Elements of Indigenous Motivation in Physical Activity, Sport, and Life
Creators: name: Horn-Miller, Waneek
Publisher: name: The Health & Fitness Journal of Canada
Year: 2022

description: Summary of Keynote Address: Waneek, following in the footsteps of her ancestors used storytelling to share her journey as an Indigenous woman from trauma to the Olympics and beyond. Her keynote address focused on the unique Indigenous perspectives on motivation, and the role that history, community, and culture play upon its formation and maintenance. She began her keynote address discussing what sport motivation is and how we think and react. She discussed how in her sporting career she was extremely athletic, but not necessarily the most skilled. However, she had an internal drive (motivation) that separated her from her peers. She highlighted how Indigenous peoples share something, a collective identity, with other Indigenous peoples that differs from the general population and traditional colonial approaches. She also highlighted the impacts of the Residential School system on Indigenous peoples in Canada including her immediate family. She discussed how energy, love, and even anger can be harnessed for motivation. She also emphasized how anger can take away from success, eating away from your emotions and thought processes. She stressed that her journey to discovery was seventeen years in the making involving a lot of self-reflection. This included recognizing the importance of considering how the decisions made by seven generations of ancestors had provided her current opportunities. Waneek discussed the importance of taking a key role in one’s family and community. She also discussed the roles political structures, social awareness, activism, and systemic racism play on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. She emphasized the importance of others valuing the impacts of colonization on Indigenous athletes and peoples. She talked about finding the ways of managing stress in life and sports. She also described how the experiences, opportunities, activism, and challenges experienced by her mother shaped Waneek’s life and that of her sisters. She discussed the stigma, biases, and racism that she and her mother experienced emphasizing how her mother’s ability to show the strength and resiliency over these barriers was instrumental to Waneek and her sisters’ successes later in life. By watching and learning from her mom, Waneek learned at a very young age what she had control over and what she did not. Ultimately, Waneek’s mother was setting the goal for the next generation of disease free, high achieving Warriors. Waneek also discussed the importance of Indigenous athletes (like Alwyn Morris, Billy Mills, and Angela Chalmers) as role models for her as a young athlete. She continued her discussion about how trauma is a big part of what has shaped Indigenous peoples in Canada. She discussed the Oka crisis when she was 14 years old and the impact on her life. She highlighted how she was able move past this trauma through strength, resiliency, and motivation to become an elite Olympic athlete. She talked about having to figure out what type of warrior she was and how she could best honour her ancestors. She concluded her presentation by discussing how the collective motivation within her family created a fire for success.
description: The Health &amp; Fitness Journal of Canada, Vol. 14 No. 3 (2021): Proceedings from the 8th International Society for Physical Activity and Health Congress