One Foot High Kick, and so long for now

As promised, here is the One-Foot-High-Kick Junior Men's Gold Medal winning kick, as young Damien from Igloolik wins the gold medal.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read through this, and thanks to the good people at APTN for not saying NO when I proposed a different way of covering an event.

I'm calling it a success.

Remember, if any of you have any interesting photos from Yellowknife during the AWG's, let me know at kdriscoll@aptn.ca

Like we say at the end of our stories on TV:

For APTN National News, I'm Kent Driscoll, back home in Iqaluit.

The Hardest Working Team in Show Business

Blame Holly. She is the one who called our coverage of the AWG's a marathon event that we all deserved gold ulu's in... so instead of getting a good night off before getting on a plane tomorrow, I went off to cover Junior One Foot High Kick.

The upside, a kid from Igloolik Nunavut -- who I interviewed this afternoon -- got the gold. Well done Damien. Pics and vid of the Gold winning high kick tomorrow. I live and work in Nunavut, I wasn't so much objective on that one. I'm sure the kid from Alaska is a wonderful guy, I just had a rooting interest.

And if you have been reading the comments, yes, I took the term "bloggery" from a talented writer for Nunatsiaq News in Iqaluit. I just gave you a link, now we are even ;)

What's the line,

"Immature poets emulate,
Mature poets steal outright."

So Damien won, leading me to beileve in the power of being interviewed by APTN. Stephen Colbert has his Colbert Bump -- where people who are interviewed by the pseudo-right pundit have a bump in the polls. I am starting to believe in the APTN bump.

Back to Iqaluit tomorrow. Travel day, so don't expect to see the gold winner until the weekend.

Thanks for reading, it has been a lot of fun, and here is looking forward to Grand Prairie in 2010.

--Kent

Tonight, on APTN National News

More AWG coverage.... I'm doing a wrap-up of the events today, which is a thinly veiled attempt for me to show all of you a bunch of the one foot high kick event from today.

The record for one foot high kick is 9'8".... think about it, a basketball net is at 10 ft.... these guys are literally kicking the mesh hanging from the bottom of the net.

Juanita's "The history of the Ulu" thing runs tonight, not last night as I posted earlier. I've seen it, tune in for great old time Inuit footage, many ulus, and take my recommendation, buy an ulu for your kitchen.

Dene-Za has a bit about the cultural performances at the Games for tonight's show, and Amos.... Amos took the day off, since he will be covering things on Saturday...

By Saturday, I'll be back home in Iqaluit. Save me a seat at the Navigator Friday night.... best Chinese Food Buffet in the North. Order the Ginger Chicken, you can't go wrong.

More bloggery to follow, I have been set free from TV reporting for the day, back to my webhead friends out there. The volume of hits on this site speaks volumes.... and I used volume twice in one sentence, time for more coffee.

Do you have any pics?

Just a brief respite from preparing a story for APTN National News tonight...

Every event I go to, I see all of you there, with your video cameras and digital cameras.... and that got me thinking, why should I be doing all the work?

If you have pics of competitions or athletes that you would like to see here, send them to kdriscoll@aptn.ca and I'll post them here for you.

That goes for the competitors when they go home, I will keep updating this blog as long as you keep sending me things to update it with.

Alaskan High Kick

In the above pics, the kids from Team Alaska entertain the crowd as the judges sort something out. I heard one parent describing the kick to their child as half breakdancing and half ninja, sounds right to me.

What you can see below is a video of the Alaskan High Kick Women's Final, and this game is high drama. You could have heard a pin drop in the gym as this young Alaskan got ready to kick. The stuffed seal they kick at is at 5' 8", this girl kicking is only 5'6".... again, physics denied.

A major part of the kicking games is helping out the other athletes. Sportsmanship is the rule in traditional games.

For Alaskan High Kick, you hold your left foot with your right hand, and place your left hand on the floor. You kick with your right foot, which you have to take off on and land on....

