After losing their first matches of the season, the Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks (5-2) looked to bounce back and right the ship when they traveled to Grace Academy to play the Lions (3-3) on Friday, October 7. This was the second matchup between the teams, as they previously played back on September 8 in a thrilling match the Lady Hawks won 3 games to 2.
In the 1st game, the Lady Hawks came out flat and Grace took advantage by going up 17-10, forcing coach Tina Brown to call timeout. Following the timeout, Lady Hawk players were much more active and got engaged defensively. They were flying around and diving to save rallies. Clutch serving by Aliya Jones and Cidney Marteney proved to be the difference, as they helped their team go on a 15-4 run and take the opening game 25-21.
Both the 2nd and 3rd games played out the same with both teams playing well at the net and forcing each other into unforced errors. The Lady Hawks weren’t able to go on those long rallies to string together points, which allowed Grace to close-out both games. Grace took the 2nd game 25-22 and the 3rd game 25-19.
Down 1 game to 2 and needing to grind out back-to-back games is an all too familiar place for the Lady Hawks lately. They were not able to do it in their last two losses. However, unlike in the previous two games, the Heritage fans were in full force and were determined to give that “7th man” energy to their team. It was such a great experience to witness the Heritage fans pick up their team and motivate the girls to dig deep.
Seemed like after every point the Lady Hawks scored in the 4th game was met with cheers and applause from their fans. After winning the 4th game and forcing a match deciding 5th game, the fans really let loose. Sounded more like a home game then an away game for sure.
In the 5th and final game, the momentum from the last game coupled with the energy from their fans proved to be huge for the Lady Hawks. After being down 1 game to 2, they soared back and won back-to-back games to claim match victory 3 games to 2.
On Monday, October 10 the Lady Hawks (6-2) hosted the Marysville Pilchuck C-team (4-3) at Francy J. Sheldon gymnasium. On paper this looked to be a very lopsided mismatch, with all the advantages in favor of the home team. There were expectations going in that the Lady Hawk starters would take care of business early, so that the younger bench players could see heavy minutes and get more game time experience. Unfortunately, that expectation would not be met.
Games 1 and 2 played out in near identical fashion. In each game the Lady Hawks took an early 5-2 lead, only to squander it and be tied 13-13 minutes later. Instead of going on rallies and putting the pressure on the less experienced Tomahawks, the girls played without energy and kept committing unforced errors. The Lady Hawks lack of team work and hustle cost them both games by the score of 23-25.
Before the start of game 3, coach Tina Brown urged her girls to get into game mode and to work through their mistakes as a team. Her team responded in an emphatic way. The Lady Hawks came out with a sense of urgency and were firing on all cylinders to take a commanding 16-8 lead. They continued their solid play and closed out the 3rd game, 25-12.
For whatever reason the Lady Hawks lost that sense of urgency and again played sluggishly. They found themselves trailing 5-15 in the 4th game and waited too late to mount a comeback. They lost the game 20-25 and the match 1 game to 3, sending their overall record to (6-3).
The Tulalip Heritage Hawks (0-1) held their home opening football game on Saturday, October 1, when they hosted the Bruins out of Clallam Bay (2-1). The game was played at the newly built Alpheaus “Gunny” Jones, Sr. ball field.
These two teams previously faced off on September 9 at Clallum Bay. That was a highly competitive game in which the Bruins pulled out a 28-26 victory.
The Hawks were determined to get their first win of the short season and did what they could to show off for their home crowd. Everything seemed to go the Hawks way on both sides of the ball. The offense was clicking and had no trouble moving the ball. Meanwhile, the defense came up big by forcing three interceptions and a couple fumbles.
After four quarters of solid play, the Hawks won by the score of 51-26.
The twenty-five point victory is sure to be a shining spot on a season that has seen two games cancelled thus far. On Monday, October 3, it was announced Tulalip Heritage has forfeited its next game against the Lummi Blackhawks.
Saturday, October 29, is the next and last home game on the schedule for the Hawks.
After opening the season in grand fashion, undefeated at 5-0 and sitting atop the league standings, the Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks have taken the L in consecutive matches.
On Friday, September 30, the Lady Hawks (5-0) hosted the Highlanders (2-1) from Providence Classical Christian. The Lady Hawks got shellacked 9-25 in the 1st game, but responded with a gritty 25-23 win in the 2nd game. The 3rd game was a repeat of the 1st, with the Lady Hawks committing too many errors and not able to return the ball. They dropped the 3rd game 10-25. Again, the home team responded with a well-played 4th game, winning 25-14, and forcing a match deciding Game 5.
