Last Saturday at 1pm in the PCR gym, the City of Unalaska Department of Parks Culture and Recreation and the UCSD Native Youth Olympics team held their first ever community Native Youth Olympics (NYO) meet, inviting Unalaskans to join in the competition.
Coach Steven Gregory said that even though only a few community members came out to participate, many came out to support the USCD team. Gregory said that overall the event went well, because of the preparation and planning of Coach Genee Shaishnikoff, who coaches the girl's team. Both Coaches hope it is the first of many such events as an exercise to prepare the team in a competitive atmosphere. They will also be working to bring other teams out to compete against the UCSD team in future years for a similar purpose.
Gregory has been coaching NYO at the Unalaska City School for sixteen years and says that the boy’s team this year is among the best he’s seen. The state competition will be held in Anchorage on April 26-28th and students will compete in a selection of events including the Alaskan High Kick, the Eskimo Stick Pull, the Indian Stick Pull, the Kneel Jump, the One-Foot High Kick, the One-Hand Reach, the Scissor Broad Jump, the Seal Hop, the Two-Foot High Kick and the Wrist Carry.
