At the Ignacio High School gymnasium, young people from three tribes played volleyball against each other at the annual Tri-Ute games. This year, the Southern Ute Tribe is hosting its sister tribes, the Ute Mountain Ute and Ute Indian Tribes, in Ignacio, Colorado.
K’ia Whiteskunk is the recreation director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. She said the gathering shows unity and gives young people a chance to meet friends and relatives.
“We have relatives from the other tribes that we don't get to see,” explained Whiteskunk. “But this is a time that helps youth get to know each other and come together that maybe normally wouldn't. I think also health-wise, difficulties and different diseases and like diabetes. So keeping the kids active is important.”
Over at the Southern Ute Bear Dance trail, athletes in colored shirts ran the Ute Warrior Challenge.
Darnell Muniz is a recreation specialist at the Sun Ute Community Center. He guided kids running along the road after they'd slid down a slip-and-slide.
“The challenge is having them running bout half a mile on our Bear Dance trail all the way to the community park. We have various events like army crawl, slip and slide, and three-legged race,” said Muniz.
Muniz said that this year’s games were the first to see all three tribes reunite since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2022, the Ute Games only included two tribes. At the time, temperature checks and COVID masks were mandatory on the host reservation.
This year, the Southern Ute and Ute Indian Tribes opened youth registration to descendants of tribal members. According to Muniz, more than 200 athletes participated this year.
“It's bringing these kids together because a lot of them probably don't know that they have cousins there or relatives in and around those areas, and cousins meeting up, or friends meeting up,” added Muniz.
Next year’s Tri-Ute Games will likely be hosted by the Ute Indian tribe in Fort Duchesne, Utah.
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