Maya Smyth, the tournament’s youngest participant.
Golf balls were teed up, the shotgun echoed, and 114 elders, adults and youth kicked off the first ever Indigenous Golf Championship at Nk’Mip Desert Canyon Golf Course on Monday.
Everyone entered into the tournament is a representative of one of 80 different Indigenous communities around the province who identify as Métis, First Nations or Inuit.
Patrick Kelly, the tournament director, previous chair of BC Golf and member of the Leq:amel First Nation explained that “it is amazing, just to see the excitement.”
He said that people he knows here who have been to many different golf tournaments said that they have “never seen so many smiling and happy people at a golf tournament. The feeling of excitement is palpable.”
The inaugural tournament is part of a 15-year saga from when Kelly first had the idea.
“I came up with the idea in a conversation with my cousin, Steven Point, who was the first Indigenous Lieutenant Governor for BC. So we talked about this idea of having an Indigenous championship, especially with youth and people from all over the province.”
Kelly said he approached Chris Jonasson, the Chief Executive Officer for BC Golf with the idea, and it happened to be perfect timing because Jonasson had just received a resolution to enhance the number of indigenous people playing the game of golf.
It was “perfect timing” Kelly commented and they were both extremely happy to see all the pieces of the puzzle finally come together.
Jonasson said before the event, amidst the golfers getting their golf carts and groups together, “it’s kind of a zoo to be honest. It’s a nice zoo, but it’s a zoo. There are a lot of happy people here, including us, we are absolutely delighted to be here.”
“From our perspective, as a provincial sport organization, this is our way of trying to advance reconciliation. Getting everyone together in a social atmosphere and having fun. It’s not about the golf, it’s not about who wins, it’s about the start of something that will continue for the next 100 years.”
The diversity of the participants was something Jonasson was proud of, out of the 114, “the youngest competitor is 14 and the oldest is 82. We have everybody, we have men, we have women, 80 different communities represented from across the province.”
With the diversity of people comes with people from all over the spectrum competitively, some expressed they were just out to have fun, others were vying for a spot on Team BC for the North American Indigenous Games.
Rick Brant, Executive Director of Indigenous Sport Physical Activity and Recreation Council (ISPARC) said that, “we have been supporting BC Golf with this vision for indigenous golf championships,” noting that this is now part of their process for selecting athletes to represent BC.
“There are some junior golfers out here today that are vying for positions to go to Halifax with us,” Brant explained, which is where the next national games will take place.
Brant continued to explain, “the idea is that an event like this will hopefully generate a lot more profile around golf and draw more youth out, in the years to come that we will see a larger junior contingent that will be playing.”
“We can lower the barriers for participation, a lot of times golf is seen as an elite sport and if we can start supporting youth getting into golf programs and gaining a passion for the sport then we can direct them towards the competitive side of the game.”
