Lunch & Learn Presentation: Arctic Winter Games 2026, 4/8/26, 12pm

And what I learned with CHAPTA mission is a French term for the leader of a multi-sport event.

So for example, it comes from the Canadian territories, they have a CHAPTA mission for their Canadian games and Olympic games and things like that. So it's carried over from there.

But usually I say executive director when I'm here in the States.

So I'll go to the next slide.

Like Nicole said, if you click on that it'll play.

Like Nicole said, we had a really exciting games this year.

We had over 275 athletes participate.

The rest of our 355 member contingent was made up of staff and coaches.

And we also brought about 27 officials,

which was really exciting and kind of new for 2026. Normally

uh with Team Alaska being the only U.S. contingent in the Arctic Winter Games, we're a little under-represented in the officials territory and we made a concerted effort to bring um I think we brought like five hockey officials, several arctic sports officials, badminton officials, um to help contribute more to the um the games themselves, so that was very exciting.

Um we were really excited. We were able to bring athletes from thirty five different towns and villages throughout the state. You can see up here on our map um they came from all over. Um we had our cultural goup c group come from Tetelik this year, which was very exciting for them. Um they put together a group of uh four dancers and a manager that came up with them to

to participate in our cultural gala.

But even though we come from all over the state, we come together as one team. For example, we've got you know our volleyball team or hockey team might comprise of individuals from up to ten different towns and they a lot of the times the first time they play together is on the court or on the ice. And so what that's a really neat thing to watch as being in my role to see them go out and play and you see you know the first quarter, the first period of the game and they don't really know it's

know what's going on but then they learn and get to know each other throughout the week and become one team so that's something I like to bring home is although we're from all over the state we still are Alaskans and we come together to compete as one.

Compete as one.

The other piece here,

this is also a video,

sorry my slides are not,

another thing that's really great is since we do compete as one team, along with that we've got athletes but we also have volunteer coaches and staff from all over the state and I'm the only paid person for Team Alaska and I'm technically a paid part-time person.

Everyone else that attends the games are volunteers.

So all of our coaches,

all of our mission staff,

they're taking off a week of work, a week out of their lives and choosing to spend their vacation time, all of the coaches who one just popped in here a second ago, but you know they're spending their week sleeping on a cot in a classroom full of kids and for the dedication to do that and to spread

add sport and cultural experiences to the next generation is just something super exciting, something that I look up to.

in in this sport next slide so something new and exciting that we also did for 2026 there is a program within the Arctic Winter Games called the youth ambassador program and Alaska has never participated in it a lot of it was do either due to funding or logistics but this year you know just as it happened I linked up with Lee Butterfield from South Anchorage High School who runs their media department

media department and we came up with this idea to bring two media ambassadors to the games and they were phenomenal and so great to work with and I have this video here I'd like to play they were not able to be here with us but they wanted to kind of let you guys know what their experience was like

Oops.

Ah.

Hello, I'm Adele Matthews, and I'm a senior.

Hi, my name is Julia Samuel and I'm a junior and we're both in the South Anchorage High School Film Program.

Through this film program we've been given opportunities to travel across Alaska documenting live streaming and promoting different events such as the Valdez Stoll Fly-In, Iron Dog and the Polar Plunge.

Through these opportunities we were able to get noticed by the Arctic Winter Games and were offered the position of being the youth ambassador through the youth ambassador program.

Our jobs as youth ambassadors look a little different than the other contingents. We traveled from event to event with the purpose of capturing what it means to be at the Arctic Winter Games and the athlete experience.

We achieved this goal by creating sizzle reels of different events, by making silly and fun Instagram reels with the athletes, and by conducting interviews.

Some of these interviews were extra special,

and we had the privilege of interviewing really important people such as the President of the Art Aquarius Games International Committee,

as well as the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Here's a look at that interview.

How important is it for you as the U.S. Ambassador to Canada as well as the rest of the United States to support youth in events like these?

Absolutely very important.

What we always say is our jobs, I used to be in Congress,

our job is to create the future for our kids, right?

That's what we do. We work on spending economic development and all those kinds of things.

On many of the many of those items we're not the ones that are going to benefit. Hopefully we're doing the things that will make America, uh you know, awesome for our kids.

