Native American Appreciation Night with Lady Cougars!

This was quite the unusual type of event for me for many reasons one; I’m a UW Husky and WSU Cougars are our mortal enemies, two; the ladies on the opposing team are Umatilla, sister Tribes to the Yakama, and three; my mom although a UW Graduate, is at heart, a Cougar from her WAZZU Undergrad years. So, I was very excited to go, since the Yakama Nation Youth Activities, LISTEN Program invited me and I played basketball in high school and love it!

With the Wapato and Toppenish kids, and Patsy Whitefoot. 

The event was put on by the Lady Cougars Basketball Team and I first heard about this game while at the WSU Fall Powwow this past October. The Basketball Team made an appearance and invited all to come check it out. They were to play against Louisville University, where Umatilla Ballplayer Shoni Schimmel and her sister Jude Schimmel play. They’re family are the stars on the recent film, “Off the Rez,” where their success story about basketball is shared. In honor of recognizing the accomplishments of these ladies, royalties were invited to attend and be recognized at half time. Yakama Nation Youth Activities Program in conjunction with Johnson O’Malley, sponsored two Greyhounds to bus people to the game in Pullman. My family and I enjoyed the ride with various kids and other families as we jammed out to the films; Elf, and Coach Carter.

Wave!

Basketball is a big thing in Indian Country and brings families, and people together. Although I didn’t get to speak at this event, I thoroughly savored every moment of the game—which was very close—reminiscing of my younger years. Hanging out with Miss Pah-Loots-Pu is always fun, this year’s WSU Powwow Queen is Chelsie Pratt, who hails from the Warm Springs Reservation. All our Queens are lovely examples to our youth about leadership, and pursuing your dreams. It was amazing being able to meet with the younger royalties, Miss and Lil Miss Julyamsh. It means a lot to our Native youth to see themselves in these big places, and having our youth visit any college is a great way to reinforce the idea that they can pursue higher education, and that it is normal for Natives to be getting their degrees. Shoni and Jude are an inspiration, heroes even and just the tip of the ice berg of the talent within each of our Native children. They’re story empowers me to remember that I learned a lot about myself through basketball: my strengths, the limits I put on myself, and how far I can push to be all I can be. It meant the world to me, when I was little, to see strong ladies duking it out on the court, whether they were Native or not, so being able to watch these Native ladies play college ball and to see all the kids they’ve lifted up is definitely something I’ll treasure.