The annual Native Youth Olympics, tests of strength, stamina and fortitude in traditional events, opens Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Center on the UAA campus.
The three-day Olympics feature games like the one- and two-foot high kick, the Eskimo stick pull and the wrist carry. Those games relate to qualities needed in a traditional subsistence lifestyle — the high kick long ago was used to signal a successful hunt to other hunters a distance away on a flat landscape, the stick pull requires strength and the wrist carry tests strength and tolerance for pain.
The Olympics also feature cultural entertainment and a celebration of high school graduates, and awards for academic excellence.
Native Youth Olympics
Alaska Airlines Center, UAA campus
Thursday's events (times subject to change depending on length of individual events)
1 p.m. — Opening ceremonies
2 p.m. — Kneel jump
3:30 p.m. — Wrist carry
5:30 p.m. ?— Alaska high kick
Friday's events
10 a.m. — Eskimo stick pull
12:30 p.m. ?— Celebration of high school and GED graduates
12:45 p.m. — Academic Excellence awards
1 p.m. — Cultural/Entertainment performance
1:30 p.m. — Scissor broad jump
3:30 p.m. — One-hand reach
5:30 p.m. — Two-foot high kick
Saturday's events
10 a.m. — Indian stick pull
Noon — Pilot Bread recipe contest winners announced
12:30 p.m. — One-foot high kick
3 p.m. ?— Seal hop
5 p.m. — Closing ceremonies