Long jumps, high kicks, feats of strength, epic displays of agility, balance and coordination — all this and more will be on display at the 2023 Traditional Games in Juneau.
Registration is open for the Traditional Games, also known as the Alaska Native Youth Olympics. Competitors from Wrangell and across Alaska are invited to test their mettle at 10 different Alaska Native athletic events, from the one-hand reach to the two-foot high kick.
“All the games are played for a reason,” athlete and games ambassador Nicole Johnson told Alaska Business Monthly Magazine. “Before today’s modern amenities, we needed to rely on these skills to survive, moving from one area to the next over the seasons. We had to be strong enough to provide for our families and to carry small and large loads over long distances.”
The one-hand reach is “one of the most difficult events” at the games, Johnson explained on an instructional video from the Cook Inlet Tribal Council. Athletes must balance their entire body weight on their flat palm while reaching up with the other hand to touch a suspended ball.
The kneel jump challenges competitors’ strength and coordination. Athletes kneel behind a line, then propel their bodies forward, jumping long distances with very little initial momentum before sticking the landing and maintaining balance. “The kneel jump was played to develop the skills hunters needed for jumping up quickly off of ice or from the ground,” said Johnson.
The scissor broad jump “(helped) develop the skills hunters needed to jump from one ice floe to another,” she said. The event involves a four-step series of jumps that are measured by distance, with a complex, destabilizing “scissor step” in the middle.
Johnson, who grew up in Nome, was inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. She’s set several records in the two-foot high kick event, including a 6-foot-6-inch kick in 1989. She competed in the traditional games throughout high school.
Since its inception in 1972, the event’s mission has been to celebrate the skills that Alaska Native people have been developing for generations.
Athletes at the traditional games may smash records and strive for personal bests, but they also support their competitors. “This is the spirit of the games,” wrote Kathy Dye, Sealaska Heritage Institute communications and publications deputy director. “To work together toward common goals and learn from the skill and values that allowed Alaska Native people to survive and thrive in some of the harshest conditions.”
This year’s games will be held at Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau on April 1 and 2. They will also be livestreamed on the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s YouTube account.
Athletes 11 years old or older are eligible to participate and can register at traditionalgames.sealaskaheritage.org. All participants will receive a T-shirt and gift bag; those who register before March 1 will be eligible to win a sealskin kicking ball.
Coach Kyle Worl is available to answer questions at kworl@ccthita-nsn.gov or (907) 227 4998.
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