Page 6
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
February 1, 2017
Wings runners at Championships in Bend
S ome of the best young Native
American cross country runners
will compete in Central Oregon this
Saturday, February 4.
The event is the USA National
Cross Country Championships—
this year at the River’s Edge Golf
Course in Bend—and the Native
runners are Wings of American,
based in Santa Fe.
There are plans for Wings of
America to stop in Warm Springs
as they travel this Friday from the
Portland Airport to Bend. The plan
is for the teams to be at the old
elementary school gym at noon this
Friday, Feb. 3.
Mike Holyann of War m
Springs Community Health Diabe-
tes Prevention met the Wings of
America team at last year’s Nike
N7 Summit, held at the Nike head-
quarters in Beaverton.
Tribes and tribal youth sports
groups from across the U.S. and
Canada were at the summit. On
hand was Wings of American pro-
gram director Dustin Martin, Na-
vajo tribal member.
He and Holyann talked of the
possibility of Wings visiting with
Warm Springs youth on the way to
the 2017 cross country champion-
ships.
Timing is an issue in this ven-
ture, as the runners—boys and girls
teams— need to get to Bend in time
to rest and get ready for the Satur-
day races.
The championships were held in
Bend last year also, and Wings vis-
ited the Warm Springs Reservation
on their way there. This year pro-
vides an opportunity for a more
coordinated visit, with the goal be-
ing a cultural exchange between the
Wings and the Warm Springs youth
athletes.
Wings has two youth teams of
eight runners each: the boys, who
will run the 8k race, and the girls,
who will run the 6k. The runners
are in the 14-19 age groups.
This Saturday at the River’s Edge
Golf Course, the girls’ race starts
at 12:10 p.m., and the boys at 12:45
Courtesy photos.
Wings of America cross
country teams.
p.m. The cross country champi-
onships are hosted by USA Track
and Field.
The Wings teams are chosen
during the year at cross country
camps and races around the coun-
try. Many past Wings runners
have gone on to run cross coun-
try in college.
Locally, chief operations office
Alyssa Macy ran for Wings of
America in the 1990s.
Several of the runners on the
current teams are from Southwest
tribes, especially Diné or Navajo.
Part of the reason for this is from
tradition, both for the boys and
girls:
“Growing up we are told to
meet the day by running toward
the rising sun,” said Dustin Mar-
tin, a Wings alumnus himself.
“This helps us know we’re awake
and ready to seize the day.”
Many adults and elders of the
Southwest tribes—with their
warm climate and vast land ar-
eas—have their own histories of
Need for
youth sports
officials
The Oregon School Activi-
ties Association, and the Or-
egon Athletic Officials Asso-
ciation have reached a crisis
point in not having enough
high school officials in all
sports statewide.
In the last five years, the
number of officials has de-
creased 16 percent while the
number of contests needing
officials has increased.
The result is the OSAA
and OAOA are starting to see
games canceled, especially at
the sub-varsity levels.
Both organizations are
making officials retention and
recruitment a priority.
Jack Folliard is the execu-
tive director of the OAOA,
representing more than 3,000
OSAA certified officials in
the state. For further informa-
tion contact him at:
jfolliard@comcast.net
Or call 503-975-4488. Or
visit the website:
oreofficials.org
Employee Wellness
distance running; so distance run-
ning is also encouraged in the
youth.
“It’s a sport with Native people
well represented across Indian
Country, and particularly here in the
Southwest,” Dustin said.
In this, there is similarity to
Warm Springs and basketball, the
sport where tribal youth are espe-
cially well represented if not domi-
nant.
If you would like information
on attending the Saturday cham-
pionships, call Mike Holyann at
541-325-9176.
Dave McMechan
The 2017 Employee Wellness
Program is starting soon. Partici-
pate in three classes and the Project
Zero Challenge to earn a CTWS
Hydroflask.
Classes are held at 5:15 in the
Community Center social hall:
Thursday, Febr uar y 16 -
Topic: Healthy Eating. Presenter,
Kacey Conyers, Dietitian.
Tuesday, April 18 - Topic:
Mindfulness. Presenter, Beth Ann
Beamer, BSN.
For information contact, Jenni-
fer Russell, Employee Wellness Co-
ordinator, with questions 541-553-
3589. jennifer.russell@wstribes.org
Or Kacey Conyers, 541-553-
2460 ext. 2351.
kacey.conyers@wstribes.org
Rez Ball: tradition continues with youngest athletes
a better understanding of the
game.”
This year all but two of the
players on the Madras High
School varsity girls team are from
Warm Springs. And they’re hav-
ing a winning season, like last year
when they won the Tri-Valley Con-
ference.
None of the team starters are
seniors, so it looks like they’ll be
good in 2017-18 too.
The teams at the Warm Springs
Eagle Academy are also really
good, as the next generation car-
ries on the tradition.
In these pictures: Warm Springs Eagle Academy
seventh- and eight-grade girls teams.
Jayon Smith photos
(Continued from page 5)
From Warm Springs you can see the
Rez Ball tradition at all levels of play, from
pre-school kids up through college play-
ers.
The Rez Ball style carries on like other
traditions: It’s passed down from genera-
tion to generation, with younger players
learning from the older ones.
And in Warm Springs basketball starts
early, from even before a person’s first
childhood memories. “My mom tells me
when I was still in diapers I would get up
in the morning and play basketball,” says
Reina Estimo. “It’s something I’ve always
done. Ive always loved it.”
Reina, who works at Health and Hu-
man Services, conducts the Buffalo
Skywalker youth basketball sessions with
the Recreation Department staff. In high
school she played for Madras, graduating
in 2000.
She explains that Rez Ball requires the
player to adapt and adjust instantly. “It’s
not structured,” she says. “You’re adapt-
ing and adjusting to the situations—know-
ing when to shoot, when to pass, where
the openings are. I think it gives the player
These are some upcom-
ing Warm Springs Eagle
Academy and Madras High
School basketball games:
The Warm Springs
Eagle Academy girls bas-
ketball plays at the
Jefferson County Middle
School this Thursday, Feb-
ruary 2.
They have a home game
against the Jefferson
County Middle School girls
on February 15, the game
starting at 4 p.m.
The Madras High
School boys host Molalla
this Thursday, February 7.
The game starts at 7 p.m.
The team has a home
conference game at 7 p.m.
on February 10 against
Estacada.
The MHS varsity girls
play at Molalla on Febru-
ary 7 at 7 p.m. They’re at
home against Gladstone
on February 14.