One teenager from the Canim Lake First Nation paddled his way to a Premier Award for Aboriginal Youth Excellence in Sport, the first person from the 100 Mile District to do so.
“I was very excited,” said the teenager’s mother, Margo Archie.”He’s representing Canim Lake and 100 Mile House and considering everything 100 Mile has gone through, it’s good to see that some good came out of it.”
Terrance Hubick-Archie, 15, won the award off the back of competing for the British Columbian Provincial canoeing team at the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in Toronto in July 2017. Not only was he judged by the merit of his paddling skills but also by the 6”4 lad’s involvement in other sports, such as baseball, soccer, volleyball and playing as the goalie for the 100 Mile Wrangler midget team.
Hubick-Archie also won two bronze medals in canoe/kayak during the 2014 NAIG games in Regina and has competed in the NAIG 2008 games as a hand drummer in Duncan. In addition to hand drumming, Hubick-Archie also grass and fancy dances in pow-wows.
Placing in fourth during the 2017 games, Hubick-Archie used a teammate’s paddle and borrowed gear because his own gear was left behind the fire lines.
“We had to just scramble around last minute trying to get anything that was somewhat close to my size,” said the paddler, who uses a 52-inch paddle.”I just borrowed whatever I could.”
Luckily, one of his Team British Columbia teammates had a paddle Hubick-Archie could use. However, the paddle was a different style and Hubick-Archie said it may have hampered his performance.
“My performance was okay but I know I could have done better using the gear I’ve trained with,” he said. Hubick-Archie primarily uses a double-barreled paddle but the paddle he borrowed was a single-barreled.
Coming in fourth is still an accomplishment though, especially considering Hubick-Archie only took up the sport in 2013 and competitive sprint paddlers from the interior have a disadvantage compared to their islander counterparts, he says.
“People from the [Vancouver] Island can get more opportunity going into water and kayak/canoe all the time, compared to the interior,” he explained. “We get about five months of the year with water with no ice on it.”
Hubick-Archie also took the time to capitalize on media presence during his time in Toronto, expressing himself and explaining what was going on back home and what he and other band members were going through during the fire.
He’s thinking of competing in the 2018 British Columbia Summer games, but for the 2020’s edition of the NAIG, he might be on the sidelines as a coach.