‘We’re natural-born runners’, Wings of America teach healthy living, culture of running

CROWNPOINT
The Wings of America facilitators used a collage to present the 30-plus campers with a visual about the purpose of running.

In its presentation, they discussed how running is implemented in the coming-of-age ceremony for womanhood among the Diné and Apache tribes.

They also spent some time talking about some historic Native runners like Olympic gold medalists Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) and Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota), as well as two-time silver medalist Louis Tewanima of Hopi and 1907 Boston Marathon Champion Tom Longboat from the Onondaga Nation.

They also spoke about some current runners like UNM athlete Ali Upshaw and Jordan Marie Daniels, a Lakota women who is raising awareness for MMIW.

Glendale Allen, the lead facilitator at the Crownpoint camp, said running plays an integral part to the Native American culture.

“I think running is important to us because it’s who we are,” he said. “We use running for different occasions, such as running towards the East in the morning for blessings and we also use it for our ceremonies.

“As Natives, we’re natural-born runners,” he added.

At the three-day camp at Navajo Technical University, the Wings group saw an increase in numbers each day with the final tallying over 40 participants last Friday.

“It helps a lot because we’re able to play more games,” Allen said of the increased enrollment. “It makes it more fun and interesting for us and the other kids.”

Wings facilitator Jazmine Smith agreed.

“It’s more fun when we have more participants,” she said. “The bigger the group, the more fun we’ll have.”

The high school and college-aged facilitators engaged the campers in several games while also discussing the importance of running and nutrition.

“It’s a lot of fun,” 12-year-old Derrick Nez said, “but it teaches you how to watch what you eat, how to keep a healthy diet.”

“It helps you to stay away from gangs,” Wyatt Smith added. “It keeps us active too.”

Eleven-year-old Hanson Burnside said the games they played were fun, but he also gained some knowledge about living a healthy lifestyle.

“It teaches you certain things like how to watch your diet,” he said. “It teaches you to keep pushing yourself. All that stuff is what’s going to help you throughout your life.”

The three campers said they would recommend others to join the Wings camp next year as the Crownpoint site was the final one for the 2023 summer.

“June was a really good month for us,” said Smith, who currently runs on the Eastern New Mexico University women’s cross country and track team.

“Our camps were spread out, so we had time to go home and spend more time with our families,” the Wings facilitator said.

During the month of July, Smith said they stayed pretty busy, going from one camp to another.

“It got pretty hectic, but overall, the camps we did were worth it,” she said. “You know, each camp had their own unique thing about it, and it’s great to be among other facilitators.

“One of the reasons why I came back for a second year is I like spending time with kids from different regions,” she said. “I think it’s very important to teach them about running history and nutrition. That is what motivated me to come back.”

For Allen, this was his sixth year with the Wings group, and he hopes his experience will help in the coming months as he will serve as an assistant coach at Kirtland Central High under head coach Lenny Esson.

“This job is a lot of fun, and I’ve grown to like it,” he said. “I enjoyed my time being here. I’m going to use this as building a foundation for my coaching career because it helped me see things at different angles and different perspectives.”

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