By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Competing and cooperating in events from the seal hop and the Alaskan high kick to the one-foot kick and the wrist carry, Mt. Edgecumbe High School athletes tied for second place in the Native Youth Olympics in Anchorage last week.
For the first time since 2019, the games were in-person, drawing hundreds of spectators to the Alaska Airlines Center where the games were held.
Though she’s a senior, this was Mia Anderson’s first time competing in the traditional Alaska athletic events.
“A big highlight was just getting to experience NYO – especially at state, where people have been practicing for so long and are so good at their events – getting to cheer on my team and just experiencing that sportsmanship and teamwork,” she said.
Anderson, who is from Sitka, competed in the seal hop and wrist carry, two challenging calisthenic events that simulate hunting-related activities.
In the seal hop, she said, “you’re kind of in a plank but on your hands, and then you have to hop lifting both your hands and your feet simultaneously off the ground and go as far as you can. Then when you get to the end of the court, you turn around and hop back and you have to stay flat and parallel to the ground.”
Anderson’s teammate Colton Paul, a junior, was the highest scoring male competitor in this year’s NYO. He took first place in the one-foot high kick and the Alaskan high kick.
He recalled learning the one-foot high kick from his brother.
“The highlight for me was especially the one foot kick, because I’ve been doing that event since I was a little kid. And it was just my number one favorite event to do… It was the first event I ever learned, because my brother taught me how to do it. And right after he taught me how to do it, I was already kicking really high,” Paul told the Sentinel.
Paul said the return to in-person competition was cause for celebration after the pandemic canceled the event in 2020 and forced it online in 2021.
“When I first heard about it, coach (Archie Young), he told me about it. He told me that everything’s going to go back in person, I was celebrating… (There was going to be) an actual audience actually supporting actual competitors… And traveling too, travel is my favorite.”
Overall, the Lower Kuskokwim School District team took first place in the games, while Edgecumbe tied for second with the Matanuska-Susitna School District.
MEHS freshman Navaeh George appreciated the convivial team atmosphere of the games.
Mt. Edgecumbe High athlete Navaeh George, of Newtok, reaches for a ball during the one-hand reach event in the annaul Native Youth Olympics, last weekend in Anchorage. (Photo provided by Margo Livermore/MEHS)
Colton Paul of Mt. Edgecumbe High School competes in the Alaskan high kick during last weekend’s Native Youth Olympics in Anchorage. (Photo provided by Margo Livermore, MEHS)
“There’s not really one thing that I liked,” George said. “I like when we all like sat together in a group to watch one person compete when we sat together cheering for whoever was competing, bonding, getting to know each other more.”
George comes from Newtok, a coastal village west of Bethel that garnered international recognition as climate change-induced permafrost melting forced some residents of the town to relocate.
In NYO, George competed in the one arm reach. Next year, she hopes to pass on some of what she’s learned.
“Teaching new people, different events. Meeting new people. Hopefully I get to go to state again,” she said.
Another Edgecumbe student from Newtok, Alan Borbridge, scored a personal best in the seal hop.
“It’s a really fun experience. Having a lot of people around you, having to compete with one another and seeing people reach their PRs is exciting… It went pretty good. I got a new PR which is very exciting,” Borbridge said.
He’s a junior this year and plans to compete in NYO one more time before graduation. The games have captivated him since he was a boy.
“I grew up watching NYO and I’m very passionate about NYO. I just love doing events that will clear my mind and trying my best,” he said.
Unlike high school sports such as basketball or volleyball, the various activities at the Native Youth Olympics originate from a number of Alaska Native traditions, the Cook Inlet Tribal Council says on their website. The CITC organizes the annual games, which were first held in 1971.
“Each event is based on a traditional subsistence skill that is needed to survive the harsh Alaskan environment,” the CITC says. “Athletes form both personal and cross-cultural understanding and respect as a result of participation in the Games.”
The seal hop tests stamina and mimics sneaking up on a seal, while the one-foot high kick is a sign of a successful hunt, the website notes. More information is posted at https://citci.org/partnerships-events/nyo-games/.
The history of the events stood out to Navaeh George.
“There’s a lot of people that have never tried it before. They think it’s complicated or they won’t be able to do it, but just try it. It’s fun. I enjoy it a lot. I also enjoy learning the history about it, why they did it. Like the stories behind it,” George said.
After years away from home, the games were a family reunion for senior Destiny Kulukhon.
“I haven’t been to Little Diomede since before the beginning of my freshman year… I really enjoyed their company, a lot of excitement when they’re there to cheer me on,” Kulukhon recalled.
This was her first time competing in NYO. She participated in the Indian stick pull, which tests hand strength and simulates pulling on the slippery tail of a salmon.
She plans to learn welding in trade school after graduation.
This year’s competition was also a first for sophomore Paige Lliaban, of Kwigillingok.
“It was my first time going to state… I was really nervous. I thought I’d be the last one to be out, but I wasn’t last,” she said.
She competed in the Alaskan high kick.
Another Edgecumbe senior, TeHana Baldwin competed in the kneel jump and two-foot high kick.
Though the season was only a few weeks long, Baldin enjoyed her time on the squad.
“It was just a good season. It was short but had a great group of people. Everyone was super nice and encouraging. So that made it a very enjoyable process… I actually placed in both of the events that I did. I got second in the kneel jump and third in the two-foot high kick,” she said.
Like many of her teammates, she stressed the importance of team bonding.
“I had a great season with great people and I wouldn’t change anything other than wishing I can do it another few years,” Baldwin said.
Coach Archie Young seconded this sense of team camaraderie.
“The highlight for me personally is the way our kids support each other,” Young told the newspaper. “For the last few years, we’ve gotten really good compliments about how great these kids have been at supporting each other in each event, because you have one boy and one girl in each event and our teams do a great job of being on the floor and being present with their teammates and supporting as best they can.”
Young is assisted as coach by Margo Livermore.
Colton Paul urged those interested in NYO to try their hand at an event.
“For aspiring NYO athletes, if you put your mind to whatever you want to be good at, you’ll actually be good at it. Practice, practice, practice,” he said.
