r
Pdge 6
M^y 18, 2011
Spilydy Tymoo, W^rrn Springs, Oregon
High school golfers compete at KNT
The 4A Varsity Boys’ District
Golf Tournament was held at
KNT last week, with five stu
dents participating from Madras
High School, three o f which
were from Warm Springs.
Justin Queahpama-Melberg,
Devon Thompson, and Cyrus
Conner competed against 36
golfers, total.
“They did a good job,” Coach
Butch David said. “The boys
gave it their best shot. We didn’t
get in there to qualify for state,
but I know that they got their
best scores.”
Madras had 420 for the first
time around. On the second
day, their score was 377. And
on the final day of the tourna
ment, they were at 370.
Schools p articip atin g in
cluded La Salle, Estacada, North
n
Youth hoops tourney this weekend
The Seventh A nnual
Squiemphen-Yazzie Youth
Basketball Tournament hap
pens this Friday and Satur
day, M ay 21-22 in W arm
Springs.
This is a boys 19 and un
der tourney, 10-team limit, 8-
man roster. Double elimina
tion.
C ontact
A m anda
Squiemphen Yazzie for in
form ation: 541-325-1572.
Secon d ary contact: Val
Squiemphen, 541-325-6412.
Special award: “For Love of
the Game” Award. This award
is presented to the one special
person who demonstrates a com
mitment to the youth of our
reservation. Previous winners
are Earl and Rita Squiemphen,
Rosa G raybael and Tony
Holliday.
T ourney aw ards include
leather sleeve jackets (first-
place), hooded sweatshirts (sec
ond), crew neck sw eatsh irts
(third), A ll-Stars, MVP and
Sportsmanship.
Players must show proof
of age (birth certificate and/
or photo identification) in or
der to play, no exceptions.
Entry fee is $250. Money
orders may be made payable
and mailed to: Squiemphen-
Y azzie Youth B asketball
Tournament, PO Box 734,
Warm Springs, 97761.
Must be paid in full be
fore the first game, no excep
tions. No personal checks—
money orders or cash ac
cepted.
Duran Bobb/Spilyay
Devon Thompson (at right) with school golfers at KNT.
M arion, G ladstone, M olalla,
Marshal, and Roosevelt.
A ustin
Landis
from
Gladstone got first place. La
Salle took second.
—
Duran Bobb
In Training for Pi-Ume-Sha
Schimmel documentary airs on TLC
The documentary film O ff the
Rez, about college basketball star
S honi Schim m el, p rem iered last
Saturday on TLC (The Learning
Channel). Check listings f o r futu re
b ro a d ca sts o f th e film . D avid
Knowles o f the H ollywood Reporter
gave O ff the Rez a grea t review,
as follow s:
Does the anguished history
of a people inspire future gen
erations to achieve new heights
or is it a millstone around one’s
neck, ensu ring a continued
legacy of hardship and despair?
For Shoni Schimmel, a top fe
m ale high school basketball
p ro sp ect who grew up on
Oregon’s Umatilla Indian Res
ervation, that question is at the
center of her quest to make it
in a sport w ith few N ative
American participants.
W ritten and d irected by
Jonathan Hock ("Through the Fire,
30 fo r 30), O ff the Re^ paints a
deeply affectin g p o rtrait o f
Schimmel and her family as the
fledgling star makes the move
from the reservation to Portland,
where she ascends to national
stardom as a junior at Franklin
High School.
“Shoni has been taught a lot
of the history,” Lillian Moses,
Shoni’s grandmother, says in one
of the many one-on-one inter
views threaded throughout the
engaging film. “So when she
plays, it’s almost like she plays
for the Indian people, and she
plays hard.”
Ancestral pride is often not
a clear-cut matter, however, as
the film’s most fascinating char
acter, Shoni’s fiery mother, Ceci
Moses, illustrates.
“The reservation life is a
good thing, but it also can be a
bad thing,” Ceci says. “It can
hold you down, it can hold you
back, because there are a ton
o f Indians that have a lot of
talent, and they just don’t do
anything with it.”
Once a basketball prodigy in
her own right, Ceci is convinced
Shoni Schimmel
she was passed over by college
scouts because of her ethnicity,
and her reflections about her
own career are by turns bitter
and defiant.
“People don’t usually believe
in Native Americans,” Ceci says.
“But really probably the hard
est part is most of the Native
Americans don’t believe that
they have a chance because of
what’s happened in the past with
the Native American people.”
Like Steve James’ award-win
ning basketball documentary
Hoop Dreams, the sport itself
serves as a metaphor and the
conduit for a story about perse
verance, racial politics and inner
conflict. It also fills O ff the Reg,
which premiered at this year’s
Tribeca Film Festival, with an
abundance of ready-made drama.
Ceci accepts a coaching job
at Franklin so that she can per
sonally foster Shoni’s develop
ment, and their impact on the
formerly flailing team is imme
diate. It’s thrilling to watch Shoni
light it up in her first game, scor
ing a school-record 42 points.
