Seven junior high and high school volleyball teams from indigenous schools in Alberta met at Saddle Lake’s Kihey Asiniy school last weekend to compete for the opportunity to represent Team Alberta in the upcoming Indigenous Volleyball Championships during the Summer Games in North America. At the end of the day, both Saddle Lake’s boys and girls teams would come out on top.
There were supposed to be eight teams competing in the tournament but Frog Lake juvenile boys’ team unfortunately showed up late on Saturday morning for the draw, and had to bow out of the tournament, according to Bruce Littlechild, sport development manager for Alberta’s Indigenous Sport Council.
Littlechild also moonlights as the chef de mission, or head representation, for Team Alberta, when the team attends any games outside of the province.
On the boys’ side, the Saddle Lake Chargers’ boys took first place, beating out Montana School from Hobbema in straight sets by a score of 25 – 15 and 25 – 21 on Saturday afternoon.
For the girls’ championship game on Sunday, the Chargers’ girls team took the gold from Nipishkopahk (Samson) Secondary School in five sets with a score of 23 – 25, 25 – 21, 13 – 25, 25 – 19 and 15 – 12.
Both teams went back and forth in a nail-biter of a finish, and the home team’s fans, consisting of family members and friends, cheered for both teams in their long, five-set match.
Becky Cardinal, coach for the Saddle Lake’s Chargers girls’ team, said her girls have been practicing since April for the tournament. “And the girls are doing really great, and I’m proud of them.”
Littlechild explained that the winners from the weekend tournament were intended to go on and represent the province as Team Alberta in the North American Indigenous Games in 2011 and 2012.
“(The indigenous games) was supposed to be held next year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Littlechild, “But it was cancelled due to financial reasons.”
Instead, each province is to put in bids to host either one or two sports, and Alberta’s Indigenous Sports Council is still waiting to find out who’s going to be hosting which events, said Littlechild.
Until then, Team Alberta has a couple of options, said Littlechild. “Team Manitoba always has their own Summer Games, and are inviting Team Alberta to participate for next year.
“The other is another group from Alberta is looking to hold some sort of games out at Enoch, Alberta,” said Littlechild, adding, “And if that doesn’t work out, we’re still going to have the possibility of holding our own Summer Games in Alberta itself.”
