Yukon Students Give Arctic Sports a Try

Photo by John Tonin

COMPETEING HARD – Above: Two students compete in the arm pull competition during the Arctic Sports Interschool Competition Thursday at Vanier.

Yukon students give Arctic Sports a try

By John Tonin on November 29, 2019

The gym at Vanier Secondary School was a busy place as students from Grades 5-7 donned their school colours to compete in the 8th annual Arctic Sports Interschool Competition.

Head official, Rose Inglangasuk, said they have continued to see numbers grow over the years.

“Absolutely,” said Inglangasuk. “Yesterday (Wednesday), the first day, we had 190 kindergartens to Grade 4s. Today we have 116 Grades 5-7 and tomorrow we are expecting just under 100.”

Inglangasuk said it’s awesome to see more kids giving Arctic Sports a try but there will be a need for more officials for future events.

This Saturday, Inglangasuk said the Arctic Sports trials for the 2020 Arctic Winter Games will be held and that she was looking to see if there were any kids who could potentially make the team.

“It’s a good indicator for us if we want to bring some kids to the Arctic Winter Games coming up,” said Inglangasuk “We will make an announcement at the end of the day to tell kids to come out for Arctic Winter Sports.”

If any of the athletes on Thursday showed good skills in a sport, Inglangasuk said she would give them a tap on the shoulder to try and recruit them.

For female athletes wishing to try out for the AWG the starting age is nine and goes up to 18. Boys start at nine as well, and there is an open male category.

Inglangasuk believed everyone who was competing Thursday and on the first day showed really well.

“They’ve performed really good,” said Inglangasuk. “There are some kids who have done it before and they just love it and they shine and there are others who are just trying out and they are learning, but doing great.

“They, the younger kids, seemed to have a blast. It was mass chaos but they had a blast.”

Inglangasuk said Arctic Sports are a lot of fun and that the Arctic Sports Interschool Competition is a good way to introduce the kids to the traditional games.

Before noon, the students competed in the arm pull and the one-foot high kick. The gym was electric when it got to the arm pull championships.

The arm pull is one of the traditional tug-o-war games. Maximum strength is the single factor that decides the outcome.

On signal, competitors pull slowly and steadily at the elbow while bracing the opposite hand on the opponent’s ankle.

The pulling motion must be inside the elbows, not in an outward direction.

The object is to pull the opponent over or touch the opponent’s hand to the chest.

While the finals were going on, the eliminated students surrounded the remaining athletes, while cheering loudly for their friends and fellow classmates. It was a great scene.

The Arctic Sports AWG trials will be healed at Ecole Whitehorse Elementary School from 4-7 p.m.