Yeah. And then what value do you see in the exchange of athletic and cultural games like the Arctic Winter Games?

Oh, I think it's awesome. I mean you you know you've got uh all the Arctic or not all but a number of the Arctic countries uh represented here.

And when you take a look at the issues that we're working on for economic development, take a look at what we're doing for national security,

uh this is the time for the Arctic.

Everybody's talking about the Arctic, right?

And so uh

The more we can build the relationships, especially between young people, you'll always be amazed that, you know,

the folks that you may meet here,

I think there's 2,000 of you here, how often your paths may cross in the future,

or, you know, you may be working on some of these issues, and, you know, you'll run across somebody from Denmark or Norway or whatever,

and they'll say,

Yeah, I I was part of the Arctic Games at one time when I flew out here on Saturday, Saturday morning. You know the ambassador from Denmark, the ambassador from Iceland, uh some other folks. Uh yeah, we were all in the airport together, because why? We were all going to the same place. We were coming here.

Being together with the circumpolar region is a really important part of the Arctic Winter Games and is something that we experienced and witnessed first hand.

We had the opportunity to room with girls from Nunavut and from Greenland as they were other youth ambassadors and it was really an amazing opportunity to both learn about the differences and the similarities that we share even though we live really far away from each other.

We all share

So many things, like our climate's the same and it was just really neat to be able to meet and become friends with all of these other kids that we wouldn't have met without the Winter Games.

One example of this is through Arctic sports and Dene games.

It was something that we didn't realize that every single contingent shared the same sports and we were able to watch Alaskan teams compete with kids from Greenland and Nunavut and

new to Vic and it was really awesome and we actually make an interview with two Alaskan athletes competing in our sports.

What sport do you play and how long have you been playing that sport?

I am in Arctic sports and I've been doing this since I was six years old, so ten years.

Arctic sports as well, I've been competing for ten years as well.

What does it mean to represent Alaska on an international stage?

To me, to represent Alaska means a lot,

especially for our Inuit as well.

It's very good to be indigenous and being on the floor of Arctic Winter Games.

For me it means just representing our country in an event that has a bunch of different other contingents.

Just being on the floor, being able to connect with other Arctic athletes from different contingents is really...

Really great.

What are you most excited for this week?

One of my one thing I'm very excited for is either doing the two foot high kick or trading. I love trading clothes,

that's very fun.

I really want to trade with Greenland.

And then just meeting new people. I really love meeting people from different countries,

their experiences. I love to hear about them.

That's one of the most one of the most exciting things about this.

My one of mine would be competing in head pull and also competing in the Alaskan high kick and just like him trading trading is a big thing apart of the Arctic Winter Games

Final question, if you were a fish, what fish would you be?

I definitely say I would be a pufferfish. I think I think I would love to be a pufferfish. I don't like to be like touched like I'm not really a like

I don't like physical contact with others. And then to like blow up my cheeks that would be so much fun. Jus like that would be so much fun.

I'd be a clownfish. I like being home.

Well, thank you for letting me interview you guys.

One thing that the Arctic Winter Games did to encourage this connectedness between athletes was pin trading. Each athlete, upon arrival,

was given a different assortment of pins specific to their contingent plus other pins that were just available throughout the series of the games.

The athletes were encouraged to approach each other and talk to each other and trade pins with them. You could trade with people from other contingents, you could trade with coaches,

you could trade with volunteers.

Overall it just encouraged this setting of connectedness and happiness and it was just a really fun thing going on throughout the games.

And as Youth Ambassadors we really really enjoyed the pin trading because even though we weren't athletes we really got to experience every part about being an athlete. We— it really encouraged us to go up to other people,

other contingents, and talk to them like Adele just said. But as media-focused ambassadors, it was extra helpful. We wanted to lure kids in for Instagram reels.

Because we were able to follow team Alaska from event to event, we were able to witness the bonds and the friendships built within team Alaska teams. There was, at every event, there was a buzzing in the air, there was excitement, there was just this overall feeling of support from within the team and the athletes really got to connect and make friendships that will last them for life.

