Basketball Tournament Grows
By MASHKODE-BIZIKIGAHBAW, BENJI SAM
On April 29 to May 1 for the fourth consecutive year, the Onamia Indian Education program put on the Misizaaga’iganing Basketball Tournament at Onamia High School. This tournament has found great success and a large community and extended Indian Country following over the last few years and has even expanded to become a men’s, women’s, boy’s high school, and girl’s high school division tournament, although was not able to register enough high school girls’ teams to participate this year. Players traveled from around region and even the country to gather to compete against each other for their chance at some unbelievable prize packs.
Tournament director Chris Clitso-Nayquonabe indicated that dozens of tribes were represented in this year’s tournament with players traveling from as far as Oklahoma to come play basketball. “This year, we had 12 Men’s, 6 Women’s, and 7 High School Boys teams participate and over 60 participants in the three-point contest,” said Clitso-Nayquonabe. This year’s three-point competition was created in honor and memory of the late Cayden Eagle, a high school academic and athletic standout who recently took his journey to the next life. Eagle was a tremendous young leader who loved basketball, competition, and spending time with his family, and was honored well with so many competitors and spectators in the stands.
There was some great basketball played over the weekend, and each division had some really spectacular talent on the court. In the Women’s division, the Lady Ballers took home first place, followed by Burning Feather and Razor Sharp finishing second and third respectively. Jenna Plumley, who played at both Oklahoma and Lamar University, of the Lady Ballers took home the Women’s MVP award demonstrating an almost inhuman range from three-point land. In the High School Boys' division, the Rez Elite took home first place while led by Cloquet High school standout Connor Barney taking home MVP Honors demonstrating flash, flair, long-distance shooting range, and explosivity to the rim. In second place for the Boy’s division stood Team Wambdi, and in third ,Redwood Valley, as they both had great runs throughout the tourney. Finally, in the Men’s division MWP squad took home the championship in a close game with Sota boys, and comping in third was the Blue Water Express. Men’s MVP awards went to Darius Lasley, who is a former standout from Ellsworth Community College and Clarke University, after showing out the entire tournament.
“People came from all over the place: Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, and all over Minnesota to play basketball this weekend,” said Byron Ninham, who assisted in promotion and tournament vision. “I don’t even know how many tribes we have represented this weekend, but I know that there were a ton and it’s great to see the game of basketball hold such a special place across Indian Country.” Both Clitso-Nayquonabe and Ninham shared a love for the game of basketball growing up. “Both Byron and I came from places where basketball was king — town would shut down when there were games. Businesses would close their doors and hang signs when our teams would travel to compete at the state tournament,” said Clitso-Nayquonabe. “Our vision was to bring something to our community to be proud of, and to feel like we could compete together was important to us and basketball became that tool,” she said.
All proceeds from the Misizaaga’iganing Basketball Tournament are going towards Unity — a tribal initiative program for young leaders that holds a national conference on topics such as leadership, education, community service, health, etc. This would be a tremendous opportunity for some of our youths to be able to attend to learn about growth, development, and becoming stronger, more well-rounded leaders.
Clitso-Nayquonabe said, “Since we started this basketball tournament and have put in more effort to get community involvement with events like this we have seen a significant increase in involvement in sports, academics, and even arts without these school walls.” Historically speaking, Native students’ attendance and graduation rates are lower than the average student in Onamia High School, as well as sport and arts participation. Clitso-Nayquonabe said. “At one point in the last year one of our teams had all five players being enrolled Band members on the court at the same time. When is the last time you saw that?”
The answer to that question is never, but we all do better when we all do better. Having something competitive that gets our youth, community members, and members from across Indian country involved is something very special. The goal is that this tournament continues to grow and grow in the years to come so that we may continue giving our youth and community more opportunities to become strong leaders and independent thinkers for the betterment of our community. Keep an eye open to the future next April/May for the Fifth Annual as Clitso-Nayquonabe and the Onamia Indian Education program look to make it the biggest and best tournament yet.
