Nawash athletes heading to Winnipeg for games

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What is it like for a mother and daughter to participate in the largest Aboriginal sports event in Canadian history? Ask Kathy Jones, a Chippewa of Nawash First Nations athlete, fundraiser and organizer.

Kathy, a volleyball player and daycare centre supervisor, and 11 other Nawash athletes, including Kathy's teenaged daughter Brittany, will be competing in the 2002 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in Winnipeg from July 25 to August 4.

Both mother and daughter are on volleyball teams, Brittany on the midget girls', Kathy on the women's. The 10 other athletes, including a coach and a manager, are Carolyn Akiwenzie (junior women's volleyball), Tarah Akiwenzie (junior women's badminton), Carmen Jones (junior men's softball), Roxy Jones (midget girls' volleyball coach), Marie Keeshig (senior women's volleyball manager), Melissa Solomon (junior women's softball), Lionel Solomon (junior men's softball), Jerry Keeshig (junior men's volleyball), John Jones (senior men's volleyball) and Tanya Grafner (women's tae kwon do).

Everyone's been training since last September's try-outs, not to mention their whole lives. Kathy probably speaks for them all when she says she's "ecstatic about going." Having 12 athletes of Olympic calibre in a community of 700 is "a remarkable achievement," she says. No wonder Chief Ralph Akiwenzie is so proud of these local champions who "will be competing with the best in North America."

The first North American Indigenous Games were held in 1990 in Edmonton, Alta. Since then they've been in Prince Albert, Sask. (1993), Blaine, Minn. (1995) and Victoria, B.C. (1997). This year's figures are impressive: more than 7,000 athletes and coaches, 25 teams from as far away as the Yukon, New Mexico and Florida, 16 sports (from badminton to tae kwon do) and five male and female classifications per sport. By comparison, the first games were a slim affair, with only 3,000 athletes and eight events (archery, baseball, canoeing, rifle shooting, soccer, swimming, track and field, and a rodeo). New teams include ones from Nunavut, New Mexico and North Dakota. With 879 athletes, Team Ontario is right up there with the well-represented regional teams.

Rick Brant, executive director of the Aboriginal Sport Circle, considers these games "a model for the future." They're also a legacy from the ancestors, says NAIG Council President Alex Nelson. "Sport encompassed completely the emotional, mental, physical and spiritual part of one's self. We are only reawakening what has been laid down before."

The Nawash athletes have been putting all their energy into preparing for this great event, the biggest of its kind Turtle Island has ever witnessed.

Kathy Jones plans to keep playing volleyball as long as she can, before turning to coaching and organizing, she says. She's proud to be involved in NAIG because it's "such a positive thing for our youth . . . a great motivator."