While we weren't actually athletes and were youth ambassadors instead,

we still had the opportunity to experience every part of the athlete experience,

as well as things that not everyone else got to witness.

We got to go to Youth Ambassador Brunch and meet with leaders from across Canada.

We got to go to a Truth and Reconciliation ceremony. We got to go to all these really awesome events that really encapsulated the entire Arctic Winter Games experience, not just the athletes,

not just the staff. Like, we really got to

feel, get a feel for what everything was like and that is what made our Arctic Winter Games experience really unique.

All in all, our experience at the Arctic Winter Games is one that we will cherish for life, and we can't wait for the next games.

One of the reasons why I tried to get some videos and testimony from kids is so you don't have to watch me stand up here and cry every year. Um, but it

Having them here and capture some of the um more candid moments that our athletes had was really kind of a special experience. Um she talked about we were luring them in from from Instagram reels, but that was uh really cool for friends and family back here in the States to stay connected to what their athletes were doing and um to reach out to us and um

want to be m more involved and how do I get involved next year how do I get my kids involved in this programme. Um so that was really great to have their their experience and their contribution this year. Um

One thing I did want to talk about also is Art of Winter Games is sports,

but it's also a lot more than that.

It's like they talked about in the video,

it's about the pin trading,

the uniform training,

the cultural exchange,

the being in a room bunking up with kids from another country and learning about what they do and what makes their lives different and special.

And as the ambassador talked about in his piece.

We're all part of this great circumpolar north.

The exchanges that these kids are making now may follow them down later in life and interactions that they have with other people.

And that was something that we talked a lot about within our staff was these kids are athletes, but they are also ambassadors.

These our kids are ambassadors for the north and for them to

go support their teammates and that's you know that's what they did in some of those videos you can see it you have a whole hockey team going to a curling event and cheering on their uh their teammates and that is what builds us and brings us together um some of the great things from Arctic Sports that you go see you see um contingents cheering together you see a coach from Nunavut trying to help a kid from Alaska or whatever it might be

that we're all trying to bake we're all trying to rise with the tide and the only way we can do that is to to help each other.

I have another video here that I wanted to share.

This is a former athlete and coach. She coached for me again in 2026 and I just wanted to let you hear her perspective on how she got involved and her perspective of the games.

My brother got to go and I was coaching my brother and I got to see him podium and I got to see him race and do his best and be with his team and experience this whole thing. And for me, that was really special.

My name is Sable Scotton and I was a Team Alaska athlete for two years and then I coached for one year.

Initially, I heard about Team Alaska through my high school ski team. I was a cross-country skier and a biathlete.

a certain number of students who do well in our regional like state championship get the opportunity to join Team Alaska if they're interested and so that opportunity arose to me I had heard really good things about the program I'd had friends that had gone previously who are a little older than me and they'd said really good things about it and so I was really excited to join this community and this team and be part of it after I aged out and I couldn't participate as a student anymore I wanted to be able to give back

back. I loved the camaraderie, the community of being part of this team and being part of this sport and I really appreciated the coaches who had coached me. It was all volunteer.

They took a lot of time and effort and I just wanted to be able to give back and help the kids.

below me to like come forward and try and teach them and give them the opportunity that I have I think that for any student wanting to join Team Alaska and an athlete that's given the opportunity I think that they absolutely should it was a really special opportunity for me you got to see different cultures different people from all across the world and getting that opportunity as a student getting to travel and go see new places and meet new people who have a similar interest to you

sport-wise that are just from a different place,

I would really recommend it. I think it'll be a really, really memorable experience for them.

And we had this year five coaches that had been recent Arctic Winter Games athletes that wanted to come back and coach again.

Something that I hear from athletes all the time that even some of the kids that get to participate in competitions or races down in the lower 48 they say over and over again if I had to choose between this and Arctic Winter Games I would choose Arctic Winter Games every single time because it is more than just a sporting competition it's an all-encompassing event for people to come to be together and learn learn more about Alaska and the North.

Looking ahead, I wanted to talk about a few of the initiatives that Team Alaska is going to be working on in the next few years.

If you notice on our map,

we had some holes.

We want to do some more outreach to some of the northern communities and try and recruit athletes from up in the North Slope region. And we do have some ideas for potential outreach events up there to just help spread the word.

