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Track meet with Indigenous spin taking place in Airdrie

Pratt said the local track meet organizers have enlisted the help of students and staff from Enoch Cree Nation to make sure Airdrie students play the games correctly.

Local Airdrie high schools are participating in the city’s first ever Traditional Games and Track and Field Meet at Ed Eggerer Athletic Park on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

The competition, which derives inspiration from the traditional Treaty track meets normally held by Alberta First Nations, features both western and Indigenous-style track competitions.

“We have kind of done a little bit of a spin on a traditional track and field meet where we're doing, you know, typical racing and throwing and jumping events. But we've also added in some Indigenous games as part of the event,” said Rocky View Schools teacher and event co-organizer Adam Pratt. “So today (Tuesday) they're doing an activity called ‘match stick pull’, and they're also doing one called ‘ring the stick.’ And then tomorrow, they're gonna be doing one called ‘double ball,’ and we're also gonna be doing something called ‘run and scream.’”

Pratt said the local track meet organizers have enlisted the help of students and staff from Enoch Cree Nation to make sure Airdrie students play the games correctly.

Funding for the event comes from Canadian Tire Jumpstart, explained Pratt, and about 140 students from Airdrie’s local public high schools are taking part over the two days of the track meet.

“They help us work with schools that might be maybe coming from lower socio-economic status, basically to increase access to sports and recreation and performance arts,” he said. “Really, our main goal is to kind of promote well being and activity in schools. I think bringing these schools together is beneficial for everybody.”

Pratt said the event is meant to foster friendships and encourage the participating students to have fun together through sport without being too competitive.

“The event is fun-focused,” said Pratt. “It's not hyper competitive like a traditional track and field meet often is.”

The RVS teacher said the organizers hope the Traditional Games and Track and Field Meet would help to build bridges between different cultures and different groups of students from varied backgrounds.

“It's like a like a Treaty Track Meet, and so it used to be exclusively for our students on from First Nation communities or Treaty territories of Canada,” he stated. “But this year, we kind of opened it up as we wanted to give students, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, a chance to kind of have a positive experience together and kind of participate together.”

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