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A member of the Syilx Okanagan Nation from the Upper Nicola Indian Band in B.C., says winning a national award for coaching lacrosse last weekend filled him with “an enormous sense of pride.”
“It’s a good feeling to be to be honoured and to be recognized by the Aboriginal Sport Circle at that top level of coaching,” said Buzz Manuel.
“I feel very happy to be recognized like that.”
Aboriginal Sport Circle, an organization that celebrates and advocates for Indigenous people in sport, awards two National Coaching Awards for Indigenous Excellence in Sport each year.
This year Manuel was honoured alongside Michelle Webster, a softball coach also from B.C.
Krista Hodder, programs and events senior co-ordinator for Aboriginal Sport Circle, said nominees for the coaching awards are put forward by anyone in the sport community.
“We are giving the opportunity for all provinces and territories to nominate and identify some athletes and some coaches that are deserving of the recognition,” said Hodder.
Successful nominees exemplify “holistic development, a commitment to fair play and they demonstrate a positive image as it relates to their role in coaching,” Hodder said, and are chosen by a national committee.
An athlete since he was five years old, Manuel said he started coaching 15 years ago and sees sport today as a way to reconnect with culture and the land.
“Before we lived in this … world we live in now, we were always out on the land doing things with our hands and walking the land, being physically active naturally,” said Manuel.
“So sports, I’d say, for Indigenous people, provides them with that balance of being physically active and it also acts as an outlet… and a tool, I would say, to bring people together because we love gathering as a people.”
Manuel said he was inspired to play and coach sports by his dad and uncles, who he watched playing and coaching baseball and hockey.
He said the athletes’ wellbeing is his priority.
“My goal is to make sure that they go home happy, they go home with a fun experience and they go home knowing that they had a safe place to come up and just play and have fun,” said Manuel.
Athletes also honoured
Ultimately, Manuel said he coaches because wants to teach the youth sports can be an avenue for self-improvement, which helps athletes heal and grow in other areas of their life.
“I always say, if you can be one per cent better each day in the sport that you’re training for, it’ll make you a better person today than who you were yesterday,” said Manuel.
“Even if it’s an improvement of one per cent a day, that’ll make a big impact in your life and the people around you later on down the road.”
Aboriginal Sport Circle handed out the awards at the second National Indigenous Sports Gala last Saturday in Ottawa, celebrating 30 years of the organization with 175 delegates, nominees and supporters.
Olympic rugby player Shalaya Valenzuela from Tseshaht First Nation and Olympic swimmer Apollo Hess from the Kainai Nation won the Tom Longboat Award, which acknowledges Indigenous athletes.
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