Sports conference helps strengthen mind, body, emotions and spirit

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The second annual Medicine Wheel of Sports Development Conference will be held May 24 to 26 at the Fantasyland Hotel with hopes that the people who attend will share stories and be inspired by the 20-plus workshops and four keynote speakers scheduled.

"It was made so that recreation directors could network and listen to success stories and to catch up on new technologies in the area of sports. It was also catered to accommodate mature youth to come out (and participate)," said conference co-ordinator Tony Alexis.

The four keynote speakers at the conference will be Bert Crowfoot, national fitness competitor Leanna Martens, Phil Lane Jr. and former Edmonton Eskimo Henry "Gizmo" Williams. World champion drum group Blackstone Singers will also be the special host drum at the event.

Alexis said that, for the most part, the topics of the presentations will deal with the four quadrants of the medicine wheel. Crowfoot will talk about mental development, Martens will talk about physical development, Lane will talk about spiritual development and Williams will talk about emotional development.

"Sport development in the Aboriginal communities has a lot of impact on everybody," said Alexis. "Just to know that we have people like [NHL hockey player] Jordin Tootoo, who kind of represent us, although they're not right in my own home community, it gives us hope as people who are trying to teach other kids, and let them know that you can enjoy it. It takes dedication and hard work to achieve goals like that."

Alexis said the first conference was a success and he expects that more people will be coming to this year's conference.

"There were some youths that came out last year and some of the stories we heard from them were that they started a workout. When they left there they were so motivated; they were so excited about their area of sport that they were going into, they got home and they started their training camp with a little bit more effort and more focus and more determination. Some of the stories that we heard from the youth, from the recreation directors, they were very happy."

Some of the topics of workshops include training and conditioning, strategies for success, leadership and role modeling and goal setting. But Alexis said that people who attend the conference just like to talk and listen to each other's stories of success and hardships because it helps to inspire them.

"The presenters who are coming out, they're coming out to share their knowledge. And part of the traditional value of the Aboriginal person is to share their teachings to the generations who are coming up," said Tony Alexis. "And the generations that are coming up are the ones who work in Aboriginal communities in the area of sport and recreation. They're the ones who are training the kids. So you can see it's like a whole medicine wheel of training."

Bert Crowfoot, a presenter at the conference last year, is back this year, this time as a keynote speaker. He hopes that people will be able to take anything from the conference that will help them succeed in their sport.

"Very few of them (athletes) practice on the mental side," said Crowfoot. "Because what you're dealing with is everybody's talented at the more competitive levels, and it's the person who's more mentally prepared that's most likely going to be a more successful competitor."

Alexis said that it's great to hear success stories like that of Tootoo, but that it's important to realize that very few break into professional sports.

"Suddenly, it teaches us in the area of recreation and sport development to teach more fundamentals and try to encourage the kids to have fun, learn the skill development, teach them about being committed, staying focused, being a team player," said Alexis. "Those are all the great things that I learned in this process."

Alexis said that he's heard stories from people that the basic skills they've learned from coaches and triners have helped them to stay focused and determined in other aspects of their lives and careers.

"They mentioned that all the conditioning that they've done to get to that level of success was something that they later on utilized in their professional lives," said Alexis. "Even those teachings come back to them in today's business."