UNITY – The Unity Composite High School senior girls’ volleyball ‘A’ team welcomed nine teams over the weekend for the fourth annual Truth and Reconciliation Tournament. With teams coming from near and far, the tournament is always something the girls look forward to hosting.
Each year, a ceremony is held on Saturday, where teams present something special from their treaty land. Past presentations have included businesses, historical or current individuals and celebrations. Paper orange shirts are then scattered around the gymnasium walls, each one sharing a promise from the players and coaches.
“This year we added suns, grass and water to symbolize the promise of the treaties, that they will go on as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the waters flow,” said coach Vicki Orobko.
The two Unity teams came together to also make a small gift for each participant, with this year’s gift being friendship bracelets. Past tokens have included orange scrunchies, Kokum scarf bows for hair ties and Kokum scarf lanyards.
“It is pretty special to see these items show up at other tournaments over the years,” said Orobko.
While coaches Orobko and Lauren Gartner instill some of the values of truth and reconciliation into their players, the school’s mission, ‘Building citizens striving for excellence’, is at the heart of it all.
“It is so important to recognize our miseducation and privilege. We need to unlearn and relearn in our journey to reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission states ‘It is precisely because education was the primary tool of oppression of Aboriginal people, and miseducation of all Canadian, that we have concluded that education holds the key to reconciliation.’
“Sports has a way of bringing people together and it’s a perfect opportunity to raise awareness and build relationships and understanding,” added Orobko.
Although the two local teams did not make the playoffs, Jordis Zunti did win the serving contest, winning a cupcake prize that was donated by The Cake Mama. The Bert Fox Bisons from Fort Qu’Appelle were the champions this year.
“We’ve developed a pretty special relationship with the Bisons. We have traveled back and forth to each other’s tournaments over the past four years,” said Orobko.
With next year’s event being a milestone year, Orobko said the players are the ones who do most of the planning.
“We added a ‘unity game’, where each team selects an all-around player who shows sportsmanship to participate in the game coached by alumni. The gym is packed with all the teams and it’s a great atmosphere. It is amazing to see players from all over make great plays because they speak the same language – volleyball,” added Orobko.
