Steve Cockney Sr. spent much of his youth participating in traditional Inuvialuit games. Today, the Inuvik-based Elder dedicates significant amounts of time to teaching a new generation of young people how to play those same games.
"We just want to carry it on and make sure that each and every game is played properly," Cockney said. "Our old coach [Edward Lennie] would say to us, 'There's only one way of doing these games right — and that's doing it the right way."
Cockney was born near Tuktoyaktuk, and grew up in the small community perched on the edge of the Beaufort Sea. He was "quite athletic" from a young age, he said, and was initially drawn to sports like volleyball, soccer, basketball and baseball, but when he was a young teenager, he was introduced to traditional Inuvialuit games, and he was immediately hooked.
The games have existed for generations, according to the Elder, and were played by his peoples' forefathers, oftentimes as a way to unwind after a hard day of work, or as a way of keeping occupied while hunting for food out on the land.
Although the games are still played, they have changed quite a bit over the years.
Back in the days of Cockney's ancestors, the games were not so much about competition, but about having fun together. In fact, players would often help each other during contests, just as they did on hunting trips on the land.
"If you're out on land and you see someone that's having problems, you go out there and you help them out," he explained. "Whatever problems that they are having, like if they're cold or something, you can provide them with whatever you have.
"In that way, as athletes for our games, we learn from that. We learn to help each other out," he continued. "For instance, with the high kicks, if we see someone having problems — someone that's not on our team — we go up to them and we give them a little bit of a hint. We tell them, 'Try it this way.'
"That's what was taught to us from from our coach at that time, Edward Lennie. We carry that on and it's still being carried on today with our games, especially now that we don't live off the land as much as we used to when we were growing up. Now we take the games as a competition, but we continue having the uniqueness of the games, like helping each other out."
Despite the enduring tradition of athletes helping each other out, traditional Inuvialuit games are certainly competitive today. The games are part of the Arctic Winter Games (AWG), and Cockney's former coach was instrumental in that development.
"There was an event that was happening in the late '60s, early '70s," he recalled. "It was called the Arctic Winter Games.
"These games that were played in these territories, they were school games that were taught as young kids going to school, like basketball, volleyball, soccer, hockey — all the games we were introduced to and competed in.
"Now, when Edward [Lennie] and his boys and some of the Elders got together and they noticed the Arctic Winter Games, that was something that they looked into... Edward was asking, how come it's called the Arctic Winter Games when we don't have our traditional games in there?"
For the first few years that traditional Inuvialuit games were included at the AWG, they were treated more as a "showcase" or "demonstration," according to Cockney, who was a participant himself. Eventually, however, a competitive element was introduced. Once that happened, games went from having more players than spectators, to far more spectators than players, he said.
"It's really progressed a lot," he added.
While the games Cockney played as a teenager in Tuktoyaktuk have certainly evolved in some ways, he still believes it's imperative to keep these traditions alive. He routinely teaches young people in Inuvik about the games.
He admits he "didn't really care to coach" at first, and joked that he often wanted to compete himself when his young athletes were in competition, but he eventually began to feel great pride and satisfaction when he noticed "these youth coming in and just enjoying the games."
Cockney intends to keep doing his part to preserve his peoples' traditional games for as long as he can.
When he's no longer able, he's optimistic the oldest players that he teaches will be ready to take up the mantle and do their part to keep the tradition alive in his stead.
"I'm so glad today that our games are strong — very, very strong — and it's continuing and it's being passed on," he said. "Once [my colleagues and I] are done with the games, it will still carry on with whoever we passed it on to."
