What the Indigenous Games means to Alex Nelson, a residential school survivor – iSparc

What the Indigenous Games means to Alex Nelson, a residential school survivor

The 70-year-old soccer coach for British Columbia’s under-16 boys soccer team has been involved in the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) since it debuted in 1990. For him, the lessons learned in the game have great meaning and can help shape communities for the better.

Nelson lives in Victoria B.C. and is a member of the Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw tribes of the Kwakwala- speaking people. He is also a survivor of Canada’s residential school system in Alert Bay, where soccer was the one bright spot of his daily routine when he was growing up.

“Sports became my saving grace,” he says. For Nelson running out to play soccer each day was a symbol greater than the sport.

Read More: http://isparc.ca/what-the-indigenous-games-means-to-alex-nelson-a-residential-school-survivor/