Now get up and try it. Right now. You, I'm talking directly to you. Try it. It looks like this:


Now sit back down, shake off the stares of your co-workers, and watch the video.

Enjoy, it is a little bit longer than most of the vids here, but in order to enjoy her attempt, you need to take part in the anti....cipa...................tion.

Team Whale Cove

Whale Cove is a tiny town in Nunavut's vast Kivalliq region, and these three youngsters are from there. I met up with them after the Alaskan High Kick event, and check out that tie. I'm one of those old fashioned guys who thinks that youth hockey teams should always travel in shirt and tie (says the guy who only owns one tie)... the old fashioned guys on Team Nunavut agree, and it looks sharp.

And they gave me a Whale Cove pin... cool stuff.

Joshua Jeremick'ca

Joshua Jeremick'ca is one of the Youth Ambassadors for the Arctic Winter Games. By ambassador, I guess they mean the best face to put on the NWT is to have these kids out front and center, working hard, and volunteering. To me, that is a great role for an ambassador, I can't picture Frank McKenna painting when he was our ambassador in Washington, but you never know.

Darlene Hokanak

Darlene Hokanak is a coach for Nunavut's Inuit Games team, and hails from Kugluktuk in Nunavut's Western Kitikmeot Region. She was surprised to see that I knew how to spell Kugluktuk, but was not surprised by the success Nunavut has in all the traditional Games. She had high hopes for her girls heading into the Alaskan High Kick final.

Today in the AWG's

I did get to check out the High Kick event last night, and there will be video here before I hit the road. Today, it is my turn to do our "Today in the AWG" for APTN National News, so I need to get out from behind a computer and get out in the field.

I should be able to blog while I'm at it. I mean, Anderson Cooper from CNN blogs DURING his show...

I have this bizarre picture in my head of Larry King scolding me.

"I know Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper is a friend of mine. And you sir, are no Anderson Cooper."

Pics and people soon, stay tuned.

High Kick

I know what I am doing tonight, I'm going to the Alaskan High Kick finals. Just stopped by for a little (after sneaking aboard the VIP van, thanks to a Mayor who shall remain nameless).

For now, just a little taste of what I saw out there. More to follow, it seems exciting. The high kicking in the video below is of the Alaskan variety, and is just the prelims. Legs will fly tonight.

Tune in tonight

Just left the office.... tonight is a night to tune in to APTN National News for sure, especially if you are a fan of the AWG's.

Medal counts, interviews, and I hear that Juanita found a diamond ulu for her ulu segment... I want to see that.

Off to more events, and more bloggery to come.

6:30 Eastern.

Finger pull

Here comes the pain game. Finger pull looks like it hurts. It is a traditional Dene Game, and kids from all over were ready to try and dislocate each other's fingers.

You don't need to dislocate a finger to win, but it helps.

Sportsmanship (or sportswomanship) is a big part of this game. You help each other to your feet when it is done, that part is mandatory. It is a best of three, each side getting a chance on offence and defence. In the case of a tie after two rounds, there is a coin toss, and the winner gets to pick offence or defence... like overtime in the NFL without all the pointless dancing or lousy field goals deciding games.

Like Halifax singer/songwriter Joel Plaskett says,
"The reason I like the instrumentals
is 'cause they haven't got any words"

So, no more from me on Finger Pull (and no "pull my finger" jokes), just watch the video without any talking by yours truly... enjoy the "instrumental":

Dallayce Smith

Dallayce Smith -- Team Yukon -- must be one of the youngest competitors in the Arctic Winter Games, at the tender age of 12-years-old. She is here for Dene Games, and is having a fantastic time... even though she wouldn't smile for me. I tried everything I had, this young lady would not crack a grin for me.... but she would talk for the blog about her experience in Yellowknife.

Pin trading

They don't give out medals for pin trading, maybe they should. Earlier in this blog, I chatted with the pin-a-holic Mayor of Iqaluit. She said that the pin trading was great, because many of the kids are from small communities and get shy when they go to the AWG's. Pin trading brings them out of their shells. I had two media pins, I gave one to the Mayor. They are rare here, and she was on her way to a full set of official pins. In turn, I got a handful of City of Iqaluit pins.


