Camaraderie and Culture
![Side-by-side pictures of an NYO competitor preparing for, then executing, a one-foot high kick inside the St. Michael school gym.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2018-SMK-NYO-Games-2-Up-2432px-1200x800.jpg)
If you ask a Western Alaska school-aged child to name their favorite sport, the most common response will likely be “Native Youth Olympics,” or NYO. The games aren’t just a way for students to compete and develop athletic skills; they’re also a means for youth to connect to subsistence culture and learn to support each other.
Unalakleet Teens Reach New Heights at NYO
![Wrist-carry competitors race at the 2018 BSSD NYO tournament in St. Michael, Alaska.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-04-20-bssd-nyo-st-michael-alaska-001-7-1200x900.jpg)
Two Unalakleet competitors, Allie and Arctic Ivanoff, were the highest-scoring athletes in the 2018 statewide Native Youth Olympics. They placed in the top 5 nine times over six separate events during the games held at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
Unalakleet Teen Sets Three District-Wide NYO Records
![Allie Ivanoff competes in the Canadian One-foot High Kick in the 2018 BSSD NYO.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-04-20-2432px-001-3-1200x900.jpg)
Allie Ivanoff of Unalakleet broke three district-wide records at last weekend’s BSSD NYO tournament in St. Michael.
At Subway Basketball Showdown, Close Games and Family Pride
![Nome girls, in white, fight with Unalakleet girls, in brown, fight to recover the basketball](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/3G7A9409-1200x800.jpg)
The Unalakleet boys and Kotzebue girls teams came out on top of at a competitive weekend of high-school basketball last Thursday through Saturday.