Elementary students compete interschool

For the first time in memory, Rotiwennakéhte Ionterihwaienhstáhkhwa students have taken part in a Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) tournament, with the school’s volleyball team heading out to Ste. Therese this week to compete.

“They’ve done great. They really surpassed what I was expecting them to do yesterday,” said Jeffrey Nelson.

He praised the effort the students have put in going back to November, when practices began, and the way it paid off at Monday’s tournament.

“Our kids, they were so well behaved. They were so good,” he said. “I really thought they were going to go in there and freeze and be too scared to play. They came out and they really did well, both teams.”

The age group, 10-to-12-year-old boys and girls, plays four-on-four mixed volleyball, with a maximum of six players on a roster, so Rotiwennakéhte sent two squads of five to the floor to accommodate the 10-player team.

“The ones that really struggle with confidence, being scared to go for a ball was my biggest fear. They really stood out and tried their best and really performed well.”

According to Nelson, one team finished with a 2-2-1 record, while the other finished with a 2-3 showing. “They were right there with them,” he said.

It was a huge tournament, with an estimated 400 students playing throughout the day across 10 courts.

“It was fantastic,” Nelson said. “I came home, and I couldn’t stop talking to my wife about it. It impressed me so much. Just keeping their composure and being able to focus with 100 other kids in the gym. It’s a lot of screaming, a lot of chaos, and they stayed focused, which I was so proud of. And I know the other two assistants that I have working with me came home just smiling. They were so proud of them.”

Nelson has run the elementary school program for about five years, which he started around the same time as the Ratihén:te High School volleyball program. After first bringing the high school team to the RSEQ last year, he saw an opportunity to do the same for the younger squad, which he sees as something of a feeder team.

“I got into the elementary school program because it was a good base for getting them started in the high school,” he said. “So anyone that wants to start playing in high school, they have the basics of volleyball.”

While spectators were not permitted because of the sheer size of the tournament, the impact of the opportunity did not go unnoticed by community parents.

“It helps build self-confidence to participate in these interschool sporting events,” said Teiawenhniseráhte Tomlinson, whose 11-year-old daughter Teiako’takerá:ton plays on the team.

“She enjoys it and likes to be a part of the school team. She had a fun experience playing against other schools and spoke about it at length,” Tomlinson said.

“She was talking about some of the plays she made and participated in. She talked about how it was at her cousin’s school in Ste. Therese, and also about some of the other kids she met from other schools.”

In addition to volleyball, Teiako’takerá:ton plays lacrosse, along with some individual sports.

“I think it’s great to see various sports offered in our community and schools,” said Tomlinson, who is also involved in delivering community sports through his role as executive director of the Kanesatake Health Center (KHC), which runs or participates in a number of programs, including the Warriors lacrosse association.

“Multi-sport exposure can go a long way to more rounded physical and athletic development,” he said.

The elementary school volleyball team has one RSEQ tournament left before the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) Inter-School Games, which will take place from May 22-25 in Quebec City.

“I’m really confident that we’re going to compete,” said Nelson, who has led the charge in making volleyball one of Kanesatake’s most popular sports. Local students have even come home with gold in the past from the FNEC Inter-School Games, which sees First Nations from across Quebec assemble to get to know one another over competitive sports.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter