All-Indigenous team wins broomball championship in New York

An all-Indigenous broomball team from Quebec has won the championship at the Syracuse CanAm broomball tournament in New York.

Now the AlgonCrees want to take their talent further: to the World Championships in Paris, France.

"I had this vision of coming up with our own Indigenous team," said team captain Lorrain Nottaway, who is Algonquin from Barriere Lake. "There's a lot of potential within our region" 

The team name represents Algonquin and Cree people from across Quebec coming together to compete in high level broomball. The Syracuse event Jan. 19-21, marked the first time the AlgonCrees competed together in a tournament.

"One of the highlights was definitely our final game," said Nottaway.

"We were down two points in the last two minutes, and we managed to catch up and bring it to overtime."

They recorded four wins and one loss to become champions in the women's category.

Many team members are mothers with full-time jobs or students from Waskaganish, Pikogan and several other communities.

Amanda Mayappo-Neeposh, who is Cree from Waswanipi, plays defence.

"We've always talked about wanting to take an Indigenous team to one of these big tournaments, especially in the USA," said Mayappo-Neeposh.

It was an emotional game for her not just because it was an all-Indigenous team winning the championship.

The AlgonCrees wore a blue, light blue and pink ribbon on their jerseys that represents Cree leukoencephalopathy (CLE) in honour of Mayappo-Neeposh's baby, Ottilia, who passed away last October. 

CLE is an incurable genetic disease that affects a Cree infant's brain development. Babies usually pass away within a few weeks or months of their birth, according to the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay. 

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