The Alaska Baseball League is celebrating its 50th year. The league’s five teams, all from the Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula areas, play an annual season that begins in June and wraps up with a post-season “Top of the World” tournament in early August. The collegiate league uses equipment that meets Minor League specifications, and its players are unpaid so they can maintain NCAA eligibility.
Kyle Worl is an athlete and coach competing in the arctic sports category of this month’s Arctic Winter Games, being held in the Mat-Su valley. The arctic sports events, which originated over many generations in Indigenous communities across the circumpolar north, are a high- light of the games. They include the two-foot high kick, knuckle hop, and other sports linked to Indigenous hunting skills. The Arctic Winter Games also host com- petitions in hockey, skiing, skating, and other sports.
For the first time in a decade, the Arctic Winter Games will be held in Alaska this March. As arctic sports coach Kyle Worl explains in this issue, the games bring athletes and cultural celebrations from across the circumpolar north. 1970: first Arctic Winter Games were held in Yellowknife, Canada, with athletes from Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alaska. Alaska Governor Walter Hickel was an early proponent. With Canadian officials, he felt northern athletes deserved access to more international competitions. By the 2000s, Greenland, Russia, Scandinavia, and additional Canadian provinces joined the games. Alaska has hosted the games four times: twice in Fairbanks and once each in the Kenai Peninsula Borough and in Eagle River/Chugiak. Winning athletes are given ulu medals. Photo courtesy Wood Buffalo AWG
Everything about Alaska is tough, and the state’s athletes are no exception. In this photo essay we highlight five competitors in various sports.
Ultra endurance athlete Lael Wilcox bikes 20,000 miles a year. Wilcox is from Anchorage and she cycled every road in Alaska during the summer of 2017.
The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics have been held in Fairbanks every year since 1961, drawing contestants from many surrounding villages. Gathering to play games and celebrate with storytelling, dancing and sharing of food is an ancient tradition of Native people of the circumpolar north that lives on today through the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. The games were designed to hone and test skills required to survive in the Arctic. The four-man carry tests the strength required to haul game, wood, or ice for long distances. The ear pull tests the endurance required to tolerate frostbite pain. The Indian stick pull tests the grip required to grab a fish by the tail, and the greased pole walk tests the balance required for crossing creeks on slippery logs. There are many other games that test strength, agility, and endurance. Contests include fish cutting and seal skinning. Some games are just for fun and celebration.…
