Dateline: Wed, 26 Mar 2008
freeNewsArticles Story Summary: “STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo., March 26 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — ‘I won the gold because everyone helped me,’ said 6 year-old Oglala-Sioux, Delaney Tyon, at Nastar’s National Ski Championships, according to Olympic skier Suzy ‘Chapstick’ Chaffee, co-chair of Native Voices Foundation (NVF). The event including Canada and Australia, was held at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, last week.”
A R T I C L E:
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo., March 26 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — “I won the gold because everyone helped me,” said 6 year-old Oglala-Sioux, Delaney Tyon, at Nastar’s National Ski Championships, according to Olympic skier Suzy “Chapstick” Chaffee, co-chair of Native Voices Foundation (NVF). The event including Canada and Australia, was held at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, last week.
“I’m so proud of Delaney,” said Olympian Billy Kidd (Abenaki), now Captaining the Native American Olympic Ski Team. “He’s the fastest six-year-old on skis. Four runs means he was consistently fast,” said Kidd, who put Delaney and his grandparents, Kathy and Lou of Pine Ridge, SD, under his wing, including jobs. And the pint-sized phenomenon got coaching at Steamboat’s Winter Sports Club, producer of over 60 Olympians. “Both Native American Olympic Hopefuls, Dalaney and Mariah Cooper (14 yr old Lac Court Oreille), are a joy to work with. They’re smart, fun, great kids and students,” said Billy. As NVF board members, he and Chaffee are assisting Native youth with opportunities to compete in the Olympics. While training with the best, Mariah, who “prayer signed” for two Wisconsin Governor’s events, was inspired to honor Delaney with a ceremony after his earlier victory, saying, “He’s a very nice boy.”
Delaney’s mom, Misty Tyon, first contacted NVF through www.SNOW-RIDERS.ORG, after Dalaney was featured on Rapid City TV for “skiing like a Pro” (www.Rezriders.org). Delaney credited his Grandpa Lou, Derren Derosier, Terry Peak’s Ski School Director, and watching people, for his technique.
Mariah fell in love with skiing after Billy and Suzy inspired Ski Industry leaders to donate 60 pair of skis so Indian youngsters could compete in Wisconsin’s 2003 Birkebeiner X-Country Race (14 countries). Last year, Mariah placed 2nd in her age group.
“I found Suzy also on the internet and she and Billy made it possibly for my parents, Dale and Nancy, and I to get my dream coaching to compete in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.”
“Mariah is another beautiful ‘clean and lean’ role model. Also competing in track in September’s North American Indigenous Games in Vancouver, Mariah was voted to represent the voice of Indian youth on NVF’s board,” said Chaffee.
NVF is a non-profit Colorado 501(c)3, partnership of U.S. Tribal leaders, Elders and Olympians. Their mission is “To create joyful unity through sports and education to help heal Mother Earth for all our children.”
All trademarks acknowledged.
###
Copyright © 2008 by Native Voices Foundation and Send2Press® Newswire, a service of Neotrope® – all rights reserved. Information believed accurate but not guaranteed. Sourced on: freeNewsArticles.com.
• Story Title: Six Year-Old Indian Is Nastar National Ski Champion
• REFERENCE KEYWORDS/TERMS: ski champion Delaney Tyon, , , Native Voices Foundation, Ski and Snow Sports, , , .
IMPORTANT NOTICE: some content which is considered “old” or “archival” may reference an event which has already occurred; some content possibly considered “advertorial” may also reference a promotion or time-limited/sensitive offering, and in all of these instances certain material may no longer be valid. For notably stale content, you should directly contact the company/person mentioned in the text (Native Voices Foundation); this site cannot assist you with information about products/services mentioned in the news article, nor handle any complaints or other issues related to any person/company mentioned or promoted in the above text. Information believed accurate but not guaranteed as of original date of story [Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:43:19 GMT].
USE THIS CONTENT FOR FREE: To use this content in your newspaper, broadcast outlet, news portal, blog/ezine or similar, free of cost, CLICK HERE to learn how.