In the 5th game, the Lady Hawks started out playing with a sense of urgency and went up 6-3. However, they weren’t able to keep it up and the Highlanders would battle back and claim the game and match victory. It was the first taste of defeat for the Lady Hawks.
On Monday, October 3, the Lady Hawks (5-1) traveled to Mountlake Terrace to take on the Lions (5-1) of Cedar Park Christian. These two teams were tied for first in the Northwest 1B league.
The Lady Hawks came out ballin’ in the 1st game. They took a very quick 12-1 lead and closed out the game 25-16. Unfortunately, the tide turned in the Lions favor as they seemed to figure out the Lady Hawks offensive strategy. At every opportunity, the Lions would wait for the setter and put their tallest players at the net to block Lady Hawk attacks. The Lions strategy worked as they won the 2nd game 25-18, 3rd game 25-19, and 4th game 25-15.
Tulalip falls to second in the standings with a (5-2) record. They now have a few days to practice, watch game film, and figure out where they can make adjustments. With upcoming home games on Monday, October 10, and Wednesday, October 12, the Lady Hawks will look to right the ship and get back to their winning ways.
By Micheal Rios; photos by Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News
Four matches played, four matches won. The Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks volleyball team is undefeated and sitting atop the NW 1B standings as of Tuesday, September 27. After narrowly defeating Grace Academy and Arlington Christian both in thrilling matches that went the full five sets, the Lady Hawks won in straight sets over Skykomish and Orcas Christian.
A highly anticipated match awaits on Monday, October 3, when the Lady Hawks travel to Mountlake Terrace to take on the current second seeded Cedar Park Christian. The matchup will feature the two best teams in their league and surely be a highly challenged contest. The victor will have the mental edge and inside track for being the best in the Northwest 1B.
The Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks volleyball program took leaps forward last year by winning five regular season matches and winning two clutch postseason matches before losing a nail-biter to Shoreline Christian, ending their season with a 7-11 final record. This season’s Lady Hawks team returns seven players from last year, and with another off season of development under their belt the Heritage program looks to take another successful leap forward.
On Thursday, September 8, the Lady Hawks hosted the Grace Academy Eagles in what doubled as the season and home opening game. Last season, our Lady Hawks got walloped 0-3 in both match-ups with the Eagles, so a good showing would be a nice confidence booster and proof positive the program is developing in the right direction.
From the opening serve it was obvious the Lady Hawks came to play. The first game was a highly contested battle, with each team going on a series of runs. Up 23-22, the Lady Hawks tightened up the defense and scored on back-to-back points to take the opening game 25-22.
The near even play continued in the second game, until miscommunication crept in on the Lady Hawks part leading to them trailing 17-23. Digging deep, they went on a 6-1 run to make it a one point game, 23-24. The momentum was halted moments later with a bad serve that gave Grace the game 23-25.
Tied at one game each, the Lady Hawks opened up a 7-5 advantage to start the third game. However, Grace took control and the home team trailed 10-18. Heritage was unable to get back in the game, going on to lose 17-25.
Down one game to two, and with Grace only needing to win one more game to take the match, the odds weren’t looking good for Heritage. But these Lady Hawks were determined to take the momentum back. They took a very quick 6-1 advantage in the fourth game and never looked back. Winning the fourth game 25-15 tied up the match at two games apiece, forcing a match deciding fifth game.
In the fifth and final game, the Lady Hawks opened up trailing 0-2 before buckling down and scoring at will. Determined to end their match losing streak to Grace, the Lady Hawks went on a 15-3 run to clinch the game 15-6 and take the match victory 3-2 in front of a very spirited home crowd.
The Lady Hawks hit the road for their next two matches against Lopez and Arlington Christian before coming back home to host Skykomish on Tuesday, September 20.
History was made at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club over the weekend of July 8, as the National Basketball Association (NBA) selected the Tulalip Tribes to host a first of its kind summer basketball camp focused on engaging Native American youth. The three-day Jr. NBA camp was developed to be a youth basketball participation program for boys and girls ages 10-14. With the NBA holding this event on Tulalip Tribes’ land, it marked the first time ever a Jr. NBA camp took place in Indian Country.
