Winter Games taken by Meadow Lake Tribal Council
- Larissa Burnouf | April 06, 2016
Thousands of athletes, coaches, chaperones, volunteers and spectators filled the vibrant border city of Lloydminster and surrounding Onion Lake Cree Nation during the Easter spring break, as Onion Lake hosted this year’s Saskatchewan First Nations Winter Games.
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Tribal Councils from across the province sent their teams and individual
athletes to represent their home communities in a number of different
sports including hockey, broom ball, volleyball, badminton, basketball, table
tennis and curling.
After a
week long battle for bragging rights, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council came out
as the top team with a total of 306 points. MLTC's medal count included 10
gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals. Agency Chiefs Tribal Council came in a
close second with 8 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze medals. Team Woodland from
northern Saskatchewan rounded out the top 3 teams.
Onion
Lake Cree Nation Chief Wallace Fox says he was extremely pleased and proud of
his community who pulled together to a put on such a positive, successful
event. "The staff and volunteers who put it together went over and above
and many of the volunteers were education staff who used their own break to
ensure these athletes and their families were taken care of." Fox says he
received so much praise from athletes, coaches and everyone who attended the
weeklong event in first class venues in the city and on reserve. "So many
of the athletes said they loved the games, they've met new friends and had so
much fun." Fox says it's truly rewarding to see "so much pride in the
parents faces when they see their children compete."
A number
of youth were also thrilled to meet and talk one on one with 2014 Olympic Gold
Medalist curler Jill Officer, who attended many of the events and did a number
of medal presentation ceremonies. Fox says the First Nations youth drew
inspiration and had a lot of hope from meeting Officer. "If she can
do this, anyone can do this. It encourages our youth to reach for the
stars and shows them that they too can make it to the Olympics."
Several athletes we spoke with at the events say they look forward to the annual Saskatchewan First Nations winter and summer games every year because it not only instills pride in their abilities and builds self-confidence, it also gives them the opportunity to create lasting memories with friends, family and team mates.