Dene Games Snow Snake

Shākāt covered some of the Dene games practices over the weekend. We interviewed Kaydin Hare, a young first nations man who is taking part in the Snow-Snake event.My name's Kaydin Hare, I am a Dene games athlete for Arctic Winter Games. This will be my third year attending this event. This is snow-snake, It is one of the five sports we're practising for Dene games.

Basically the trick here is to get the snow-snake as far as you can because during the actual events there will be a really long course There's a technique to do this, you need to get low to the ground the stick has to be as straight as possible with the ground.

When you're throwing, you have to find the middle measuring point on the stick. If you throw it pointing too much down it will stick in the ground. If it's throw too much pointing up the back will hit and it will slow the stick down. But if you find that balance point and you can feel it, the stick needs to be straight as possible. You can get a nice smooth straight long throw.

During the actual events, there will be a little box for us to stand in, it's encouraged to go behind the box so you can get a nice running start and so you can get more power into your throw. This is a good idea because this was used as a hunting method way back in the day for first nations people. They used to put spears on the end of the sticks and they throw it and hit rabbits, moose, deer, elk whatever they can get when they're laying down.