400 high school
students from across Alaska will gather in Anchorage this week
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In
this Jan. 18, 2018, photo, Native Youth Olympics Games member
Tony Rivera practices the Alaskan high kick in Juneau, Alaska.
The high school state championships in Native Youth Olympics
will be held beginning Thursday, April 26, in Anchorage, Alaska,
and Juneau will send a team for the first time in nearly three
decades. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
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To most spectators, the term "Olympics" means world-class swimming
competitions, downhill skiing or the 100-meter dash.
But near the Arctic Circle, a different type of Olympics for
young people pays homage to the region's subsistence hunters and
the methods they've used for centuries to feed their families and
stay alive in harsh conditions.
This week, more than 400 high school students from across Alaska
will gather in Anchorage for the Native Youth Olympics state championships,
where 10 events will test their strength, endurance and agility.
The games include the Seal Hop, where competitors bounce for
as long as they can on their knuckles and toes, mimicking the act
of sneaking up on a sleeping seal; the Indian Stick Pull, where
two contestants fight for a greased dowel, simulating grabbing a
slippery salmon from the water by the tail; and the Scissor Broad
Jump, a half-long-jump, half-scissor-kick event that replicates
leaping from one ice floe to the next in the Arctic Ocean.
Towns and villages in Canada, Greenland and Russia also have
Native Youth Olympics. Participants compete locally and at larger
international gatherings such as the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics
and the Arctic Winter Games.
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The
2018 Arctic Winter Games begin March 18 in Hay River and Fort
Smith, N.W.T. Get ready to follow the action with this look
at the 'Olympics of the North.' 1:56
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The events teach competitors to respect their fellow athletes,
which can have real-life applications in the circumpolar north,
where severe weather can force people to rely on each other.
Athletes do not compete against each other as much as they always
try for their personal best, and it's tradition for competitors
in the same event to give each other pointers and encouragement.
So is always shaking hands with opponents and judges.
Students do not have to be Alaska Native to compete in the Alaska
Games, even though the events are designed from cultural activities,
said Tim Blume, spokesman for Cook Inlet Tribal Council, an Anchorage-based
nonprofit organization that organizes the games.
"That's really the catalyst of sharing the culture and creating
awareness of the differences for all the attendees and the students
to share their unique heritage, and learn a little about each other
and come together under the aspect of sportsmanship," he said.
The Alaska Games draw athletes from towns and villages across
the nation's largest state, including a team from Juneau
the first competitors from the state capital in nearly three decades.
'We've got to have it here'
Coach Kyle Demientieff-Worl, himself a highly decorated athlete
from national and international competitions, is bringing 10 athletes
from Juneau in his inaugural team.
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In
this Jan. 18, 2018, photo, Native Youth Olympics Games team
member Matthew Quinto practices the high kick in Juneau, Alaska.
(AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
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He is trying to reinvigorate Native Youth Olympics in Juneau,
where it's had a presence at the grade school level but nothing
in higher grades in nearly 30 years. He recruits and encourages
students at both of Juneau's high schools and began organizing the
first team late last year. He raised money for the team's pricy
trip to Anchorage, and even made posters on his downtime. His uncle,
Ricardo, was coach when Juneau fielded its last team, around 1990,
when athletes' interest waned.
"Kyle took the games here in Juneau to a whole new level right
out of the gate," his uncle said. "In that short amount of time,
he was able to make all these major accomplishments."
Among those financially supporting the team is the Sealaska
Heritage Institute, a Juneau nonprofit whose mission is to preserve
and enhance the cultures of southeast Alaska's Tlingit, Haida and
Tsimshian tribes. Its president, Rosita Worl [Ricardo's mother and
Kyle's grandmother], said a survey of more than 400 Native Youth
Olympics athletes from across Alaska found a connection to social
development, academic achievement and good cross-cultural relationships
among native and non-native populations.
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This
Jan. 18, 2018, photo shows Sealaska Heritage Institute President
Rosita Worl at her office in Juneau, Alaska. The institute
is supporting the re-establishment of a Juneau Native Youth
Olympics team, which hasn't fielded a team in nearly 30 years
but will send 10 competitors to the state high school championships
in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiesse)
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"And I said, `We've got to have it here,"' she said.
One of Juneau's team members is Bryan Johnson, an 18-year-old
senior. He joined for a simple reason: In his first three years
of high school, he didn't really participate in any sports.
"I didn't do anything, so I'm like, `I kind of need to get moving,"'
he said.
Johnson, who is part Tlingit and part Filipino, was soon feeling
the burn. "It's using muscles that you normally wouldn't use, and
since I'm just kind of getting into it, I'm starting to really work
out all the parts of my body to get a little higher each time,"
he said.
That was his goal in January, after he picked up a few second-place
medals in kicking events. "I really want to try and keep pushing
myself and getting higher," he said.
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