Arctic Winter Games kick off March 6 in Alberta

Tunu Napartuk, the recently-appointed director of the Kativik Regional Government’s recreation department, displays the the navy blue, grey and white uniforms that Team Nunavik will wear in Grande Prairie, Alberta at next week’s Arctic Winter Games. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

SARAH ROGERS and JANE GEORGE

KANGIQSUJUAQ — Adamie Philie is a modest athlete.

He shouldn’t be.

The tall and fit teen is representing Kangiqsujuaq at this year’s Arctic Winter Games in three events— the kneel jump, the triple jump and the high kick.

The games take place March 6 to March 13 in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

More than 2,000 athletes, coaches and cultural performers are expected to attend from Alaska, northern Alberta, Greenland, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Sapmi, Yamal, Yukon and Nunavik, according information on the AWG website at http://www.awg2010.org.

The three events in which Philie is competing are difficult sports to learn, but Philie managed to excel in them. He finished in the top five at the 2008 games in Yellowknife, the first time he had competed at this level.

This time the 18-year-old will compete against an older group, men aged 17 and older. He’s convinced he’s in for a tough challenge.

“I’m going to try and do the top 20,” Philie said between stretches at the local school gymnasium. “I hope I do well, but the open male [group] is hard.”

Philie is the only athlete from Kangiqsujuaq competing in the jump and kick events, although the community is also sending a badminton team to Grande Prairie.

Philie said he trains all year round — excluding holidays — with the help of his father and some friends.

Philie’s favourite event is the kneel jump, where athletes must use their force to spring forward from the kneeling position. This event offers him the most power and control, Philie said. His record distance is 1.35 metres.

When practicing the high kick, Philie sets the target to 205 centimetres, although a few days ago, he hit 215.

“I try to imagine myself kicking the target before I actually do it,” Philie said.

Regardless of how he fares in Grande Prarie, Philie said he is looking forward to being at the games this year, just to enjoy social part of competing against athletes across the north.

“The last time was a lot of fun,” Phile said. “I made a lot of friends.”

Philie joins more than 50 young athletes from Nunavik who will be competing in the categories of snow shoe, Dene games, badminton, Arctic sports and table tennis.

The entire Team Nunavik-Québec delegation, which also includes coaches, cultural performers and staff, numbers more than 100. Maggie Emudluk, chair of the Kativik Regional Government, and Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corp., are among the local leaders expected to attend the games.

Getting everyone to Grande Prairie comes with a total cost of about $600,000, said Jean Dupuis, a member of the KRG executive, and the chef de mission for Nunavik.

As chef de mission, Dupuis said he will make sure all the arrangements for the team are in place and that Nunavik’s athletes are “safe, secure and able to perform.”

Dupuis said Nunavik wants to convince the AWG organization to promote the region’s contingent from a guest to full participant status, by showing how serious its athletes are.

No drinking, drug use or rowdy behaviour among athletes, who also signed a code of conduct, will be tolerated.

At the 2008 games, Dupuis sent a few athletes home— and he’s prepared to do the same if that proves necessary this time around, he said.

To follow Nunavik’s progress in Grande Prairie, go www.teamnunavik.ca.

Telephone messages and emails left with Sports Nunavut were not immediately returned in time for this story.