Over 100 elementary-age athletes competed in the Native Youth Olympics 2025 Junior Celebration in Juneau, Alaska, showcasing traditional Indigenous games rooted in hunting and survival practices. The event, hosted by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the Juneau School District, emphasized community, physical fitness, and cultural connection.
Harborview Elementary student Chloe Kinville-James participates in the Inuit stick pull at the Native Youth Olympics Junior Celebration at Dzántik’i Héeni Middle School gym on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025.
Lott is Lingít and Yupik, and a fifth grader at Harborview Elementary. She got involved with the games three years ago after walking past the club while waiting for her mom to pick her up from school.“I wake up early the day of the competition — this is the only time when my parents tell me to go to sleep I will,” she said.
Adeia Brown participates in the one-foot high kick at the Native Youth Olympics Junior Celebration at Dzántik’i Héeni Middle School gym on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. “These games originate from Alaska, specifically and traditionally,” she said. “Long ago, before cell phones, radios, any sort of technology, hunters created these games to communicate with one another out in the Arctic.”
Culture Community NATIVE YOUTH OLYMPICS TRADITIONAL GAMES INDIGENOUS CULTURE ALASKA COMMUNITY
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