That this is what this opportunity is there and let us help you get there if you're interested.

We continue to work with local sports programs.

Team Alaska is set up very different than the other northern contingents where,

for example, in Canada,

Arctic Winter Games is just part of their kind of sport pipeline where athletes kind of get funneled into and it's easy for them to learn and apply.

Here we try and work with other local either school programs or other nonprofit programs to help kids learn about and how they can how they can make the team and that's it's a it's a year-long process really to try and get funnel some of these sports and educate and get them to learn more.

We are also continuing to work with businesses. We have a great relationship with like Alaska Airlines.

They have been phenomenal to work with to,

you know, when you're trying to get a group of, you know, 350 plus people from one country to the other, it is no easy feat.

So they have been great to work with and have helped us learn some kind of the logistics and help us get through that, as well as other businesses just to help.

help sponsor and promote Arctic Winter Games. Uh we are going to continue working on that as well.

And at the end of our presentation here, we're looking forward to the next games and this is kind of an interesting topic as we don't quite know when and where the next set of article winter games are going to be.

The International Committee has tentatively pushed the games to 2029 due to not having a host.

They have not gotten a commitment for a community to host the games yet.

So this is another reason why we are here and it's a little bit of an unconventional way to go about this but we are hoping that potentially Fairbanks will be willing and able to host in 2028.

And I am actually going to turn the time over to

Sorry.

Oh yes, I am so sorry. Before we get into that, I did have athletes here in person, 'cause you don't wanna hear from me, but to share more about their um experience from the games. And I'm gonna turn it over to Kyle.

Goonas ti shat ye di. Thanks everyone for being here and your interest in the Arctic Winter Games. That's why I'm here today as well. I first

I took part in the Arctic Winter Games in Fairbanks in 2014 and I've been part of six games and I would love to be involved for the rest of my life. Uh it was that impactful. As a young person

Like many young people,

I had an idea of leaving Alaska and getting as far away as I could.

But the Arctic Winter Games really changes your mindset. And sometimes young people or anybody,

you need to leave your home community,

your state,

your country to get a broader perspective,

to get an appreciation of where you come from.

And my involvement in both the Native Youth Olympics and the Arctic Winter Games gave me that perspective and helped me realise my love for Alaska.

uh my pride for my culture as an indigenous person, but also an as as an Alaskan. And my commitment to invest my future here in Alaska and to help

bring up the next generation. These are two young men that uh I'll have share a few words as well, but uh I started coaching them I dunno, six years nine years ago in high school. Um so um yeah, that's it's it's this journey of these games. They once they grab onto you they hold onto you and so it's so important to keep them going. Um so I'm gonna have them each uh just share a little bit.

Hello everybody, my name's Matthew Quinto. Uh I work here at Klink and Haida as what t uh Traditional Games Specialist. I started doing these games about nine years ago. Um and it started off and just Kyle came to one of my high school classes and as to show demos to show what these games were and we went to the gym to try these out and he asked if anybody wanted to try it and I raised my hand and I joined the team after that day and uh he's right, it grabs onto you and it really does show you that appreciation

appreciation for where you came from. I didn't want to leave Alaska for good but I knew I wanted to spend some time away and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that and Arctic Winter Games let me do that and meet other contingencies. I have friends across the circumpolar north now and that's awesome for me.

Um I've done two games so far and I loved every single one of them. I've pushed every youth that I've worked with so far if they want to towards Arctic Winter Games. Yeah, I just think it's such a beautiful experience to be there and be with everybody.

everybody and even if you can't understand each other, that trading system really does make you a lot of friends. Those pins, you just have to go up, show them your pins, go hey.

And they'll pull out their pins too and then all of a sudden you're doing all this, trying to communicate, and you'll get a pin trade in.

And all of a sudden you know, maybe you have a friend and that enough is worth it. So

My name's Hayden Chartier. I started NYO in 2019. One of my friends uh I believe Eric and maybe like Andrew, couple people, introduced me. And uh Steven.

