaced.
Sarain has a sports scholarship to attend college in Medicine Hat in the fall. His brother said he is unsure of the course Sarain will take, but "one thing I do know is he is not taking really easy classes like most of the athletes do."
He will play basketball with the Medicine Hat Rattlers at college.
Dallas has one year left at Hunting Hills High School, where he will play volleyball on his school team. He will attend university after that he said. He is "still debating whether, if I can get a scholarship to the States, to go down south or to stay in Canada." He said if he gets a scholarship it will be for his prowess in sports; "definitely not an academic one."
He explained that the reason he started playing volleyball was because "Sarain was already known, where we're from, at being awesome at basketball."
A while back "everybody knew he was just amazing at basketball and I was just the little brother." Sarain has played basketball since he was "really little." Dallas added he has only been playing his own game seriously for two or three years.
Their parents were athletic too when they were younger, said Dallas, so he feels they came by their talent naturally.
"Actually, one thing I know my dad did is he played football in high school and his team won the provincial championships, and that's awesome. He impressed everyone."
Both parents encouraged them in sports, he said. "They signed us up for things when we were young," he said, such as youth basketball.
While Dallas was on the phone with Sweetgrass, he received a letter from the head coach of the volleyball team at the University of Calgary, wishing him good luck this season.
"I have heard and seen great things and am tracking your progress," the letter said.
Sarain and Dallas have lived in Red Deer all their lives. Dallas said they are "urban Indians" and only visit the reserve during the summer holidays.
In the last year, though, Dallas said he has been thinking more about his heritage.
"I'm trying to represent the Indian nation the best I can. Not just put it out in the open and make sure everybody knows, but just portray Indians in a positive way.
"There rally isn't a lot of Indian volleyball players," Dallas concluded.
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