Mindsets and methods matter more than muscles for some medalists at Traditional Games

On a scale from zero to 100, Quentin O’Domin was feeling a 98 — as in he managed to jump high enough for both of his feet to touch a ball hanging that many inches high above the gym floor and land without falling.

The 17-year-old West Anchorage High School student almost, but not quite, hit the 100-inch mark during subsequent tries a couple of minutes later, making contact with the ball but unable to keep his footing.

His feat nonetheless stood as the best two-foot high kick managed by anyone during the eighth annual Traditional Games that took place between Friday and Sunday at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. The gathering, part of the Native Youth Olympics (NYO), featured more than 250 athletes representing 30 middle school, high school and open division teams from throughout Alaska as well as other states and Canada’s Yukon territory.

Participants compete in a dozen events based on ancient hunting and survival skills of the Iñupiaq people. But O’Domin proved at least some of the ability is inherent — or at least instinctive — since he just started competing in NYO events last year at his mother’s urging.

“I didn’t really think too much, because when I really think about the heights I just get really nervous,” he said when asked about how he approached his winning jump. “It just makes me a lot more nervous if I think about the heights because I know where my limits are, and I don’t know if I’m going to pass them or not.”

Guidance in technique comes from coaches and other participants at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and the events themselves are always with a mindset among participants of helping each other out, O’Domin. Advice was offered freely by other jumpers between his attempts and the audience in the gym — whose attention was diverted much of the time among several activities taking place on different parts of the court – went silent and then started clapping encouragement in unison at his cue during the climactic final attempts.

“That’s freaking insane that I did that — I don’t even know what to say,” he exclaimed after hitting his winning jump.

More proof that skill and mindset matter every much as strength was shown by Florence Olemaun, 11, part of the middle school team from Utqiagvik, who was the best female of any age at the Seal Hop, crossing 71 feet and 5 inches of the gym floor while in a “push up” position where she inched along forward with each upward push. High School Division winner Aries Bioff of Mt. Edgecumbe High School crossed 69 feet and six inches of the floor, while Open Division winner Tiffany Profitt of Ulguniq/Wainwright covered 63 feet and 10½ inches.

Even so, that performance didn’t match Olemaun’s best on her home court.

“In my hometown I’m at 80 feet,” she said.

The Traditional Games in Juneau are larger in terms of participation than NYO events at home and some other small Alaska communities, which Olemaun said made her nervous at the beginning “because there’s some very good people here.”

Olemaun said she started participating in NYO events about six years ago because her dad hosts the Christmas Games that occur to the north.

“We’re always competing there, so that’s how I’ve been getting better over the years,” she said.

She also participates in seven other sports at her school including wrestling, skiing and cross-country.

Which one does NYO training help the most with?

“Maybe wrestling, because it gets you stronger and in shape,” Olemaun said.

Among the other events at the Traditional Games were archery, Alaskan high kick (leaning on one hand while kicking the suspended ball with one foot), wrist carry to see how long a person can bear their own weight with one arm, and two types of broad jumps.

Twelve new Traditional Games records were set during the three days, according to the official results. Among the record-setters was Joseph Rodgers, 12, a member of Chickaloon’s middle school team, with a 56.5-inch kneel jump, besting the 41 inches reached by this year’s second-place finisher Zev Levine of Thunder Mountain Middle School.

Rodgers said he’s been participating in NYO competitions for six years, usually in about a half-dozen locations each year, and considers those events his primary sports, although he also competes in track.

“I think NYO also helps my jumping for the high jump and I feel like I get faster because NYO builds up my leg muscles,” he said.

There were about 50 members of the Chickaloon team before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the number dropped to about 10 or so when activities resumed after the pandemic, Rodgers said. He said participation is slowly building back up again and visiting events like the one in Juneau helps further stir interest.

Out-of-state teams from Washington, Colorado, New Mexico and New Hampshire were among those participating in this year’s Traditional Games — in part due to Alaskans who were attending schools in those areas.

“I’ve been competing in NYO since I was in second grade,” said Bay Rose Kauffman, 19, who grew up in Alaska and is now a student at Colorado’s Fort Lewis College, after winning first place in the Open Division Inuit Stick Pull on Sunday. The college offers a tuition waiver to Native Americans, luring her and other Alaska Natives there, and this year they sent a seven-member team back for the Traditional Games.

“We’re practicing in the gym and stuff, and people are like, ‘Oh, what is this? What are you guys doing?’” she said. “We have to explain it’s games for Alaska Natives, and so we (now) have some players on our team that are from, like, Oklahoma or Arizona. They’re not Alaska Native, but they are Native.”

Being away from Alaska, where she frequently won regional and state NYO events, didn’t affect Kauffman’s confidence coming into the Games.

“Coming here, I was pretty confident that I would place and I wanted to place,” she said. “This is my top event.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.