Oh yeah, is Nick, sorry. But one of my friends introduced me and I had done it when I was in elementary and got reintroduced in high school and I had done other sports before like wrestling, tracking field, some other things like football and I enjoyed those sports, but once I did N.Y.O. gave me a place where I felt a lot more with my community and people I could connect with that supported me just not in the games, but outside of it for my mind, body and my spirit. And a lot of other sports I had people I could talk with, but outside of it

There wasn't as much connection or staying together as a community. But this one, you bring it all together, even internationally, going all about, sharing your games, culture, and just a really nice place to be able to feel where you can belong and be yourself. Um

And just it's been a lot, very good impact for me, having made a friend, Matthew hadn't met him until I did NYO. And he's m one of my best friends, if not my best friend, I would consider. But uh it's been a amazing journey, even though I might not be uh native or indigenous myself, it's been a very

rock solid rock in my life to be able to have that support and connection and appreciation for the land that I live here, born here in Juneau, and learning about the culture and

How to respect and take care of and moving forward with the future generations.

And I just wanna share how special of a venue that Arctic Winter Games is for us. We're with the Native Youth Olympics, and they're now coaches carrying that torch on of the games. But as you know, Native Youth Olympics are our own indigenous sport from here in Alaska, and it's unique. And for young people, the Arctic Winter Games is the equivalent of like the NBA for basketball. It's what they dream of, it's what they

work towards. So having this venue is really

powerful for our sport to keep it strong. And it's a special occasion as well. As we know, our indigenous people were connected all across the circumpolar Arctic, and our ancestral ties goes back millennia. And this event represents a reunion of our people. And so, in that way, it is also profoundly deep that we can reconnect with these other Arctic people as well.

Hmm.

I don't know if we all introduced ourselves. Did we skip that part?

We all live here in Juneau. I'm Kyle Worl, I'm Tlingit. This is Matthew Quinto and Hayden Chartier. And yeah, we just wanna share how much we believe in Arctic Winter Games and want to keep it going strong. And this is my first time of learning this, and this is an awesome idea you

you

should all support.

Well, thank you

Um that see hearing these stories and just coming off the heels of Whitehorse just this last set of games um when word kind of started trickling out that they were gonna have to postpone the games a year,

I can't even tell you the f the flood of emails and parents pulling me aside at the games and saying is this real like are they really pushing it this far because it it um it's it's only a year but at the same time we miss a whole group of athletes.

athletes. And you know like Kyle was saying athletes aspire, they work their whole sport career to get to the Arctic Winter Games. Um and it's either arctic sports, it could be table tennis, it could be downhill skiing. But this is their time to showcase and to be a part of this event. And for it to be pushed out a year it's just it's heartbreaking for a lot of kids. And so

Um I had the opportunity to talk a little with the International Committee to say hey, would you be willing to explore this if we could get some traction and that's what we are here doing today. And I had a conversation and I'll introduce Karen Lane, who was the general manager for both the twenty fourteen games in Fairbanks as well as the twenty twenty four games in the Mat-Su Borough um to talk a little bit about more what we've already um accomplished and what we hope to accomplish.

in the future.

Thank you. So, Fairbanks 2028. So I got a phone call in Whitehorse and said, what do you think?

I never say no.

So I said it's great and came back and met with the mayor, the North Star Borough mayor and the school district.

They're all on board.

Raised $270,000 in a week.

But we do need state funding. And state funding has always funded the games when they are in Alaska.

So whether it's operating budget or the capital budget, we, in the next 2 years, we need $3.5 million.

Oh, we can't have more money? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know the rules. All right. Okay.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Yep.

Okay.

So the host society is the one who organizes the games, so the 20 sports, the 2,000 participants that come, the 2,000 volunteers that come, we schedule the volunteers, we register the volunteers, the same with the participants, and so it's a big deal. It's the same number that the Olympics has. And so anyways, it has been successful in Fairbanks,

we can do it again in Fairbanks, we have lots of people excited, so hopefully you are excited also. Any questions?

All right, thank you.

And I just want to talk a little bit about, a little more about why Fairbanks. I am from Fairbanks, and so I'm a little biased because I love my town. But I was around in 2014 when we hosted the games. My kids were little, and I remember taking them around to all the different events. And we have the infrastructure there in town.

We have the schools,

we have the facilities.

It would be super easy to make this happen again.

