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 The Native American Sports Council, an organization that is dedicated to promoting athletic excellence
in Native American communities, is the winner of the U.S. Olympic Committee Rings of Gold Award for 2000.
The Native
American Sports Council is one of the USOC's community-based multisport organizations. It combines traditional
Native American values with modern Olympic programs to promote athletic excellence and wellness within tribal communities.
The Council
has provided mentoring opportunities to Native American Olympic hopefuls and has conducted clinics, coaching workshops
and competitions within tribal communities.
For thousands of years before contact with Europeans,
Native Americans held tribal games throughout the Western Hemisphere and across the North American continent. It
is a matter of historical records that many modern team sports were derived from traditional Native games. What
is not well known is that Native American games taught personal and social values and traditional ceremonies which
were a curriculum for their way of life. That way, depended on each generation to learn the values and personal
qualities, handed down to them such as honesty, courage, respect, personal excellence and gratitude for the guidance
of parents, elders and community leaders and to serve when called.
The Native
American Sports Council believes that working within communities, to build athletic programs, is one way to promote
healthy living among our people.
Native American Sports Council
http://nascsports.org/index.htm
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