The spring break event, Stronger Together, is about making sure children of the Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma learn about Native culture.
It's all about bringing the community together, said Jennifer Lieb, Echota's director of behavioral health.
“Spring break can be stressful when both parents are working,” Lieb said. “This event aims to give our children an opportunity to have fun and learn about culture.”
Andrea Littlehead brought her son Isaac Littlehead, 14, for a day of fun.
“I signed him. I saw my brother-in-law was coaching at football camp, and we knew Angel Goodrich,” Littlehead said.
Angel Goodrich is a former American professional basketball player who played for the Tulsa Shock and Seattle Storm in the Women's National Basketball Association. Goodrich was the basketball camp coordinator and was assisted by Nathan Kennedy. Kennedy is an assistant basketball coach at Arkansas Tech.
Brittany Tschetter, prevention director at Echota, worked with groups of children unloading from buses and made sure everyone was accounted for.
“We have four different events. This is our basketball [camp] “Angel Goodrich does that,” Tschetter said. “You'll be teaching them skills and working with them, but also the importance of being a student-athlete. You have to be the student before you can be an athlete.”
The cheater said it's important to get grades, otherwise you won't be able to move forward in an athletics career.
“Basketball is from 9:30 to 11:30, as well as softball and soccer. There are also cultural activities and crafts for those kids who don't want to play sports,” Shetter said.
After the activities came storytelling, and the health and prevention programme. Fishing was also an activity and the pond at the UKB complex was prepared for children.
“There are 13 vendors at the pavilion and Abraham Bearclaw, from the movie ‘Walking in Balance.’ “After lunch, the stomp dance is shown and then we head to stickball, and we’ll all join in and play stickball,” Tschetter said.
“Walking in Balance” is a culture-centered health and preventive program that means finding harmony between mind, body and spirit, so that a person can live well, the program's website states.
Most of the kids are from the Tahlequah area, but some come from as far away as Little Kansas, Siloam Springs, Vian and Broken Arrow.
“We have grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that I oversee,” Tschetter said.
Jeromy Klinger helped coordinate the events and is the TREE grant project manager.
“It's healing, recovery, expansion and enhancement,” Klinger said.
The lead grant is Native Connections, which includes TREE, Tribal Opioid Response and Medically Assisted Treatment, Tschetter said.
“part of [reason for this event] “It is prevention for all our young people,” Al-Ghashash said.
Goodrich gave the kids a pep talk before going into basketball practice.
“If you don't know, ask. Every question is a good question,” Goodrich said.
He learns more
For more information about Walking in Balance, visit walkinbalancewellness.com.