We have a community

volunteer base that is hungry and wants this to happen. Once we had our conversation with the borough, you know, I can't even tell you, phone call after phone call. I couldn't go to the ski hill. I took my kids skiing the week after this started, and I think I got one run in because people were just so excited to— what can I do to help? What can I do to help fundraise? What can I do to help get volunteers together? They're excited. And then beyond that,

it's a huge economic strategy piece, right? So like Karen was saying, there's a group of 2,000 athletes that come. But on top of that, you have probably 3,000 to 4,000 friends and family that will be there as well. So you've got hotels. You've got restaurants. Tourism, things like that that bring all of Fairbanks together to put this together.

Again, this is just a little recap of what you would expect

in going to the Arctic Winter Games. If you have not been to a Games, I would strongly encourage you to check it out if and when we are able to pull this off in '28. It's 8 contingents from all over the north. So, you know, as our athletes were talking about, there's kids from Greenland, kids from northern Canada, Europe come and participate in these Games and

A lot of learning and communicating and cultural exchange happens that week.

And even if you're not a direct participant of the games,

when it's an event this large in a community

the size of a Fairbanks or the Mat-Su Borough,

families want to come see their athletes compete.

And so you've got, I had friends that Airbnb'd their homes and things like that. And they're like, oh,

I have this family from Norway staying in my house.

And they have stayed friends,

right?

Like they have continued these different relationships and it's another way for us to tie our communities together

even though we are distantly so far apart.

There are 20 sports of the Arctic Winter Games. So they're hosted in various locations around—

would be hosted in various locations around the city.

Curling,

downhill skiing,

cross-country skiing,

biathlon,

snowshoe, and

ski biathlon, table tennis, badminton. There's really opportunities for kids of all— in whatever they compete in. Volunteers, again, I'll talk a little about volunteers. It's members from around the community. They provide services such as venue security to medical,

assembling, turning over the schools. The kids sleep in schools typically, so they convert classrooms into bedrooms. So you'll have a team of— you know, you could have 8 Arctic sports athletes sleeping in a classroom on cots. So we have volunteers that come in and help convert the schools to athlete villages and things.

volunteers that come from different

Oh.

schools every two years.

All right.

Yes. So we actually had a group from Alaska that got together to volunteer at the Whitehorse— at the Whitehorse Games because even though they didn't have kids anymore in the games,

they

called and said, hey, we want to do this. How do we make it work?

And even though they don't have any kids anymore doing it, they wanted to go be a part of that experience again. And I tell this to people, once you've attended or become a part of the games, it's

like you get bit by this Arctic Winter Games bug and it just doesn't ever leave you and you find a way to participate and to keep on doing this. Oh, the other piece, the VIPs and sponsors. So

similar to what our youth ambassadors talked about, we get folks come from all over the North.

Even though, for example, like Iceland is not a current participant in the Arctic Winter Games, they will send a delegation of folks to come and mingle and meet people from other areas. So it's an opportunity on even that level to host events and to

meet and give a forum for discussion. And just really quick, I know I'm probably running more out of time and I'm talking too much, but there is a federal initiative right now called America's Decade of Sport.

And it has to do with the US hosting two sets of Olympics within the next two years, as well as the World Cup and various other events throughout the country.

And this would be an amazing addition to that American decade of sport if we could host the Arctic Winter Games back here in Alaska.

There's another—

in this House bill, an institution called the Simpson Institute did a report on this and talked about, you know, back in the '70s, that's how relations were built again with China was through table tennis. Is we sent a table tennis delegation to participate in sport. And how else during— while the Arctic is such a hot topic nationwide, how else can we positively promote

relationships through our— with our Arctic neighbors?

I think sport is a great forum to do that. It gives people a chance to not just come and talk politics or talk about different issues, but we all

enjoy sport. I mean, we all enjoy seeing kids thrive and grow and learn and teaching our kids to be that next, that next generation of ambassadors and to look at— it was amazing for our youth ambassadors to come in and interview.

We had Representative Allard come and did an interview with the ambassadors and the US Ambassador to Canada. It was so cool just to hear them talk about it after the fact that, you know, there are these really important people that are paying attention to us and that we get to do— like, they're listening to what we have to say. And that's another piece of what this is about and what it could promote if it comes back here in the state.

