Nearly 450 athletes ages 13 to 19 are vying for a chance to represent Team Saskatchewan in the North American Indigenous Games July 20 to 27 in Regina.
NAIG is comprised of 15 sports, including boxing, wrestling and volleyball.
“It’s a pretty big deal. It’s like the Olympics for Aboriginal Peoples,” said Heather O’Watch, a 3D archer from Regina competing for a spot on Team Sask.
“3D archery is basically shooting at fake animals,” O’Watch explained.
At 18, O’Watch is no stranger to competition; she has been playing softball and soccer for Okanese First Nation at the Saskatchewan First Nation Summer Games since she was 11. She has also been playing broomball and volleyball at the Saskatchewan First Nation Winter Games for the same amount of time.
However, she only began shooting a bow competitively when she tried out for her First Nation’s archery team last April. “The coaches said I was doing good and gave me a chance. So, I trained once a week in Fort Qu’Appelle from May to June and competed in July,” O’Watch recalled. “I ended up winning a silver medal. I only lost by nine points, which isn’t a lot.”
“Before this, I picked up a bow at Dallas Valley Ranch Camp once when I was in Grade 8. I might have shot two arrows.”
O’Watch is now among 18 athletes – both male and female – who made the first cut of Team Sask’s U-19 archery ID camp in Saskatoon in September. There were originally 36 athletes.
She has since trained among the other selected archers in Prince Albert. The first time was in December, and the second was earlier this month.
“I credit my success to my hand-eye coordination, which comes from being in Regina’s 2370 squadron Army Cadets for six years,” O’Watch explained. “Out of those six years, I was on the range team for three.”
O'Watch practices at the Wascana Archers Club at least once a week for one to two hours.
To remind herself of how much harder she must work if she wants to make Team Sask, she keeps her score cards in her jacket pockets.
On Feb. 1, O'Watch set a new record with a score of 138, winning the Saskatchewan Archery Association Indoor 3D Provincial Championships in North Battleford. "I will know by the end of the week if I make first string or alternate," she said.
Whether O'Watch makes first string or not, she will be increasing her practice time to a minimum of two practices a week. She will also be practicing at outdoor and indoor shoots across the province every month until the Games.
On Feb. 22, she will reconvene with her coaches and teammates at an indoor 3D practice shoot in Prince Albert.
“This is my first year trying out, and my last year of eligibility," said O'Watch. "I want to win a gold medal at home.”
Although it’s not Landon Sasakamoose’s last year of eligibility, it, too, is his first year trying out for Team Sask.
Sasakamoose, 15, is a runner from Ahtahkakoop First Nation.
“I started running cross-country when I was 10,” said Sasakamoose. Since then, he has won 28 gold, four silver and two bronze medals from various running competitions throughout the province, including both the Saskatchewan First Nation Summer and Winter Games.
He found out he made Team Sask on Jan. 15.
“It means a lot to me to represent Team Sask at NAIG – and at home,” said Sasakamoose. “I’ve competed against runners from Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta at a meet in Saskatoon before, but not against all of North America.”
“When I started running, I ran five kilometres every second day and my dad followed behind me in his truck,” said Sasakamoose. “I’m going to have to work a lot harder now.”
Since the last week of January, Sasakamoose has been training at St. Mary’s Track Club in Prince Albert twice a week. There, he practices all running events. This supplements the training he already does at home: weights, starting block practice and, of course, running.
“I’ve been known as a long-distance runner since I started. Because I haven’t done many sprint events, that’s something I really want to work on and compete in in the Games.
In 2006 and 2008 Team Sask won the Games. So, I want to help them do that again, but at home."
Sasakamoose will also compete in the Saskatchewan First Nation Winter Games in April.
At NAIG, he will represent the province and his people in any event from the 200 to the 2,000-metre dash.
“Team Sask will be very competitive,” said Mercel Mercredi, chief de mission for the team. “This year is the 40th anniversary of the Saskatchewan First Nation Summer, as well as Winter Games. Our province also has the FSIN Youth and Adult Provincial Sport Championships. No other province has events like these except for Manitoba, which recently started their games.”
“These events help develop our athletes.”
