Young Shuswap Man made it to NAIG

By Julia Magsombol - Local Journalism Initiative julia@columbiavalleypioneer.com

On July 15 to 23, Chayton (Chay) Martin, a young man from Shuswap, played softball fastpitch in North American Indigenous Games (NAIG)

“I have a rich history of [softball in] my family when I was little or when I was born….. I was always at the park [playing],” said Martin.

The fourteen-year-old man also mentioned that he learned to play from watching his father play sports. Jason Nicholas, Martin’s uncle, said their First Nation family has a history of playing softball. Their grandfather and uncles were part of a group called BC Arrows in the ‘80s. They won several Canadian championships.

“Growing up playing sports on reserve…. everybody just got together to play ball for the past time,” Nicholas added. And that’s where Martin got his talents and witts in playing softball.

He mentioned that in the game at NAIG, he became a member of the U16 men’s softball team, a more advanced team for his age.

Nicholas explained that before the games, NAIG had sent out an invitation letter to Martin to go to the first camp, where they evaluated the players. Nicholas said there were four camps overall, meaning four rounds of evaluations. NAIG narrows down