Before I turn it back over to Nicole, does anybody have any questions for me?

Yes, and then yes.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

Yeah, and so then does everyone get to go Do you have to place to go to the Arctic Games?

Arctic Games are selected by coach or the sport, yeah. But for the one here, it's open to anybody.

Okay, when is the opening ceremony?

Opening ceremony is Saturday, 12:30 PM at JDHS, but we do start Friday evening with the

adult divisions, and then the grade schools start Saturday. We have some guests all the way from New Zealand and Mexico that were— are here to teach their traditional games and also join us in our games. So it's become its own international event as well.

That's great. And

Yeah.

is the schedule on some—

You can go to traditionalgames.sealaskaheritage.org and you'll find the schedule there.

Okay, and then there's a bunch of different ones that feed into this one or

Yeah, so that kind of goes back to the— we work with lots of local

groups.

groups to help select teams, not just for Arctic sports but for, you know, basketball or volleyball, whatever it might be, to try and get a broad base from across the state. Our goal is to try and get people from as many communities as we possibly can.

Yeah.

Yeah, thanks for bringing that up.

We can see it in person right here.

Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. And another question in the back?

Yes, I actually kind of have two questions. First off, was there any talk recently of expansion or contraction of some of the contingents and events within the Arctic Winter Games? And I suppose my second question is, were there any reasons given for the difficulty in finding a host for the next Arctic Winter Games?

Yeah, so I can address both of those. So your first question regarding contraction or expansion of the contingents, yes, that is a current discussion point.

In the past, Russia has been a participant.

Yamal Russia was another contingent. They were suspended after the war in Ukraine.

And we don't know kind of what the future looks like as far as that goes.

There have been discussions with both Labrador and Iceland to participate eventually in the games, um which would help with hosting rotation, uh which leads into your next question, um it's

I hate to blame everything on COVID,

but when COVID happened,

it threw off the hosting rotation.

In the past, it's been a pretty set rotation where, you know, Alaska hosts or Whitehorse hosts,

Alaska hosts Northwest Territories and it would go so on and each contingent would know kind of when their responsibility to host would be up next.

That kind of fouled things up a little bit and pushed one set of games off and it altered the course where another couldn't.

host as quickly. Um the other thing that had happened is Northwest Territories has not been able to host for a couple psych um a couple rounds because of uh they had fires where they had to evacuate all of Yellowknife and had a lot of it was just they're still in the rebuild phase from that.

Um so between those two things it's it has made things a little more difficult um for

uh to find a host. Alaska unique in the sense that we have multiple communities that would be good fits for hosting the Arctic Winter Games. Whereas if you're in Northwest Territories there's really Yellowknife. And if Yellowknife isn't able to do it then

uh they're kind of they're moving on to the next one. So it's a little bit of a strategic move where Alaska does have a little bit more we do have more options here um which is why um this idea kind of

my head.

We did it a couple years ago, but why not in a different community. Um so I'm hoping um as the if we can stay on this two-year cycle, we'll be able to build on that and the regular hosting rotation will be re-established and that is something that the International Committee is currently working on.

Any other questions or

All right. I'm going to turn it back over to Nicole.

Thank you, Sarah.

I really am thankful for all of you coming to share our Lunch and Learn.

A special thanks to Senator Krunk who has been an advocate for Team Alaska.

Because Senator Krunk was such an amazing basketball player in high school, he was too good.

And uh he was off the road system. Uh one of our goals

through Team Alaska is to select athletes that are in the rural areas to give them the opportunity to participate in Arctic Winter Games kind of like at a

a level above what their high school has to offer, but they're not quite good enough to make an international or a national team to participate, so it gives them the opportunity to uh compete at a at a little bit higher level.

So his support has been instrumental for Team Alaska and we really, really do appreciate that.

Thank you again for spending your lunch with us and this amazing food that is provided and if you have any questions or would like to contact us you can reach out to us on our website teamalaska.

Org. Um you can also email Sarah at Sarah at TeamAlaska dot org or myself, Nicole, at TeamAlaska dot org. Thank you very much.