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MARCH 15, 2024
NATIVE
AMERICAN
11
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WATCHLIST
Watchlist: ‘Double Ball’
(Editor’s note: It is estimated that there are approximately 149
billion videos on YouTube, and the number continues to grow.
Grand Ronde Tribal member and Social Media/Digital Journalist
Kamiah Koch sifts through those myriad videos twice a month to
recommend a worthwhile Indigenous video to watch. Follow her
bimonthly recommendations and enjoy!)
By Kamiah Koch
Social media/digital journalist
Native Youth Wellness Day was held Friday, March 8, in the Tribal
gym. Outside the gym and throughout the day, there were Native
youth running around the fi eld with long sticks pointed in the air.
The game they were playing is called double ball.
A short video on YouTube published by Thomas J. Elpel shares the
rules to the sport, calling double ball “incredibly addictive” and show-
ing video of double ball players having what looks like a lot of fun.
According to Elpel’s website, he is the founder of Green University
LLC, an immersive camp teaching traditional skills, survival and
sustainable construction inspired by Native culture.
“Double ball originated as a Native American sport similar to
lacrosse,” Elpel said.
Both sports have sticks to pick up a ball, goals on each end of the
fi eld and involve a lot of running.
Elpel explains the namesake, double ball, was traditionally two
sacks of buckskin fi lled with hair and sand connected by a strap.
However, today these are usually tennis balls and paracord but
function just the same.
The players must move the double ball around without touching
it with their hands.
“Players are not allowed to physically touch the balls but use sticks
to pick them up, run with the balls, fl ing them or catch them,” Elpel
said. “Rules vary, but the way we play it there are no boundaries.”
The video shows the sticks can also be used to smack the double
ball off the opposing team’s stick.
Elpel goes on to explain that one point is scored when the ball
goes through the front of the goal, or three points for landing and
wrapping around the goal post. The game is over when one team
reaches 10 points.
You can watch more of the game continued in the video at www.
youtube.com/watch?v=oVfbWBgtN40.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Employment Rights Offi ce Director Harris Reibach, right,
shows members of the Oregon Workforce and Talent Development
Board around achaf-hammi (Tribal plankhouse) on Friday, March
8. Every quarter a board member hosts the board meeting at their
location. Reibach hosted the fi rst meeting of the year and began it
with a tour of the Grand Ronde community. The board is made up of
leaders representing business, labor, local workforce development
boards, community-based organizations, the Oregon legislature, local
government and state agencies and is the overall advisory board to the
Governor on workforce matters including developing a strategic plan for
Oregon ’ s workforce development system. Reibach was appointed to the
board by former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in 2022.
Drop box installed
The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department, 9655 Grand Ronde Road,
has a medication drop box located in the front lobby.
Lobby hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The drop box is for any prescribed or over-the-counter medication.
If the containers are too large to fi t in the drop box, please repackage
them in a zip-lock plastic bag. Tribal Police employees cannot handle
the medications so the person dropping them off must repackage them.
Needles and liquids are not allowed in the drop box.
Tribal Police suggest mixing liquid medications with cat litter or coffee
grounds and then throwing them away with the household trash.
For more information, call 503-879-1821.