For the first time in over 25 years, a one-of-a-kind youth development camp was held in Tuktoyaktuk.

From July 19 to 24, the 快盈v3 Games Youth Summit helped youth aged 30 and under to improve their physical, social and cultural knowledge.

鈥淚t makes the soul feel good to see the kids are proud of their cultural heritage,鈥� said 快盈v3 Games Society executive director Donald Kuptana. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really unique set of sports and we want to continue that. We鈥檙e seeing the change from the first day to the last day. Kids are just so happy, learning new skills and becoming more confident. They鈥檙e challenging themselves to become more involved in the games, so it鈥檚 great to see.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really great feeling. We鈥檙e so happy the youth are taking such interest.鈥�

Kuptana said approximately 80 youth from across Canada and beyond came out to improve their skills and reconnect with their culture, including from Tagish, Whitehorse and Taco River Yukon, Yellowknife, Edmonton, and a youth even made his way up from Dante, California for the event.

Aside from learning and developing skills in traditional 快盈v3 Games such as the one foot high kick, muskox push, airplane and many others, youth also practised traditional social games, joined storytelling circles with Elders and enjoyed nights of dancing.

Bringing youth together to develop friendships spanning the North was as much a goal as improving athletic prowess, noted Kuptana.

鈥淲e want the youth to build resiliency and go home to play the games for the rest of their lives,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e had a lot of good interactions with our Elders and our peak athletes. The youth were able to learn more about the history of the games from our story telling and to learn about being a good man or good woman from the skills that come from the land.

鈥淵outh were able to hear lots of good stories from our Elders from all of our Beaufort Delta communities.鈥�

With the first run at running a 快盈v3 Games Summit a resounding success, Kuptana said the society was eager to put on more. Planning is already underway for the Circumpolar Games in Inuvik as well as another Youth Summit.

Time is of the essence. Kuptana said it was important for Elders to share their knowledge with youth while they鈥檙e still able.

鈥淭his is our first annual youth games and we plan to continue this,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 our responsibility to pass on the history and proper technique to youth. Not all of us are going to be around forever and we want to make sure the traditions are passed on to the youth so they can start taking over.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 stop now. We鈥檙e building capacity and resiliency for our youth.鈥