“The Jr. NBA is always looking to engage different communities that love basketball,” said David Krichavsky, the NBA’s vice-president of youth basketball development. “Working with Tulalip provides us a unique opportunity to connect with our young fans and their coaches alongside some of the NBA’s best ambassadors.”
Jr. NBA camps are designed to teach the game’s fundamental skills and core values at a grassroots level to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches, and parents. Within the Tulalip community, we know how much our people, especially our youth, love the game of basketball. To have NBA players involved, such as SuperSonics legend Detlef Schrmpf and former University of Washington stand-out Spencer Hawes, the opportunity for camp participants to make life long memories and have memorabilia signed added even more benefits.
“Our Native community loves basketball and the NBA,” stated Marlin Fryberg Jr., executive director for the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. “The Jr. NBA camp acknowledges our Native American passion for the game and will help make NBA fans for life while teaching basketball’s important values.”
With the assistance of NBA and Boys & Girls Club staff, the Jr. NBA camp taught our youth the importance of hard work, teamwork, discipline and self-respect. Their focus was to provide the young Tulalip athletes of all skill levels with the instructions and training that have made some of the NBA’s brightest stars elite on and off the court.
“Skills like teamwork, passion, accountability, and responsibility are at the core of these communities and the core of our game,” said Brooks Meek, NBA vice-president of International Basketball Operations and 1994 graduate of Marysville-Pilchuck High School. “I am especially excited to help bring the NBA to my home community, having grown up with so many friends from Tulalip. We are very fortunate to work with such committed partners as we bring our League to these passionate fans.”
Every camp session started with plyometric warm-ups that got the youth primed for the next series of basketball training. After several rotations through four different fundamental skill stations that emphasized proper footwork, ball handling, shooting and defense the campers would get a short water break before moving on to team competitions. Team competitions varied by day and age group. There were shooting competitions showcasing the forgotten art of the mid-range jumper, a team oriented 3-point shot contest, and even a point-blank range, lay-up style competition. But what the youth looked forward to most were the daily 5-on-5 half court and full court games that ended every session.
During the spirited team competitions there were several game winning shots made. Each one was met with a booming celebration from the kids and the NBA staffers. A highlight of day 3 took place during the 5-on-5 full court championship game between the 10-12 year olds. With the score tied and only seconds remaining, 11-year-old Frank Salomon from Lummi corralled a rebound and launched and connected on a fade-away jumper as the game buzzer sounded.
“Hitting the game winning shot was amazing,” boasts Frank. “I didn’t know it would go in. I just shot the ball and can’t believe I made it before the buzzer. It was awesome!”
It was an unprecedented weekend all around. From all the youth who got up and got to the Boys & Girls club by 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday and Sunday, the dedicated parents who made it happen, the NBA and Boys & Girls Club staff and trainers who made this Jr. NBA camp special and memorable for all the youth participants, to breaking down a barrier and hopefully forming a lasting partnership between the NBA and the tribes.
“The Tulalip Boys & Girls Club had a great experience working hand in hand with the Jr. NBA basketball team,” adds Marlin Fryberg Jr. “We were selected to be the first Tribe ever to host a Jr. NBA camp for kids. Talking to the kids over the weekend they really enjoyed themselves. We had approximately 140 boys and girls participate, which involved representation from other tribes including Puyallup, Nooksack, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Swinomish, Klamath, and Alaska Natives.
“We are very proud to say we are the first tribe in Indian Country to host a Jr. NBA camp. To know now that Tulalip has opened the door for the NBA to expand their basketball clinics and resources to include tribes is truly an honor.”
Contact Micheal Rios at mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov
Through the commitment and guidance of several Tulalip tribal members, led by Natasha Fryberg, the Tulalip Tribes has its very own youth canoe club. They’ve been practicing three times a week, rain or shine, since April. With a consistent turnout of kids and their dedicated parents, the canoe club has established itself as a safe and fun activity for our youth to practice traditions of our ancestors.
“For most of these kids, this was their first ever experience with pulling canoe. We teach them the skills and proper technique outside of the canoe first,” says Natasha. “We really focus on each kid’s individual comfort level, so that they enjoy their experiences in the water and in the canoe.”
The current age range is of club members is 5-years-old to 16-years-old, with a good mix of boys and girls. A goal of Natasha and her fellow instructors is to train the canoe club members to the point they can participate in the war canoe races circuit. Thus far, the future is bright as the kids have really taken to the water and enjoy the rigorous activity of war canoe racing during their practices.
