DEVELOPING THE FUTURE

For Peguis Mohawks and Redmen general manager Mike Sutherland, it’s all about giving back. Not just on a personal basis, but he tends to encourage his players to do the same thing. Whether it’s fastpitch softball or ice hockey, he wants his players to think about others, especially the young kids in the Peguis community, as often as they think of themselves. With paying-it-forward as a starting point, Sutherland will soon embark on a new program to help instill the spirit of giving back into his teams. It will be called the Redmen Development Corporation and it will be geared toward developing the next generation of Redmen and Mohawks. “We started making it a point to coach the younger kids last year,” Sutherland said. “A number of players on the team have little kids who are starting to grow up and it’s getting to the point where we want to start putting their teams in tournaments that we play in. That way, the guys can travel with their kids. We now have Mohawks Kids and Redmen Kids so we made four teams – U7, U9, U11, U13 and we’ve expanded that to other kids in the community. We want to support the development of the kids whose parents are committed to covering their own expenses. We pay the registration fees for the teams while the parents look after themselves. And that’s been good. “We call these teams the Junior Redmen so that it represents who we are and what we do. We are looking to incorporate now into the Redmen Development Corporation and it’s all about hockey development, ball development and youth development.” TOUGH TIMES AT PEGUIS It hasn’t been easy on many Manitoba First Nations the last few years, but now that Peguis is coming out of the cloud of flood evacuation and things are slowly starting to get back to normal, Sutherland wants to do as much as he can with the resources at his fingertips – his players. “We’ve been talking to Mel Whitesell, the executive director of the Manitoba Aboriginal Sport & Recreation Council, about working with the North End Hockey Development program,” Sutherland said. “We said, ‘If you want to start a ball program, we’re here for you anytime.’ The young guy who runs the program, Quinton Denechezhe, has done a really awesome job, bringing all the North End kids together to play House League at Seven Oaks. We actually made some teams for them. Two U9s and one U7 went to the MICEC tournament. There were some parents who didn’t even have the $15 a day to get in and watch their kids, so I took some of the Redmen Development money to pay their way in. We love giving back and we love supporting anybody who wants to be part of the program. “When you do good things, your programs are successful.” ALL GOOD IDEAS NEED HELP Projects like the Redmen Development Corporation can’t be successful without corporate partners and Peguis has many, including lawyer Brian Meronek, Sigfusson-Northern and First Peoples Law out of B.C. “Our corporate sponsors love what we do for people,” Sutherland said. “Some of our sponsors started when the kids were just starting out and now, they’re still playing in their 30s at the International Softball level. “We’re also great ambassadors for sport and the Redmen program is well-known throughout North America. We have plenty of second and third-place finishes in events that have included some awesome, amazing teams. Now, we’re getting invitations from all over – Texas, Ontario, New York. It’s amazing for these kids. “Now, we’re changing all of our programs to one development program. We want to have hockey schools, we want to develop all the little kids, not just the top kids. We want to give everyone a chance to play and develop because you are only as strong as your weakest link. That’s the Redmen. We’ve developed all our players to be the best, not just a chosen few. We have a brotherhood and that’s what we want to teach the little kids. At the young ages, it’s not about winning, it’s about everybody participating. And it’s nice to have parents pat our guys on the back because they see that their kids are going to develop here. The idea of wanting to win is good, but for us, the idea that everybody plays is more important.” If everyone plays, everyone has fun. And ultimately, that’s the purpose of youth sport. “Kids are having fun,” Sutherland said. “That’s so important. If you want to learn the game, you must have fun. Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win and getting better is. With this new Development Corporation, we can achieve those goals. In hockey, we’ll develop kids over the summer and have them ready to play in the fall. According to Sutherland, the new RDC will transcend not just the Redmen and their hockey and softball successes. It will be about a lot more than just playing tournaments and raising trophies. MORE THAN JUST PLAYING THE GAMES “It’s about all the work that we do,” said Sutherland. “It’s not just about the Redmen team itself. It’s about the boys giving back. For example, this summer we’re coaching the North American Indigenous Games U16 fastball team. We’ve always had the U23 Redmen program so those players and graduates from that program are going to coach the provincial U16 team at NAIG. “As well, Dylan Tonkin is a young pitcher out of New Zealand who is pitching in the Netherlands until the end of June. Then, he’s coming over here and he’s going to throw for our Redmen senior team and our U23 team. We’re working with New Zealand to try to create an exchange program so we can start sending some of our younger boys over there to develop year-round. It’s an awesome opportunity. We’ve played the New Zealand team two or three times and it’s great competition. “It’s not just about softball. We have a Redmen hockey program where we play Division 1 in the Winnipeg Rec Hockey League and this year, we finished second to Norway House, the defending Fred Sasakamoose tournament (recognized as the National Native Senior Hockey championship) champions. So that says a lot about both programs. “The boys know that it’s time to give back. We’ll soon have some ball clinics in Peguis and Fisher River to increase the level of athletic ability among the kids. Fastball and hockey are our sports. We must give back to them.”