Meet the one-person team who represented California at NAIG

The 2023 North American Indigenous Games in Halifax featured athletes from the far north to the deep south. 

This includes California, which was represented by a single athlete, Maia Hideg, who won five bronze medals in swimming. 

Hideg, who's from San Diego, heard about NAIG from her mother who found out about it on social media. 

The 15-year-old decided to register and attend, representing California on her own. 

"I knew I was going to make new friends," she said.

And she did. 

While practising before the races, she met some competitors from Wisconsin who ended up "adopting" her onto their swim team. 

"We just saw her swimming alone at practice one day, so we started swimming with her," said Izzi Zablocki, a swimmer on Team Wisconsin.

The team said they've all become good friends, and many of the Wisconsin swimmers say meeting Hideg was a highlight for them. 

"I got to meet someone from California, it was dope," said Allison Giroux. 

Hideg said despite being from opposite ends of the U.S., their similarities stem from a love for swimming and they plan to stay in touch. 

Hideg's heritage is Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan, said her father, George Hideg. He said after swimming, her second love is surfing.

Even being from the south, Hideg and her Wisconsin teammates said along with the friendships they made, the humidity of the games will remain in their memory. 

"It's way more humid here than in California," Hideg said. 

The week-long games were interrupted by historic flooding that affected numerous areas of Nova Scotia, and cancelled the closing ceremonies as well as some of the final competitions.