Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Resolution (Sep 19/05) - Eddy McKay has always been active in sports, as a player and organizer.

He was just 14 years old when he worked as a recreation trainee with Fort Resolution's Deninoo Community Council.

Eddy McKay is the recreation co-ordinator with Deninoo Community Council in Fort Resolution. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Back then, he helped supervise activities at the beach and an outdoor pool.

Now, he is the council's recreation co-ordinator, a position he has held since February.

McKay believes sports is very important for everyone, especially young people. "It helps in leading a healthy lifestyle. It helps their self-esteem."

The 32-year-old lists wrestling, volleyball and soccer as his favourite sports when he was growing up.

McKay says one of his goals is to start a wrestling program in Fort Resolution, noting there was one at Deninu school about 15 years ago.

In 1993, he was part of the NWT wrestling team at the Canada Games in Kamloops, B.C., and wrestled at university.

McKay graduated in 1997 from the University of Regina with a degree in physical activities studies, majoring in sports administration.

McKay says he stresses the importance of education to young people in Fort Resolution.

"People tell me I'm a role model," he says, but adds he is modest about his own accomplishments.

"You try not to toot your own horn."

After graduation, he taught Northern studies and physical education at Deninu school and worked with Sport Nunavut. He also worked at Deninu Ku'e First Nation as a community negotiations co-ordinator and as a MACA community development officer in Fort Smith.

With Deninoo Community Council, he programs recreation and sports activities for all age groups and looks after the operation of a number of facilities, including the arena, the ball diamond, the beach front and the community hall.

"It stretches me thin sometimes, but I try to prioritize what needs to be done," he says.

McKay - a single father of two young boys - has been hired for a one-year term, and is not sure of his future plans when the year is up.

He says he may someday seek a university degree in business administration. "It will be time for a career change sooner or later."

McKay, who notes he has moved every two years for the last eight years, says he would like to settle down, possibly in Fort Resolution. "If not here, then somewhere."

Until he was 10, McKay grew up in Pine Point, and then moved to Fort Resolution with his parents.