Coming home with medals and memories

One of the biggest annual events for local youth has once again crossed the finish line, and even with summer break on the horizon, some minds are already turning to next year’s edition of the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) Inter-School Games.

“Even though we’re so far away from it again - it literally happened last week - my friends and I love counting the months and the days until FNEC happens again,” said grade nine Ratihén:te High School student Sage Harrington, who earned two medals at the May 22-25 games at Quebec City’s Laval University.

“It’s really fun to get together, to just get out of school. It’s a little break for us kids after the hard work we’ve been put through again,” she said, noting classes are coming to a close and exams are right around the corner.

Harrington was a member of the bronze-winning girls’ 13-15 volleyball team and earned a fifth-place medal for her 7.6-metre throw in shot put.

The camaraderie with her teammates on the volleyball squad is one of the biggest takeaways from the weekend.

The team had a rough start, losing three out of their first four sets in the tournament on Thursday. That’s when the coach gave the players a much-needed pep talk.

“We had a little talk about attitude because they were getting frustrated that we had only won one and lost three, so the attitude started coming out,” said Nelson.

The team ended up finishing 3-3 on the day and came back even stronger for the Friday. All in all, the team bounced back for a 5-3 finish in the round robin, putting them second out of a pool of six teams.

They just missed a bye in the first round of the playoffs, but that was no issue, with Ratihén:te taking the first two rounds and making their way to the semi-final match, where they struggled with missing serves, but they still kept it close in their first set, at one point hanging in there with a 17-17 tie against their opponent, Manikanetish 1.

“Every time we’d get a point, we’d give a point. It was tough,” said Nelson. Unfortunately, Ratihén:te suffered a 25-21 defeat, according to the coach, causing them to lose momentum and fall in the second set 25-16.

However, the team’s fortunes changed in the bronze medal match against Alaqsite’w Gitpu 1 on Sunday morning.

“I wasn’t expecting a victory. The girls were tired, they were emotional, they just didn’t seem like they were in it,” said Nelson. However, after the team lost the first game 25-19, the coach saw an opening to exhort the players to reach for a little something extra.

“I gave a little emotional speech, and I guess it worked because we came out dominating,” said Nelson.

They won 25-17 in the second game and took the third set 15-9 to win the bronze.

“It was a real shocker because we didn’t think we were going to do it, and the girls really dug deep and got rid of their attitude and really enjoyed the game,” said Nelson.

“My Ratihén:te team, they were ecstatic, they were so proud of themselves for winning the bronze because it’s such a tough pool. When you get into the playoff format, there’s a lot of good schools that have really good teams.”

Nelson also coached the two Rotiwennakéhte Ionterihwaienhstáhkhwa elementary school teams, with both finishing a respectable fourth of six in their respective pools but not making it past the first round of the consolation brackets.

“The elementary teams struggled a little bit, which I kind of thought would happen,” said Nelson, noting that the teams are young, with mostly athletes who hadn’t been to the FNEC Inter-School Games before, although they did have a couple close games in the consolation round, the coach added.

Meanwhile, Kanesatake had a decent showing in the track-and-field events, with local students bringing home another three medals on top of the volleyball bronze and Harrington’s fifth-place showing in shot put.

Taylor Theoret led the way with a silver medal in Javelin, the first time the sport has been featured in recent memory, with an 18.22-metre rocket. Meanwhile, Rotiwennakéhte earned two medals in the 100m dash. Ronwaniente Etienne placed fourth in the 10-year-old boys’ finals with a 17.57-second run, and Ienonkwatsherahawi Nicholas placed fifth in the 10-year-old girls’ category with a 17.68-second showing.

Harlan Simon Nelson made the finals in the 16-18 category, but just missed a medal with a seventh-place, 13.83-second run, just under one second behind the first-place finisher, Wade Dumont from Kitigan Zibi.

“We were at the track, and we were freezing under the rain, so it wasn’t ideal conditions for those kids to run, definitely, but it went really well,” said Lizane Montreuil, Ratihén:te teacher and mission chief for Kanesatake.

Fewer students came out compared to last time, with just under 40 in tow this year.

“We knew we weren’t going to come back with as many medals, but the goal was to focus on their own individual performance or their team performance and have fun, and they definitely succeeded with that,” she said.

One highlight, she said, was when suddenly there were two boys no one knew crashing the warmup, quickly sparking new friendships with Ratihén:te students.

Also on the social front, the games culminated in a party on Saturday night.

“Like usual we’re exhausted, but it’s always worth it to see them dance at the end or jump for joy or go to the party and make friends, super happy. We’re always tired as the teachers because it’s long days, but it makes it worth it when we see how well they do, and how well they do socially,” said Montreuil.

“It was a really good experience, and a good year.”

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter