Squamish Nation members celebrated community solidarity at this year鈥檚 slo-pitch softball spring league tournament in Squamish, in which they took third place.
The Icebreaker Slo-Pitch tournament, hosted by the non-profit (SSPA), took place April 25 to 27, highlighting solidarity with a large community turnout and a 鈥渉uge victory鈥� for the S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh Ts'a'nsut.
Ts'a'nsut's creator and manager鈥攁nd Nation councillor鈥擠eanna Lewis described Icebreaker as one of this year鈥檚 best tournaments, explaining that whilst the fall tournament, dubbed 鈥楩all Ball season鈥� is when new players are introduced, the spring league is the literal icebreaker for the teams, an opportunity to bond and gel together.
鈥淲e did just that, and it was a huge statement for our team to do so amazingly well,鈥� Lewis said, 鈥淵ou have to be 16 and older to play in the tournament, but all walks of life came to watch. Everyone had their babies there. It's such a great fun atmosphere, and iit was such nice weather. We're actually not used to having that nice weather!鈥滾ewis鈥� team and its name Ts'an'sut were created three years ago as an expression of the S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh peoples' solidarity.
The logo, a designed by Lewis鈥� eldest daughter, commemorates Lewis鈥� retired family team name, Wild Ones. The name Ts'a'nsut, loosely translated to English as Thunder, is about representing power, strength, and nobility, a reference to the S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh sacred symbol of the
Lewis elaborated on why the Ts'a'nsut name is in the S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh language.
鈥淲e want to let people say, 鈥極h, that's really hard to say.鈥� And we're like, 鈥榊eah, but you know, how do we think English was for us when we were learning English? It wasn't our first language either, and so we try to bring up our language in almost everything we do now.鈥欌��
SSPA鈥檚 president, Warriors player, and Nation member Michael Chandler also emphasized the communal solidarity expressed by his 鈥渂aseball family,鈥� and the spring tournament鈥檚 overall success, which had up to 1,000 people in attendance and 11 teams playing throughout. Besides Ts'a'nsut and mixed teams also from Squamish, players came from the Sunshine Coast, and Mount Currie, also known as Ts虛zil.
鈥淪quamish has had a lot of First Nation and mixed teams. My team, The Warriors [consists of] Squamish Nation players 鈥� and non-Nation players, and that's why we say we鈥檙e a big, small family. We all play together,鈥� he said.
鈥淚cebreaker is great for our league because we don't see everyone in the off-season, so it's a good feeling to be out in the field, especially when a lot of work has been put into the tournament behind the scenes. A lot of people don't see what it takes to get something going.鈥�
Chandler explained that the SSPA鈥檚 tournaments and community help raise money for the organization鈥檚 development.
鈥淥ur teams have come together over decades since the early 90s, and we have volunteers building our two fields. The demand for a third field is there, we're just trying to meet with the [District of Squamish] mayor and council to approve it. The Icebreaker, as the first term of the year, raises money to build our third field, and we want the community to get behind us.鈥�
The SSPA are holding a much larger tournament this May, with between 30 and 40 teams set to be playing.
You can join or start your own softball team via the SSPA鈥檚 website, and follow them on , and for updates.
Ina Pace is The 小蓝视频's Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) Reporter.
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