Girls rez-ball players to tour Spain

WINDOW ROCK

Seven of the Navajo Nation’s brightest talents will take their basketball skills to tour Spain next month.

The seven players represent three high schools and will be coached by Tuba City’s Kim Williams.

The team will leave Phoenix on July 8 for an eight-day excursion under the umbrella of the American Congress of International Sports.

“They are getting a lot of exposure, internationally,” Williams said. “The biggest thing is they are going to be is ambassadors for female sports, especially for high school athletes.”

Williams enlisted four girls from her basketball program with Larissa Yazzie, Chenille Nodman, Shiala Dugi and Talisha Attakai taking part. In addition to those players, Williams also recruited American Leadership Academy sisters Samantha and Tiffany Quigley along with Page Lady Sand Devil Mikala Benally.

“I did open the recruitment to girls in the 3A North Region,” Williams said. “I had some sign up but because of the cost of the trip they kind of dropped out.”

According to Williams, the cost of the trip was roughly $4,000 per person and each individual raised the money over the past few months to make the trip.

“I want to thank all of their supporters who helped them fundraise,” she said.

Williams, who took part of a visit to Italy in 2015 under the same program, said she’s happy to go on a second tour. Four years ago, she was selected based on being one of the few Native American women coaches in the high school ranks.

“The ACIS is really trying to advocate for female sports and with that they were looking for female coaches,” she said. “They found me on Maxpreps.com and at that time they wanted to see an all-Native American team.

“They heard about the crowds we bring back at home and they wanted to see how we were different to other teams,” she said.

Williams said it was optional for her to go and based on her previous experience she decided to lend her expertise.

“The program is run really nice,” she said. “They really took care of us. We were safe all the time. It’s a top quality program so that is why I’m going back.”

As champions of the sport, Williams said her group will serve as “ambassadors” since Spain does not have established girls sports program at the high school level.

“They’re trying to establish their programs like ours here in the United States,” she said. “They want to increase female participation at the high school, collegiate and international level.”

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