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.
But it does come with one
major difference, Yazzie added:
“There are no substitutes in real
life, there are no time outs.”
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