SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Mildred Hall School student says he had a blast on a trip to Tulita last weekend to take part in the community's junior handgames tournament.

Thirteen-year-old Jordan Balsillie said it was his second trip to the competition at Chief Albert Wright School and he was a bit nervous about it.

Yellowknife students faced handgames competitors from across the territory at a junior handgames tournament in Tulita last weekend. The five competitors kneeling are Dustin Caisse, left, Shane Chrvala, Kaden Moore, Draydon Mantla and Keaton Hoph. - photo courtesy of Scott Willoughby

"It was exciting and I was kind of nervous. It was minus 50 C there last year. This year it was only minus 20 C," said Balsillie, adding he got a good look at the chilly town, which is built up on the side of a hill. "You can see a good view of the mountains."

Scott Willoughby, head of aboriginal education for Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1), said around 44 Yellowknifers boarded an Air Tindi plane - at a discounted rate - and flew three hours to the Sahtu hamlet to compete against 20 teams. Mildred Hall School, William McDonald School, Sir John Franklin High School and K'alemi Dene sent students on behalf of Yk1, while St. Patrick High School and Weledeh School sent a team to represent Yellowknife Catholic Schools.

Judy Whitford, YCS' aboriginal education co-ordinator, said the high school and Weledeh School sent a total of nine students to the event, including three girls.

Willoughby said handgames are traditionally a male pastime but jigging and traditional clothing contests - also included on the weekend agenda - are open to girls. Willoughby said a handful of female students attended from Mildred Hall School.

Willoughby said Colville Lake, Aklavik, Tsiighetchic were among the communities who sent teams to the event which ran from Friday until Sunday. The host community ultimately won the tournament while Yk1

finished fourth.

Willoughby said it's a fun event that provides Yellowknife students an opportunity to view life in a smaller community.

"There was a big community feast and a feeding the fire ceremony," he said. "All the teams helped each other. One team was playing the games while other schools drummed."

Thirteen-year-old Ryan Lafferty - also of Mildred Hall School - said his favourite part of the weekend was getting to frighten his opponents with his body language.

"It's just fun to scare them," he said, adding the energy in the gym packed with 120 people was intense. "You move around and yell."

Balsillie said the handgames are about making the best guess.

"You hide your objects in both hands," he said. "Every time somebody guesses your object you get sticks for points and it's best out of three."

He said his team did well and he hopes to place higher next time. Under the guidance of elder Joseph Nayally, the Yk1 team placed fourth behind Darrian Kenny's Deline team; Wayne Bernarde's Tulita team took first place, ahead of Jesse Tobac's team - also from Tulita.

Kayden Moses coached a team from Wrigley to fifth place, while sixth place went to Caleb Baton's team from Deline. Yellowknifer was unable to determine how the YCS team fared by press time.

Balsillie said he likes the event because he gets to make new friends. He got to know a few of them when he wasn't competing in the games and he learned they really like to play basketball in Tulita.

"They like basketball. We played basketball in the other half of the gym. They fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner. We ate caribou and rice," he said, adding the taste of caribou reminds him of moose.

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