Early registration low for inaugural Alberta Indigenous Games

Organizers are hoping to attract as many as 2,000 athletes for the inaugural Alberta Indigenous Games this summer.

But unless registrations come flooding in soon, the games, scheduled for July 17-22 at three locations in the province, could be considerably smaller.

These games were created primarily to fill a void for those Alberta athletes who would have been eligible to compete this summer in the North American Indigenous Games. NAIG, to be held in July in Milwaukee, were cancelled after organizers withdrew their bid.

Allan Ross, the Alberta Indigenous Games’ executive director, said registration numbers were “not good” as of May 10. But he is optimistic numbers will increase dramatically as the May 31 registration deadline approaches.

“We’ve had inquiries from the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Montana, (the state of) Washington and Hawaii,” Ross said. “All of these places have said they will be registering athletes. But they haven’t done so yet.”

But Ross said he’s not getting worried about the lack of registration numbers to date. Experience tells him not to fret.

Ross, who also founded and is a past president of the Edmonton Native Basketball Association, said that group has staged an annual tournament and traditionally people wait “until the 11th hour” before signing up.
There will be competition in nine sports at the Alberta Indigenous Games.

Golf and archery will be held at the Enoch First Nation. The golf event is slated for the Indian Lakes Golf Club and the archery competition will be on the First Nation’s cultural grounds.

The six other sports —basketball, volleyball, ball hockey, soccer, softball and track and field — will be held at various sites in Edmonton. Canoeing will be staged in Leduc.

All of the competitions will feature athletes who were born between 1992 and ’99. They will participate in three age groupings; bantam, midget and juvenile.

Ross is hopeful all nine of the sports will be contested at this year’s games. He added in all likelihood a minimum of six entrants will have to be registered in order to stage a division in a sport.

“These games will happen regardless of how many people we get,” said Ross, who would like to see the Alberta games become an annual event.

Sports won’t be the only focus of the Alberta Indigenous Games. Organizers are also planning a cultural component.

Reclaiming Our Youth is AIG’s theme. Organizers are planning to hold various Aboriginal musical and dance events as well as talks and  workshops with Elders and mentors during the competition.

Ross said organizers thought adding a cultural component to the games would make the event more appealing. That is why he thought registration numbers would be somewhat higher at this point.

“That’s what we thought because of the current social and economic states of our youth,” he said.