Salish games about a lot more than the games
Kyle Charlie of the Cowichan Eagles and Devin Jack from Penelakut battle for the ball in the U14 soccer match on Thursday at Sie'lum Field during the 12th Annual Coast Salish Summer Games.
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Updated: July 22, 2009 8:57 AM
Young Native athletes also indulged in culture and language during the Coast Salish Games and Youth Conference in Cowichan.
“The youth had a great time,” said Marlene Rice, executive director of the games’ major host, Coast Salish Employment and Training Society.
“They really enjoyed the canoe races — some of the youth hadn’t even been in a canoe before — and of course soccer was huge, the youth just love it,” she added.
“Our workshops around the youth conference had a lot of highlights, especially in the cultural teachings and the language games, as well as the clay-art therapy.”
More than 500 Aboriginal youth were in Cowichan for the 12th-annual Coast Salish Games, held for the first time in conjunction with the youth conference.
The July 13 to 17 event welcomed kids from Qualicum to Victoria.
“We also had a lot of volunteers and organizations from the community support us,” said Rice.
There were more than 75 volunteers helping run the event that was more about having fun than competing.
“There was a lot of work, a lot of passion, commitment and dedication that went into all of this, and overall it was about people coming forward, supporting our youth and cheering them on,” Rice added.
The games, which come to the Cowichan Valley area every three years, move to Nanoose in 2010.
“The games will be hosted by Nanoose First Nation,” said Rice, “so at the end of our games we passed on a canoe to Nanoose, and that’s something that will be done on a year-to-year basis for the games.”
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