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Summer Longie to Compete in North American Indigenous Games

Eighteen-year-old volleyball player Summer Longie is taking her talent to Toronto.
Summer Longie

            Eighteen-year-old volleyball player Summer Longie is taking her talent to Toronto. As a  member of Team Saskatchewan, the resident of White Bear First Nations will join other elite athletes as they compete at the North American Indigenous Games, July 16-23.

            “They've been called 'the Olympics for Indigenous people,'” says Longie. “They're only held every three or four years. In 2014, they were held in Regina. There were hundreds of folks competing, so it's really exciting.”

            “In 2014, the people I know who competed at the Games in Regina say it was one of the most memorable experiences of their lives,” she says. “And they still have friends from all over North America that they made there.”

            “I tried out before but I got cut,” adds Longie. “And I definitely wanted to try out again this year. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did.”

            The first of three tryouts for the 2017 provincial team was in December in Fort Qu'Appelle. “It was drills and scrimmages,” explains Longie. “The second one was in Saskatoon in February. It was a two-day tryout. The first day was made up of drills all day and on the second day, we did scrimmages.”

            “I wasn't confident at all that I'd played well enough to make it to the third round, but somehow, I did,” says Longie. “But I didn't feel like it was a done deal.”

            The final tryout meant a return to Saskatoon in March.

            “I was just so happy that I made it that far,” says Longie. “There was a Facebook page and the names of the players who'd made the team were released about a week later. That's when I knew that I would be competing in Toronto.”

            “I thought 'That's crazy!' But I was so happy and I'm super-excited to go to Toronto, because I haven't been anywhere far.”

            Now that Longie is officially a member of the Team Sask Indigenous Games volleyball team and will definitely compete in this year's Games,  she reflects on how reaching her goal required sacrifice, hard work and more than a little help from her friends and family.

            “I graduated last year and until then, I played high school volleyball in Carlyle until grade 12, when I played with the White Bear Cubs and club volleyball with the Redcoat Rebels who are coached by Mickey Adams.” says Longie. “When Mickey found out I made Team Sask, He let me practice with his younger girls. I really owe him a big 'thank you' because when he started training me last year, I was only good at one thing and that was hitting. After training with him, I was better at all aspects of volleyball.”

            “It definitely made a difference between making it and not making it,” explains Longie. “I didn't have a coach dedicated to volleyball. But he loves the sport as much as I do.”

            Longie also credits the White Bear Education Complex community - especially school principal Sherri McArthur-Cappo - for their support.

            “She let me train in the school gym and she let me use the school for a fundraising tournament I had planned,” says Longie. “It makes me so proud to represent the White Bear community at the Indigenous Games.”

            “My mom (Renita Paul) drove me to every single practice,” adds Longie. “And my sister Schuyler helps me out a lot, too. She throws hundreds of balls so I can practice setting. And she trains with me, too.”

            Longie's training regime includes workouts with Adams, cardio and weightlifting in the gym and runs up Heart Hill with her sister.

            When asked if she has any pre-competition rituals, Longie says: “I don't have any supersitions or anything like that, but me and my mom pray before every game that I play good and don't get injured.”

            “I'm really excited to go to Toronto, but there's not a lot of down time. But that's okay, because I'm there to do a job. We received a schedule with everything on it and we were told: 'If you want to look at the Niagara Falls, you'd better look at pictures on the internet,'” she says, laughing.

            “We fly to Toronto on July 15,” she says. “On the 16th, the opening ceremonies are held and after that we practice and play almost all of the time until the (July 23) closing ceremonies.”

            “It's really an honour to represent the White Bear community,” says Longie.“I think it's cool that we get to do something like this for Native people from all over North America.”