Anchorage NYO Games

Rarely is a sports crowd rendered silent, but the record attempt at the NYO Games is known for making the crowd as quiet as a mouse.

Previously known as the Native Youth Olympics, the NYO Games include 10 events based on past generations of Alaska Native people played as a way to test their hunting and survival skills and increase strength. 

One game, the Eskimo stick pull, is based on a strengthening exercise that Native hunters would use to prepare themselves for pulling seals out of water.  Although the event is based on traditional and native games, the competition is open to all Alaska students from 7^th to 12^th grade, regardless of ethnicity.

Every spring, about 500 students from across Alaska come together in Anchorage to demonstrate their skills.  This year, the games will be held April 24^th-26^th, 2014 in the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center.

Admission is completely free, so there is really no excuse to not check out the games and cheer on the young athletes.  These middle and high school aged students can accomplish feats that many other athletes of older ages can’t.

The best of the best can hop 150 feet across a hardwood floor on their knuckles for the seal jump, or launch off the ground and kick more than 8 feet in the air.  Watching the young men and women complete these challenges may leave you breathless.

The games are hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., the nonprofit social service agency for Cook Inlet Region, Inc.  The mission is to provide culturally appropriate services for Alaska Native people to achieve self-determination through individual, family, and community development.

For more details about the event, visit the Anchorage events website.  This is great opportunity to get out and celebrate traditional Alaskan culture and sportsmanship!