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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2007)
Pgge 6 Spily^y Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon February 1, 2007 Fun, dedication part of All Nations Team B y L e s li e M it t s Spilyay Tymoo Nine local girls can’t seem to get enough basketball. That’s why they are playing for the local All Nations Team in addition to playing on the basketball team at Jefferson County Middle School. The All Nations Team is one of many local teams traveling to nearby basketball tourna ments. This year the team has been participating in the SOAR week end basketball tournament in Sisters that will go through Feb ruary. “We decided to do it this year because a lot of the girls didn’t have the opportunity to play,” Coach Eddison Yazzie said. Plus, Yazzie said, the cost of traveling to the tournament isn’t much. “I t’s just a day trip over there,” he said, which makes it easier to take the team to the tournament. So far they have placed sec ond in one game, third in two games, and fourth in another. But according to all the team m embers, they are proud of their progress and view their games as successes. The team features 14-year- old eigh th graders N orene Sampson, Lola Dick, Cheyenne W ahnetah, Rachel Simmons, Lauren Short and Misty Spino- McCormick. Rounding out the team are 13-year-o ld eighth grader Amanda Squiemphen-Yazzie, 11-year-old sixth grader Inez Leslie Mitts/Spilyay The members of the All Nations Team. Jones and 12-year-old seventh grader Raylene Jones. In addition to the All Nations Team, Sampson also plays for the Simnasho Vols. Allen Jones co-coaches the team with Yazzie. For Yazzie, the chance to coach also gives him the oppor tunity to spend more time with his daughter Amanda—a mem ber of the team. “I like to be with my kids,” he said. Parental involvement with the team is also key, Yazzie said. A ll o f the parents o f team members are invited to a post game meeting to help the team discuss what they could have done better. The girls are all in agreement that they enjoy basketball, but the reasons all vary. “We get to go places,” Inez Jones said. Raylene Jones added, “I get to learn a lot o f d ifferen t things.” She’s learned a lot too, she added— recently Raylene made eight blocks in one game. “That was the most I ever got,” she said. “I was happy be cause I actu ally go t some blocks.” For Dick, she’s learned about a different aspect of the sport. The most important thing she’s learned, she said, is not to let herself down. According to Sampson, the best part of basketball is just having fun and being able to so cialize w ith other team s throughout Oregon. “You’re active and its just fun,” Wahnetah said. “It’s a fun sport.” In her opinion, she’s learned the most about dribbling and posting. “L still have to work on my rebounds though,” she said. Yazzie, she added, has helped the team a lot when it comes to basketball. “H e’s taugh t us a lot o f things,” she said. Squiemphen-Yazzie said part of the reason she enjoys the team so much is that she gets to spend extra time with her father. Basketball is one of her fa vorite sports, she said, because “It keeps everyone happy.” Their best game so far was when they played against a team from Mt. View, Yazzie said. He explained, “We scored 20 points before they even scored a point.” “What we try to emphasize here is our defense,” he added. It’s something that can some times be misinterpreted. For instance, he said, in a game against O regon City, “They called 18 fouls on us before halftime.” But Yazzie told the girls not to mind the referees. “Don’t give up till the whistle blows,” he said. Their worst game came dur ing a match against Prineville, Yazzie said. “We were still young; we were still learning,” he said. But the experience to play against more experienced teams is something important for the girls, he added. “ ’hey are the teams that these Tirls will probably play in high s<hool,” Yazzie explained. In addition, he said, they try to give veryone equal playing time— allowing the less-experi enced playrs to get quality time on the basletball court. Yazzie hasn’t played much basketball himself. Instead he relies on whathe can learn from books and fron other commu nity members x> enhance his coaching ability. His favorite {art of coach ing is seeing the plWers succeed individually, and witching them build confidence Ind self-es teem. “They’re figuring hings out as they go along,” he said. The girls have also worked at fundraising with an Indian taco sale and a spagheti feed and bake sale on Jan. 26. Yazzie said that their time working together is about nuch more than just basketball—-as evident by their fundraising. “They need to learn ther sales pitch,” he said with a smile According to Yazzie, “It’s all about building confidence and learning the game.” Yazzie said he hopes all the girls will continue to play bas ketball in the upcoming years. Right now, he said, they’re de veloping skills that will be use ful when they reach the high school level. “Practice doesn’t really make perfect,” Yazzie said. “There are a lot of other variables.” In Yazzie’s opinion, the most important part of what the girls are learning has to do with their confidence levels. “They’re becoming young la dies, becoming young adults, becoming people,” Yazzie said. Their involvement in sports like basketball will be influential in their futures, in Yazzie’s opin ion. “It’s preparing them for the greatest game on earth— the game of life,” he said. 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Wednesday from noon to 1:30 p.m.: AA meeting at the Community Counseling Center. Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m.: AA/NA meeting at the Community Counseling Center. Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m.: Talk ing Circle at the Community Coun ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ^ B , ■ ! il. T h r iftw a v ■ * 1 — — y i O r s o v ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 owned la n d operated I since ^ ' s , seling Center. 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