After finishing dead last in the
conference the year before,
Shoni and her younger sister
Jude lead the team to the state
tournament, and Shoni is soon
ranked as the eighth-best high
school player in the nation. But
not all of her new neighbors
prove so welcoming.
“We’ve had to endure racial
slurs in the stands,” Shoni’s white
father, Rick, says. “We had a
note brought to our door that
said, ‘Go back to the reserva
tion.’ ”
After losing his job back on
the reservation, Rick struggles
to pay the mortgage on the Port
land home where Ceci and the
couple’s seven children now live.
The bank threatens foreclosure,
and Ceci—having sacrificed so
much for Shoni— seems to fal
ter under the pressure.
“They work really hard to
m en tally defeat the N ative
A m erican, then the N ative
American gives up and quits,
and a lot of them will go drink
ing and drugging,” Ceci laments,
and for a moment you wonder
whether that fatalism will send
the family back to the reserva
tion once and for all.
Despite scholarship offers
from many of the nation’s top
colleges, Shoni puts off making
a decision as to which she’ll at
tend, and the film invites us to
think she m ight opt out of
school altogether to stay close
to her family.
“We have been conditioned
to fail,” an elder back on the res
ervation says. “But Shoni has
caught a chance. This whole his
tory of athletes not making it is
riding on Shoni’s shoulders. Ev
erybody is watching her.”
Shoni does persevere, o f
course, as a human being and
as a player. Despite its hard dose
of reality, there’s plenty of up
lifting payoff in O ff the Reg, and
viewers who are not basketball
fans will be riveted by the film’s
tightly edited, climactic scenes
of conference playoff games.
W ithout giving away what
happens to Shoni and her fam
ily, the most satisfying part of
O f the R eg is entering the lives
of characters seldom seen on
Am erican television screens.
Their struggles, self-doubt and,
yes, triumphs make for an en
grossing film, whatever one’s
race, gender or tribe.
3hn I c
• J e w elry
• C ell P hones
• C lothing & S hoes
L o cated N ext to the T eepee D eli
5 5 3 -1 0 0 6
*T u e sd a y -F r id ay 10 : 0 0 - 6 : 0 0 pm *
"wsE
t
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Warm Springs boxers are training for the Pi-Ume-Sha bouts, held on the Saturday of the
powwow. Pi-Ume-Sha this year will be Friday through Sunday, June 24-26.
Fry Bread golf tourney to tee off
The Kah-Nee-Ta Golf Asso
ciation w ill present the Fry
Bread Open Golf Tournament,
in conjunction with Pi-Ume-Sha
Treaty Days, on June 25-26.
Here is the schedule o f Fry
Bread Open events:
Friday, June 24: A fter 10
a.m ., schedule your practice
round. Call the pro shop for tee
times, 541-553-4971.
Saturday, June 25: 8 a.m.,
driving range and registration.
9-11:30 a.m ., tee times (call
Janell Smith at 541-325-2167).
As part o f Pi-U m e-Sha, the
horse race is at 4 p.m. on this
day, followed by dinner at the
lodge at 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 26: 8 a.m.,
driving range; shotgun start at
9:30 a.m. Awards following the
final round— cash payouts!
Flights: ladies, seniors, cham
pionship and first-flight. Handi
cap: maximum for men is 24
and ladies is 36. Handicap must
be current and verifiable, no
exceptions. Please be prepared
to show your current handicap
card.
Special events: KPs, long-
putt, skins, long-drive, deuces,
blind-draw and best ball. Entry
fees: $150 per person includes:
tournament entry, Saturday and
Sunday green fees, tee prize,
Saturday barbecue dinner.
For tournament information,
call Janell Smith of the Kah-
Nee-Ta G olf A ssociation at
541-325-2167. You can email
her at:
nativglfr@yahoo.com
The pro shop number is 541 -
553-4971; or 800-831-0100 ext.
3371.
Rialto hosting Schjoll memorial tourney in June
The Rialto Tavern w ill
present the Wayne Schjoll 8-
Ball Tournament on June 3-
5, mixed doubles, two-man
two-woman.
Fifteen dollars per person,
no free subs. First-place: 50 per
cent, trophy, jackets. Second: 30
percent, trophy jackets; third, 20
percent, trophy, jackets. Sports
manship, top-shooter awards.
Winners race to seven, losers
race to five. Limited to first
24 paid teams. For informa
tion call Karla Bagley at 541-
325-3315; or Clint Smith at
541-419-8675. The Rialto
number is 475-6341.
S u per to y s A d v e n t u r e s . com
Short
Course
R acin g
May 21-22
W
Deschutes Fair & Expo Center M
Adult advance tickets $ 18 - At Gate $ 15
Youth(6-14)advance $8 -AtGate$10
Participants
Pro $90 - Sportsman $55
1-971-221-5886
russ walkup@gmail.com - PO Box 1966 Bend, 97709
Russ Walkup