About 160 Grade 7 students from across School District 58 descended on the fields of Nicola Canford Elementary last Thursday for the district’s second annual knobby ball tournament.
Knobby ball (also known as double-ball) is a centuries-old aboriginal game that has been played in various forms throughout North America. Similar in some ways to lacrosse (which is also First Nations in origin, and is Canada’s national summer sport), it involves two teams of players competing to get a ‘double-ball’ across a goal line using sticks about three feet long with a small hook or curve on the end for picking up or scooping the ball.
Central Elementary First Nations support worker Martha Chillihitzia helped organize this year’s tournament, which took place on a very warm and sunny morning.
“Traditionally, there were no rules,” Chillihitzia said. “But for safety, we had to incorporate some rules. The kids are loving it.
“We showed them the game and they went home and started making their own sticks,” she said.
The goal is to get the ball, which is actually a set of balls connected by a string about eight inches long, wrapped around the goal post.
“I think when we first introduced the game, they thought it was easy,” Chillihitzia said. “Oh yeah, hit the goal post — but it wasn’t that easy. Even the guys who are very athletic had to really try hard. It’s way harder than it looks,” she said.
This year, tournament organizers mixed up the teams by putting kids from different schools together instead of having teams divided by school.
“The purpose is providing a number of activities for transitioning into high school,” SD58 principal of aboriginal education Shelley Oppenheim-Lacerte said.
“We’ve created mixed teams so they can get to know each other.”
Oppenheim-Lacerte added the knobby-ball tournament has another major purpose, which hearkens back to the district’s aboriginal education enhancement agreement and its goal to increase First Nations students’ health and wellness, culture and language, self-worth and identity and academic achievement.
“We’re building on our First Nations cultural activities and introducing that throughout the school district,” she said.
She said they’re in the process of expanding these types of programs, and are also extending invitations to elders and members of First Nations communities to reach community members outside of the school system.
Wildland firefighters were also on hand to referee the games.
The Grade 7 students also had a lahal tournament earlier in the school year, and will have a day of traditional games in June.
“It’s a nice change from the traditional games they usually provide out there, like ball games,” she said. “The kids really like it.”