“My kids had zero previous experience with canoe pulling, let alone being in a canoe until now,” says Nickie Richwine, mother of three daughters participating in the canoe club. “It’s been an honor to watch these kids excel on the water. I’m so thankful for their coaches Natasha and Tawny Fryberg, Alicia and Clayton Horne, and Ryan. They’ve really been a blessing for taking the time to teach and encourage our kids to be on the water.”
For those interested in getting their kids involved with Tulalip’s youth canoe club, please contact Natasha Fryberg at 425-422-9276.
TULALIP, Washington and PINE RIDGE, South Dakota, July.1, 2016 – The Jr. NBA next week tips off the first of two summer camps focused on engaging Native American youth. As part of the NBA’s youth basketball participation program for boys and girls ages 6-14, Jr. NBA camps are set for July 8-10 in Tulalip, Washington, and from July 29-31 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
The camps are designed to teach the game’s fundamental skills and core values at this grassroots level to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents.
NBA legend Detlef Schrempf and Spencer Hawes of the Charlotte Hornets – both alumni of the University of Washington – will headline the Jr. NBA camps at the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club about an hour north of Seattle. Sacramento Kings head coach David Joerger, who began his professional coaching career in the Dakotas, will work with youngsters at Jr. NBA camps hosted by the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Reservation outside of Rapid City.
“The Jr. NBA is always looking to engage different communities that love basketball,” said David Krichavsky, the NBA’s vice president of youth basketball development. “Working with Tulalip and Pine Ridge provides us a unique opportunity to connect with our young fans and their coaches alongside some of the NBA’s best ambassadors.”
“Our Native community loves Basketball and the NBA,” said National Indian Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Famer Marlin Fryberg Jr., a longtime Tulalip Tribal Council member currently serving as executive director for the Tulalip Tribes Boys & Girls Club. “The Jr. NBA camps acknowledge our Native American passion for the game and will help make NBA fans for life while teaching basketball’s important values.”
“Skills like teamwork, passion, accountability and responsibility are at the core of these communities and the core of our game,” said Brooks Meek, NBA vice president of International Basketball Operations and 1994 graduate of Washington’s Marysville-Pilchuck High School. “I am especially excited to help bring the NBA to my home community, having grown up with so many friends from Tulalip. We are very fortunate to work with such committed partners as we bring our League to these passionate fans.”
“As a young basketball player on the reservation, the values of the game helped me succeed in the classroom and in life,” said Christian McGhee, a 2008 graduate of Red Cloud and the school’s current athletic director. “Bringing the Jr. NBA to Pine Ridge is a dream come true and will expose a large number of our boys and girls to the lessons only basketball can teach.”
The Jr. NBA will reach five million youth in the U.S. and Canada over the next two years through a series of basketball clinics, skills challenges and tournaments. As part of this effort, the NBA has developed a Jr. NBA partnership network that includes youth basketball programs of all NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League teams, elementary and middle schools, military installations and longstanding community partners, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Jewish Community Centers of North America, National Association of Police Athletic Leagues, National Recreation and Park Association, National Wheelchair Basketball Association, Special Olympics, and YMCA of the USA.
For additional information on the Tulalip camp, contact Marlin Fryberg at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club: mfryberg@bgcsc.org
Seattle SuperSonics legend Gary Payton aka “The Glove” has partnered with the Native basketball camp, Rise Above, for appearances on reservations in the Pacific Northwest. Since last fall, the Colville Reservation and our very own Tulalip Reservation have both hosted a Rise Above camp. Two more camps are planned to take place on the Kalispel and Coeur d’Alene reservations in the upcoming months.
As our readers may recall, The Glove hosted a basketball youth skills camp at the Tulalip Youth Center last summer. For all those youth who participated and the adults who volunteered or stayed to watch their kids, they quickly realized that the camp was about much more than just basketball. It was about using basketball as a modality to empower our kids, teaching life lessons, and creating resiliency in the youth so they can grow into future leaders.
Payton met with the Tulalip News to share what his insights are on how to positively impact urban youth. You may be wondering what kind of insight a former NBA superstar can have about urban youth, especially in regards to Native youth living on a reservation. Well, the simple answer is Payton is familiar with growing up in an impoverish neighborhood, being surrounded with the poverty mindset, drugs and crime, and having to struggle against a system determined to see him fail.
