By Nate Bisson
64 tribes from across the country competed in this year’s 5th annual Battle of the Nations basketball tournament located in Spokane, Washington. On April 4th, teams met at Spokane Casino for mandatory check-ins, followed by a grand entry ceremony and live drawing for game times.
The grand entry started with an honoring of flags by Indigenous Veterans, followed by songs and dances as all tribes were introduced and welcomed onto the floor.
This basketball tournament is very unique in that Tribal members can only play with the tribe they are enrolled in. Tribal IDs are verified at check ins on the first day. The tournament director and creator is Spokane tribal member Jerry Ford Redbone.
On April 5th, Muckleshoot faced off against Skokomish in the first round and won by more than 20 points. Next, we battled against Blackfeet Nation and won by 20 as well.
On April 6th, we fought hard against Lapwai Nation, but came up short losing by 10. Lapwai ended up finishing 4th place in the tournament. Our final game was also on April 6th, we played a very tough Coeur d’Alene Tribal team and lost.
Out of 64 Tribal Nations, Muckleshoot finished in the top 16 teams in the country. We’re hoping to return next year and improve our ranking.
WINNERS:
MUCKLESHOOT TEAM ROSTER:
Meet April Brown-Marter, Ashleigh Kilgore, and Jeffrey A. Plancich, MA, LMHC ─ three new employees at the Muckleshoot MindCare Clinic and Behavioral Health Program.
After many long months – even years – of preliminaries, the2023 Canoe Journey To Muckleshoot: Honoring Our Warriors began in earnest when an estimated 250-300 visitors filled a casino banquet room to capacity on Saturday, January 21, 2023.
The prestigious Muckleshoot Gold Cup Indian Relay Race Championships have been confirmed for Father’s Day Weekend, June 16-18. There are several relay race championships in the West, but none is farther west than this one!
After four consecutive elections where all three incumbents were sent back for another term, the Muckleshoot Tribal Council now has a new member. He is Leeroy Courville Jr.,who is proudly following in the footsteps his late father.
The Muckleshoot Messenger is a Tribal publication created by the Muckleshoot Office of Media Services. Tribal community members and Tribal employees are welcome to submit items to the newspaper such as news, calendar items, photos, poems, and artwork.
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