From left are Don Oyukluk, Kelvin Kotchilea and Joe Audlakiak, and they were in possession of some very rare pin sets. Don't just look, listen, they will tell you about it themselves:

A few photos

Just some quick snapshots from my walking around today:


Come on, give the kids some credit here....


Team Alberta has their own newsletter.... and are doing better this AWG than is past years.... they have something to write about.


Nice looking jacket there.

More Nunavut/Nunavik Bonding

Everywhere I looked this morning, I saw kids from Nunavut and Nunavik hanging out together. Inuktitut is the common bond between the regions. Dialect isn't as big an issue as some seem to think.

From left are Margaret Tukkiapik, Madeline Annanack, Karen Weetaluktuk, Debbie Oyukuluk and Kristina Tulugak.

Here, I chat with Debbie -- from the Qikiqtani Region -- about speaking Inuktitut with Nunavik kids. There is a bit of an inside joke in there. I ask her if she can understand them better than people from the Kivalliq (the central region of Nunavut). She said yes.

Different dialects and regions are known for different things. I once asked a translator at the Nunavut Legislative Assembly the difference between the Qikiqtani (Baffin Island) dialect and the Kivalliq dialect. She said it was the difference between Paris French and Alberta French.

She also said it with a laugh. The translator was from the Kivalliq, guess where she thought the Paris French was coming from.

Then there are people from Sanikiluaq. They are known for speaking very quickly.

Me, I'm just happy I can ask her "How's it going" in her own language.

Medal Board

Here is the medal board at the Athlete's Centre, next to City Hall in Yellowknife.... alphabetical order, now that is democratic.

Shane Pollet

Shane Pollet didn't have to travel far to compete in snowsnake yesterday, he is from N'dilo... where snowsnake took place. Here, he explains the best way to make the snowsnake move along the ground, just before he was about to take part in the finger pull.

Shane won a Silver Ulu for his effort at snowsnake, check it out.


Lots on finger pull later... it looks like it hurts. One of the volunteers called it the Dene "pain game". Here is how Shane gets ready:

Scavenger Hunt

On the way to Dene Games this morning, I found a group of kids from Nunavut and Nunavik "harassing" employees at Canada Post, trying to find the Northern Lights...

As my caffeine kicked in, I asked them what they were up to.

SCAVENGER HUNT!!!! Put Northern Lights on the list, and see what the creative young minds come up with.




So I asked Larissa Annahatak (left) and Mary Tagalik about the hunt, and then about the bond between the Nunavik and Nunavut teams. Both speak Inuktitut, just in different dialects. They can communicate no problem, and just use English for the words that don't match up....

I also learned that Inuktitut for "HI" is "HI".... go figure.

Tonight, on APTN National News

Have you seen Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy?

NEWSTEAM..... ASSEMBLE.

Maybe that makes me Brick Tamlin?

Our news team is here in Yellowknife, and I checked in with them before they scattered to the various venues all over town. Here is what they are up to.

Amos Scott has a great story about government funding for sport. Here in the NWT, they are making large cuts to staffing in various government offices. Then, when the Games showed up, they announced more funding for sport. Amos asked the right question, "Are you guys going to spend that money on staff or what?"

Dene-Za Antoine is going to bring you a wrap-up of today's events. Last I heard, he was going out to the snowboarding venue. It should look cool.

Juanita Taylor -- my teammate in the Iqaluit bureau -- is explaining exactly what an ulu is. Not only is it the medal for the Arctic Winter Games, it is a traditional Inuit women's tool. I use the word tool on purpose. Yes, it is a knife, but it is so much more useful than just a knife. Plus, last time I called the ulu a knife, Juanita and I got into an extended debate about whether or not it is a tool or knife. She won.

Tonight. 6:30 Eastern. Watch and enjoy. My pics are done downloading, stay tuned right here.