Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

July 26, 2003 - Issue 92

Young People Excel at Inuit Games

Ernie Bernhardt, the co-ordinator of the athletic events, says Corey Klengenberg of Cambridge Bay broke the senior men's world record for the Kneel and Jump.

Bernhardt says it's a difficult event where the participant kneels with their bum touching the floor. He says the athlete has to jump forward, land, and keep their balance.

Bernhardt says Klengenberg leapt 1.34 metres (53 inches), 50 millimetres (two inches) more than the previous record. He says a capacity crowd was on hand to witness the feat.

"Oh everybody stood and applauded and was very happy when he broke the record," Berhhardt says.

"Especially the participants that represented Cambridge Bay and of course he got a standing ovation from all the people in the audience that were present in the complex."

He says most of the athletes at the games were young like Klengenberg.

"It's very important for our youth to know our games," Bernhardt says.

"As our senior athletes get older, the young people will take over from where the seniors took off, so it's like we want to keep going that route because it's important for our people to preserve and protect and play these games, so they could find their own identity and build on their self esteem."

Bernhardt says Minik Rasmussen from Greenland broke the junior men's world record for the one foot high kick. He says Rasmussen kicked 2.69 metres, ( 8 feet 10 inches) in the air.

Games of the Arctic
The Inuit have always enjoyed a variety of games and sports. Skills developed by these games were often those necessary for everyday survival in the harsh environment. Thus, the games concern physical strength, agility, and endurance. Many Inuit games are traditional and require no equipment. Some traditional games may have been learned in Asia before the Inuit migrated across the Bering Strait (c. 2000 B.C.), while others were undoubtedly learned after migration, through contact with southern Aboriginal peoples who had migrated at an earlier time from Asia into the Western hemisphere.
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Traditions/English/inuit_games.html

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