Second-annual Native Youth Olympics held at Palmer Job Corps

March 29, 2005

Bob Martinson/Frontiersman reporter

Last Saturday, the second-annual Alaska Job Corps Invitational Native Youth Olympics Tournament was held at the Palmer Job Corps Center.

Contestants performed feats such as the seal hop, two-foot-high kick, scissor broad jump, stick pull, wrist carry, foot pull, kneel jump and the Alaskan high kick.

Lynnette Stettinger of the Chickaloon team was excited to find out she was the only girl out of all the entrants to touch the sealskin ball in the one-arm reach competition. Since none of the other girls touched the ball, it meant that Stettinger, of Wasilla, didn't have to try this difficult feat again; she had won the event, so to speak, hands-down.

The difficulty of the one-arm reach comes from contestants trying to balance the weight of their body, with one elbow pressed into their stomach and their feet balanced in the air, as they reach to touch the ball hanging high above their heads with the other hand.

Another competitor, Dannielle Malchoff of the Alaska Native Heritage Center team, grimaced as she mastered her form, but missed touching the ball by a hair.

Stettinger and Malchoff talked and trading ideas about their techniques before and after the event. Malchoff won the kneel jump and the scissor broad jump. Stettinger also placed first in the Alaskan high kick with a height of 56 inches.

On the boys' side of the gym, Chickaloon's David Thomas won the two-foot-high kick with a height of 88 inches. He also won the Alaskan high kick and tied the record of 65 inches in the one-arm reach.

Nine teams competed in the painful events that involved concentration, strength and determination. The striking thing about last Saturday's event was not the strong spirit of competition, but the great sense of sportsmanship and sharing of techniques and experience that was exhibited by the contestants - not just among team members, but also between the teams.

"What I really notice is that it's so cool how they are all helping each other out - even if they are on an opposing team, they come over and show each other their tricks," said spectator John Shannon, whose daughter was a competitor that day.

Kari Johns of Chickaloon Village said, "This Job Corps tournament is a great way for the kids to get used to competing in front of people, so they don't get so nervous at state."

The NYO state tournament is usually held each year at the University of Alaska in Anchorage to determine the state's best athletes as they perform their tough acts of athletic achievement brought down through generations of Alaska Native life experience.

This year, since popularity has grown, the event will be held at the Sullivan Arena, where organizers expect to have nearly 1,000 athletes showing up to compete. The regional tournament began last year after Greg Mann, coach for the Job Corps NYO team and activities director for the Job Corps Center, got the idea to hold a tournament to give the kids something fun to do and at the same time prepare them for the state competition and find out who is best qualified to compete in each event.

Athletic pride and sportsmanship were what Mann had in mind when he launched the NYO tournament, he said. Mann has coached the team for four years at Job Corps and it was his second time hosting the tournament.

Teams participating were Chickaloon Village, Tyonek-Tebughna, Houston Middle School, Su Valley, Palmer Job Corps, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Fireweed Secondary School and Kenaitze and Salamatof, both of Kenai. In recent years there have been regional tournaments held around the state, so each village team can test its athletes before state competition.

On April 16, some of these teams will compete in Valdez for another qualifying tournament, and then on May 5-7, the teams will all compete at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage for the NYO games.