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Regional Stories - Winter 2016 THE ATLANTIC Innu Gathering at Gull Island


Spreading Ultimate to the Innu Nation By Kerry-Lynn Williams


All photos contributed by Kerry-Lynn Williams. Williams studies medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. UNL supported Williams’ project by providing discs.


This past September, as part of my Rural Family Medicine clerkship rotation, I attended this year’s Innu Gathering at Gull Island. This annual retreat is an opportunity for members of the Innu First Nation to reconnect with an older, more traditional way of life. This year, about 230 “Labrador tents” housed about 1000 people of all ages at the traditional gathering. A group of us from the


Labrador Health Centre in Goose Bay, including medical students, residents and physicians, attended the camp with several goals in mind, including health promotion and awareness. We set up a medical clinic, were available 24/7 for


medical assistance, and provided some educational awareness surrounding lifestyle choices and diabetes education. Promoting healthy lifestyles was a major goal of the week, and we wanted to engage youth in physical activity. Several sports were planned for the week, including soccer, volleyball, and ultimate. We put on three ultimate clinics and scrimmages over three days, with about 100 participants. The majority of participants were between the ages of three and 30. For most, they had never seen or played ultimate before. In the beginning, people were hesitant to join in, but were curious to find


Ultimate Canada Magazine - www.canadianultimate.com


out what we were playing, but by the end of the week it was great to see people playing outside of our scrimmages. Ultimate NL was very supportive and donated discs, so we were able to distribute them among the participants. Everyone enjoyed the throwing drills, but they were eager to get playing. If we were to do this again, I think it would be better to separate out the different age groups. As well, more promotion of our clinics would have been useful. Overall, this was a great learning experience and a unique opportunity to share not only the sport of ultimate, but also in the cultural traditions with the Innu Nation.


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