Payton grew up and survived the drug-infested streets and gang filled neighborhoods of Oakland, California in the 1980s. Oakland was plagued in the eighties by a continuation of the rising crime rate and drug issues of the previous decade. Crack cocaine exploded as a big problem for the city during this period, and Oakland was regularly listed as one of the U.S. cities most plagued by crime. From being born and raised in Oakland to now following his passion for traveling the Pacific Northwest to mentor and coach urban youth, Payton has a unique perspective for sifting through issues he feels are of the biggest concern regarding the youth and how these issues can be addressed.
“Growing up in Oakland, California I was in a similar environment to a lot of these kids today, where they have a lot of free time on their own with not much adult supervision. That means you get to be around your friends the majority of the time, and your friends are going to be doing things that you want to be involved in because you want to fit in. Then things start to happen.
As I grew up and I had a father who was working all the time, but he used to tell me ‘you got to be your own man, you got to be a leader not a follower.’ If somebody says something or wants to do something that ain’t right, then tell them they ain’t right. If they don’t want to be that person who helps you and says okay I understand, then they are not really not your friend. That’s what a lot of these kids are starting to see more and more of because youth of this generation prefer to do anything other than be bored.
My generation was different because we knew how to go outside and just have fun. Everyone didn’t have a fancy cellphone, iPads, and all the rest of it. Even our cartoons and TV shows were only on during Saturday mornings and a couple hours after we got home from school. Now, TV and the internet caters to these kids so they can be watching something all day, every day.
I think for these kids today, all they need is a little push. They need someone, like myself, who has been through and seen the same things they have, to come around and give them a talking to and tell them the right way and what not to do. Because once we leave and they get someone they think is a friend who pressures them, it’s hard for them to make the right decision because of the peer pressure and idea it’s better to fit in than stand out.
But when these kids have adults and role models around who are not only looking out for their best interest, but are actually making themselves available by text, phone call, or to meet up to talk, then it becomes easier for them to say no to the bad choices and yes to the good ones. All they need is to have that support behind them, people they know are helping build them up into the best person they can be. But it can’t be only a sometimes thing, it has be an all the time thing because these kids can tell who is fake and who is real.
It’s important for us as mentors, the adults who these kids will listen to and respect, to get the youth to set individual goals. We want them to set goals or to have an ultimate goal for themselves. Most of these kids don’t have goals other than to have fun or good times with their friends, that’s not a goal. We see it all the time where they’ll get just a little bit of satisfaction from what they are doing in school or from actual hard work and then they’ll immediately flip to okay that’s enough now let me go and hangout with my friends. That mindset comes from not having goals to succeed, not having the goal to be someone who the community looks up to.
Gary Payton visits with Tulalip youth in 2015. Photo/Micheal Rios
If they had goals that are bigger than just hanging out with friends or messing around on the internet, then they’d be more willing to say no to the little things that get in their way in order to achieve their goals. That’s the biggest problem with youth today. They’re so focused on the immediate and what’s right in front of them that they don’t see the larger picture, they don’t have the passion to set long-term goals and follow through. They don’t understand that by focusing in and setting goals today, that what they are actually doing is investing in their future.
As mentors, advocates, and educators we have to remain vigilant and get these kids to buy in to setting goals and following through. It starts with their education because nothing is more important than getting a good education. A good education means opportunity and with opportunity comes the ability to do what you want to do, not just doing what you have to do. We know that kids today love doing what they want to do, so now it’s on us to get them to see that through education they can be adults doing what they want to do as well. Getting them to set goals in the classroom and with school is where it starts.
We want them to have goals like, ‘I’m going to get better grades this year than I had last year’, ‘I’m going to make honor roll this semester’, ‘I’m going to graduate with my high school diploma’, and ‘I’m going to go to college’. They seem like no-brainers, but we’ve seen they are too interested in other things and have lost that focus in school and on their education, and I’m going to keep going back to it and say it’s because there’s a lack of goal setting. It’s not good enough to be satisfied with just showing up or only doing enough to get by. We have to want and expect more from them in order to get them to want and expect more from themselves.
Our mission as mentors is to encourage, and support our youth as they discover who they are and what they want to be. Through goal setting and an emphasis on education as future opportunity for themselves, they’ll be able to become the best person they can be. Once they have that mindset to want better, to be better, everything will start to click and it’s an amazing thing to witness. They have so much to accomplish and so many opportunities available, and when they realize they are capable of reaching their goals and achieving like they never thought before then this entire community benefits.”
