Setting sights on the Games
Sachs Harbour student sets goals to make it to Arctic Winter Games in Alaska
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 16, 2013
IKAAHUK/SACHS HARBOUR
For Cheyenne Gully, Grade 9 student at Inualthuyak School in Sachs Harbour, spending time playing sports and being creative are the best part of her school day.
Cheyenne Gully, a Grade 9 student at Inualthuyak School in Sachs Harbour, is an avid badminton player and is hoping that skill will take her to the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska this March. - photo courtesy of Inualthuyak School |
Gully said art and gym are two of her favourite subjects in school this year, and she loves badminton most of all.
After missing part of last year's school year due to illness, Gully said she has been busy making up for lost time.
"I'm not sick anymore," she said. "I was sick a lot last year."
Now that she's feeling better, Gully is spending a lot of time on the badminton court.
Gully said she often spends five or six days a week playing badminton in the school gym.
"About every weekend and about three times a week, sometimes," she said.
She said she started playing the sport soon after school began this year. Now, Gully and her teammates are practising for the upcoming Arctic Winter Games trials, scheduled to take place in January. This edition of the game will be held in Fairbanks, Alaska March 15 to March 22, 2014.
"First you have to go to Yellowknife for the trials, then if you make it you get to go to Alaska," Gully said.
Badminton will be one of 20 games played during the week-long event, which is expected to attract about 2,000 participants from around the circumpolar world, according to the AWG website.
If she makes the team, it would be Gully's first visit to Alaska, a trip she said she is looking forward to.
She said while she doesn't yet know exactly what she wants to see and do during her visit, she's getting excited about the journey.
"I think it will be fun," she said.
Getting to the games has been a long-term goal for Gully. She said two years ago, a leg injury prevented her from participating in Arctic Sports events.
Gully said she likes playing badminton both because she enjoys the sport and because it's great exercise.
"It's fun and I get to run around a lot," she said.
