CRSD Students Compete in Local NYO Games
Bridger McGinnis and Tayvian Montion face off for the eskimo stick pull while Alayah Voyles looks on. Photo by Carol Cozzen.
By Anna Somers
On February 7, students in grades 4-8 competed in the Glennallen School gym in the third annual Native Youth Olympics (NYO) event.
In this day-long competition, students participated in various athletic activities based on traditional Alaska Native contests. Spectators included classes from the elementary school, community members, and parents who came to watch their students participate.
According to its website, the NYO Games are designed to promote “healthy lifestyles, positive self-esteem, leadership skills” and “appreciation of Alaska Native traditions.” Students from across Alaska compete at local and state levels.
Each individual competition in the NYO games is designed to showcase an athlete’s strength, skill, and coordination.
Many of the contests also serve conditioning purposes that support an Alaska Native lifestyle, like hunting, fishing, and maneuvering on the ice.
One of the more popular games Friday was the Eskimo Stick Pull. In this crowd favorite, two competitors sit across from one another with their feet touching and their legs straight. Both athletes hold onto a stick and attempt to pull the stick toward their chest. The first to let go of the stick or get pulled off balance loses.
Delilah Spencer in the one-foot high kick. Photo by Carol Cozzen.
The Eskimo Stick Pull is more than a fun competition. According to the NYO Games website, it was traditionally developed as a way to strengthen the muscles that are required to pull a seal out of the ice.
Although students in Glennallen may not be actively training for a seal hunt, the skills required to succeed at NYO games can also help them excel at other sports. River Bengtson is a sixth grader who came in first place in the middle-school girls Eskimo Stick Pull event. River stated that practicing for the Eskimo Stick Pull has developed her core strength, which helps with basketball, and her leg muscles, which make her a more powerful skater for hockey.
Many traditional NYO events require a combination of coordination and balance. Eighth-grader Jason Carty was the middle-school boys champion for the scissors broad jump.
Carty explained this event as a series of four complicated steps, skips, and hops followed by one long jump. The goal of this activity is to jump the farthest distance while successfully completing each of the distinct steps.
In addition to requiring coordination and jumping ability, the scissors broad jump helps develop skills required to balance and maneuver on ice or to jump from ice floe to ice floe.
Maci Truax topples over while Sophia Christoffersen hangs on during the eskimo stick pull. Photo by Carol Cozzen.
Another event that requires a lot of stamina, as well as upper-body strength, is the seal hop. As seventh-grader Autumn Riley explained in an interview, competitors begin in a push-up-like position, keeping their arms straight, and they hop forward on their fingers without bending their arms or legs.
The hardest part of this event, according to Autumn, is keeping your whole body straight while still supporting your entire weight.
The NYO games have been organized for the past three years by middle-school science and PE teacher Matthew Williams. Williams was first introduced to the Native Youth Olympics when he was a teacher in the Aleutian community of Chignik Lake. The games intrigued him because many of the required skills were similar to those he developed as a competitive gymnast.
When Williams began teaching PE at the Glennallen Middle School, he heard many Alaska Native students talk about wanting to see their cultures represented during the school day. The middle-school students have been practicing the different NYO events in PE since January, and this year fourth and fifth graders were invited to join them as well.
Williams will take a small team of middle-school athletes to participate in the junior Native Youth Olympics, which will be held in Anchorage from February 28 to March 2. Next year, he hopes to host a regional NYO tournament and invite students from other schools to compete.
Isaac McConkey in the one-foot high kick. Photo by Carol Cozzen,.
Williams stated that he appreciates how the NYO games emphasize camaraderie and are more individualized than most typical team sports. He also mentioned that the skills required to excel in different NYO events are not necessarily the same skills that make someone a star in sports like basketball or hockey. Some students who may not see themselves as very athletic learn to shine by training for the NYO games.
This sentiment was echoed by Sarah Abbott, who came Friday to watch her sixth-grader compete. Markus Abbott tied for first place in the Alaskan high kick and won first place in the two-foot high kick.
His mother Sarah Abbott said that she likes how the NYO games “pushes kids to be their own best” and expressed how thankful she is that Glennallen School now participates in the Native Youth Olympics.
We would like to congratulate all the NYO participants and winners for working so hard at these challenging events. You can learn more about the Native Youth Olympic games at nyogames.com.