Two young Nuu-chah-nulth members of the Alberni Wrestling Club will represent B.C. at the North American Indigenous Games.
Russell David and David Wilson were selected as part of a five-member wrestling contingent for NAIG. On July 20, they will join Team BC in Vancouver before flying out to Regina, where the Games are being held.
The wrestling competition takes place on July 22 and 23.
In January 2012, Wilson, who is a member of Ahousaht First Nation, was profiled in Ha-Shilth-Sa with his sister Casandra. The two siblings were then members of the Air Cadets program.
See Story: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-01-19/air-cadet-program-builds-confidence-siblings
When Ha-Shilth-Sa spoke to Wilson and his sister, he had just recently won a silver medal in Biathlon at a Cadet competition on Mount Washington and was preparing for the Provincial competition. That fall, however, he made the switch to wrestling, even though it was a rocky start.
“I broke my collarbone in Grade 11, so I didn’t get to go to the Islands or Provincials. This year, though, I won gold at the First Novice competition, silver at SFU Novice and silver at the Campbell River Invitational.”
Wilson, who graduated this year, competed in the 63-kilogram class.
By contrast, David, a member of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, just completed Grade 11 at Alberni District Secondary School, but has been wrestling since elementary school.
“I just finished my ninth year. I started in Grade 2 at Wood Elementary,” he said. “That means I have one year left.”
David has competed at the 58-kilogram level, but it has taken some effort to maintain weight, he said.
“I’m naturally his weight,” he said, pointing to Wilson. “I don’t eat many treats or sugary stuff, and I exercise more.”
David said perseverance has paid off.
“I would usually get bronze or silver, but I picked up a couple of golds this year, including the SFU Novice meet. I found out about NAIG just after the BC Championships.”
“You had to fill out an interest form,” Wilson said. “I was approached about it at the Islands.”
“I was interested,” David said. “My coach suggested it, so I talked to one of the coaches on the team, Kaitlyn [Charlie], and told her I was interested.”
Each summer, the Alberni Wrestling Club holds a camp for both established wrestlers and newcomers to the sport. Both NAIG coaches, Charlie and Aaron Keitlah, have a long association with the camp.
“They wanted all of the Team BC wrestlers, if they were going to wrestle in Regina, to come to the camp,” Wilson said.
There, they met the other three B.C. reps and worked out on the mat.
Both young men currently plan to obtain trades training. When Ha-Shilth-Sa spoke to the two on July 16, Wilson had just finished enrolling in the Welder Foundation program at North Island College.
He said he considered becoming a teacher, but with declining enrollment and few jobs for new teachers, he decided to pursue the trades option.
It was a tough decision, Wilson explained. For the past few years, he has tutored younger students after school in Math, and he enjoys the teaching process.
“It makes you learn what you are teaching better. You learn the whole time you are teaching,” he said.
But the current stalemate in contract negotiations between the province and the B.C. Teachers Union was the decisive factor, he added.
For the past two school years, David has also tutored and mentored Grade 9 students in carpentry, which he was first exposed to in the Boys Project School.
“I am thinking about going into carpentry after I graduate, but I still have one year left.”
As is fairly standard for Alberni Wrestling Team members, both young men have maintained good grades.
“The coaches get mad if you get bad grades,” David said.
Wilson said he has not paid enough attention to his Nuu-chah-nulth culture, but he has taken steps.
“I know some songs, but I have to hear them first,” he said. “I took a course in school for First Nations, and made a drum and a paddle.”
Then he added, “I have an alphabet book of the Nuu-chah-nulth language that I made.”
“You also have it on iPod,” his mother, Michelle Irvine reminded him. “I downloaded 14 tracks onto his iPad. It’s a Nuu-chah-nulth language app.”
The Ehattesaht FirstVoices App was the subject of a Ha-Shilth-Sa feature in January 2012, just a few weeks after David and Casandra Wilson’s Air Cadet profile.
See Story: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2012-01-25/nuu-chah-nulth-language-app-co...
For Russell David, however, maintaining contact with his heritage has been difficult. He has lived his entire life in Port Alberni, separated from family members and his Tla-o-qui-aht community.
But he recognizes that there is a need to make that connection, and with solid grades, carpentry skills and even some teaching experience, he believes he is well placed to explore his heritage along with building a career. Meeting aboriginal people from across North America at NAIG is a good start.
For his part, Wilson said he hopes to maintain his connection with the Alberni Wrestling Club, through coaching. David said he also believes he will join the coaching ranks, but he still has one year of active competition left and he is exploring all of his options.
After NAIG, David said he plans to take part in a Taekwondo camp with sensei Jim Ratté.
“I’m looking for work,” Wilson said. “I had an interview today with McDonald’s.”
