Young Manitoba basketball player says his team's the one to beat at NAIG

It was not an easy feat to make it onto the Manitoba U19 basketball team for the North American Indigenous Games. Last summer, over 100 athletes tried out for the 12 spots available.

Eighteen-year-old Jordan Cowley from Opaskwayak Cree Nation was one of the lucky ones who made the cut.

"I'm really honoured to play. I played in the last NAIG … in Regina, and it was a great experience," he said.

• Athletics, reconciliation to come together at Indigenous Games
• Young Indigenous basketballers relish high-level competition and tribal pride at upcoming Indigenous Games

His team didn't win at the last NAIG, but this year Cowley thinks the Manitoba team has a good chance of winning the series.

When asked what he's looking forward to at NAIG next month in Toronto, Cowley said, "That gold medal — it's the only thing I'm there for."

The ambitious young player, who started playing basketball at the age of nine, said his family pushed him into it because they are big into sports, especially basketball.

Cowley is also inspired by Bronson Koenig, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, who plays college basketball for the University of Wisconsin Badgers.

"The journey that he went through to get to where he is at — it pushed me. You never know where [the sport is] going to take you, right?"

Teaches game to youth in Manitoba reserve

In addition to playing basketball, Cowley has been teaching the sport to younger players from St. Theresa Point First Nation, which is more than 400 kilometres east of Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

The Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council basketball camp is in its third year. The goal of the program is to bring high-performance sports camps to remote communities with limited recreational resources.

"I was really grateful to be there and teach the kids the fundamentals of the game," said Cowley, who visited St. Theresa Point twice so far this year.

He, along with coaches Melvin Magpantay and Autumn Monkman, have taught 239 youth from ages five through 18.

The turnout at the camp was much larger than the sports council expected, and Cowley described the experience as "quite the handful." Despite this, he said he and the youth of St. Theresa Point got a lot out of it.

What struck him about St. Theresa Point, Cowley said, was how tightly knit the community is and how welcoming residents were to the basketball camp.

When asked if there are any rising stars coming out of St. Theresa Point First Nation, Cowley said he saw lots of talent.

And that's what is great about a sporting event like NAIG, he said.

"I hope that … people notice the kind of potential [Indigenous athletes] have," he said.