Locals compete in First Nations games

Students and staff from Rotiwennakéhte Elementary School and Ratihén:te High School travelled to Quebec City with high hopes of collecting a few wins at the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) Inter-School games this week.

At the games, all students will take on track and field activities, while three all-girls volleyball teams from both local schools will compete against other Indigenous schools under the FNEC.

Two volleyball girls’ teams from Rotiwennakéhte are competing at the FNEC games this week. Last year, one of the elementary school volleyball teams came shy of making the podium and finished in fourth place, said Jeffrey Nelson, who started coaching girls’ volleyball teams at the local schools five years ago.

“It’s a matter of how they’re going to react when it comes to being at FNEC games. A lot of times they can get there, they can be nervous, make mistakes, but again, they’re only 11 and 12 years old, but I got two teams ready to go this year to really compete,” said Nelson.

“I feel strongly about the two teams going this year; they have a legit chance to come home with a medal.”

In the previous five years Nelson has coached teams from the elementary school that have won the championship twice and achieved second place once, he said.

“I have a lot of faith and confidence in us,” said Sydney Reynolds, one of the grade six elementary school volleyball team players. “I think that the coaches are doing an amazing job coaching all of us.”

Tawentì:ne Eden Lemieux, another grade six volleyball player on the same team, feels better equipped to handle participating in the different events, which sometimes are scheduled back-to-back.

“It’s a lot of things piling over too, like last year we had shot put, but at the same time we had running, so you have to pick one,” said Lemieux.

Amber Simon, Rotiwennakéhte student life animator and one of the other volleyball coaches, said the girls are eager to compete.

“I think they’ve improved tremendously over the last few months. It’s really nice to see everyone actually getting rallies and points when they play together,” said Simon. “They’re both pretty strong in our eyes.”

Some of the athletes have improved in volleyball based on what they learned from other sports. Ienonhkwatsheraháwi Charlie Nicholas, who played competitive hockey this past year, said that skating practice throughout the year helped her with the leg work required for volleyball.

“You need to have fast feet in volleyball,” said Nicholas.

Meanwhile, the Ratihén:te all-girls volleyball team is also looking competitive this year after having trained together for four years, said Nelson.

“I have no doubt in my mind that they’ll compete; they’ll go head-to-head with any team,” said Nelson.

“Whether they win or lose, that’s another question, but they’re good enough to beat any team.”

One challenge the team will have to overcome is the fact that only seven players will make it to the FNEC games, said Nelson. This means the team will only have one person on the bench, while usually there are four to six players on the bench.

“Now there’s no spare for each position,” said Nelson. “It gets very difficult, but these girls will be ready.”

Kawsiio Aubree Lauzon, a grade five Rotiwennakéhte volleyball player, said the coaches’ approach to correcting the players is a big part of why the team is ready for competitions.

“If we get something wrong, they’ll just laugh it off, not in a mean way, but in a funny way,” said Lauzon. “And then if you do something right, then they will go, like, ‘oh yeah’ … ‘you got this,’ ‘keep going’, ‘try your best.’”

All students will stay in Quebec City during the four days of the competitive games from May 20 to the 24, with the FNEC covering the cost for meals and the hotel rooms.

“It’s really fun going on this trip. You get to hang out with your friends and your classmates, and you get to spend more time with them,” said Teiakota’kerá:ton Tomlinson, a grade six Rotiwennakéhte volleyball player.

But win or lose, Nelson said he is proud of the character of the players going to the FNEC games.

“They show so much respect towards the others - just holding the door open for the person behind them, I can really say. It seems like it’s a minor thing, but they just have that respect,” said Nelson. “The parents are doing a great job in that way, and so are the teachers.”

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Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter