Athletes thrilled to be competing
There are more than 5,000 young athletes in the North American Indigenous Games, which started July 16 and run until Sunday. More than 2,000 of the athletes have been staying at NAIG’s Western Hub at McMaster University all week. Here’s a cross-section look at three of them:
Gabriella Corbier
Gabriella Corbier spends a lot of time in the outdoors, and was originally scheduled to paddle in only canoeing events at the Welland International Flatwater Centre. But she’s also adventurous and climbed into a kayak for the first time, and eventually finished fourth in the U-16 1,000 metres. “The guys wanted to try out kayaking, so they went just outside the dock and started falling over into the water,” says the 16-year-old from the Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation on Manitoulin Island. “I said, ‘I’ll give it a shot,’ and took it out. It was real wobbly at first and I almost flipped a couple of times, but once you start moving, you get steadier. I went back to the dock, and they said, ‘We’ll put you in kayak, too.’ “In the race I almost tipped and brought in a bunch of water. I was in second for quite a while but eventually finished fourth.” Corbier comes from a small reserve and goes to Manitoulin Secondary School, where she also competes in long jump, javelin and running events. “I’m starting to like kayaking now and want to follow it to the NAIG Masters, and hopefully I can practise it at our camp (cottage) for the next three years and try it again at NAIG when I’m 19.” Corbier plans to go to university or college for “something outdoorsy” and is leaning toward marine biology or perhaps becoming a conservation officer. And she’d like to return to Manitoulin Island when she finishes her post-secondary education. “I see myself living on my reserve unless I can’t get a job there,” she says. “It’s just so quiet and it’s the outdoors and you can do a lot of stuff. We’ve got the nice clean lake down there, nice bush. When I come to Toronto the smog is so bad I hate coming out of my car … I just have to cover my mouth. When you get back to the land, it’s so fresh. And I get to go out in the bush every day. “It’s a good life.”