by Oklahoma City, OK , February 10, 2016– The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Department of Athletic Regulation continues its commitment to athletic regulation across Indian Country by announcing the dates for the 4th Annual Indigenous Athletic Commissions Summit. The Summit will be held March 29th through April 1st in Oklahoma City. The Summit is intended to serve as an educational tool for tribes that are regulating combative sports on tribal lands or are considering forming an athletic commission or compacting with another tribe or state commission. Combat Sports are defined as any contact based fighting sport where the rules dictate the winner is chosen by either disabling an opponent or outscoring the opponent on a point based system of scoring. The most commonly regulated combat sports are Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Muay Thai, and Kick Boxing.
The Summit has traditionally been held at Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota but after The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe purchased the Embassy Suites at Will Rogers World Airport last year, the commission decided to change things up. “Our goal is to reach out to as many tribes as possible.” Stated Commission Chairman, Wally St. John. “We feel that by utilizing our new property in Oklahoma City, This will enable more tribes to attend. A majority of the tribal commissions are located in Oklahoma and Minnesota, we decided to bring it to them in hopes of making it more affordable for everyone.”
This year’s topics will include an introduction to “Community Based Athletic Regulation.” This is something that the Mille Lacs Band is pioneering. This is the idea that the commission can impact and improve social conditions that impact nearly every tribal community in the United States. “We are working on a number things right now, We have sent a representative to the American Heart Association’s Tribal Wellness Summit, We are working on implementing their ‘Get Fit’ Initiative, We have plans for a youth commission, to get our youth involved, we are planning life skill training such as CPR for all of our fight inspectors. We believe we will make a huge difference in the upcoming years.” Said Commissioner Percy Benjamin. There will be also sessions on HIPAA regulations, Tribal Sovereignty, The dangers of hosting unregulated boxing and MMA events, an update from the Association of Ringside Physicians and much more.
One of the highlights will be Key Note speaker Glenna Stumblingbear-Riddle, PhD (Kiowa). She serves as the Assistant Director of the Trauma Informed Care Division, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Tribal Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center, Indian Country Child Trauma Center, at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She will speak about Generational Trauma and how having positive outlet and positive role models can help combat this epidemic. “Being from the ‘Indian Capital of Nation,’ Anadarko, Oklahoma, I have seen first hand, the effects generational trauma. In fact, my hometown is going through a crisis right now. We have had 3 murders and 4 suicides since Christmas- all involving young people, 22 and younger. I had this feeling that by introducing a positive outlet such as Martial Arts and giving our youth positive Native American role models, such as many of our fighters, we can make difference. A few months ago, I made a call to Dr. Stumblingbear-Riddle and explained this to her. I was nervous, I thought she might laugh me out of the room but to my surprise, we were on the same page. She felt this could make a difference. I knew we had to book her to speak. So I worked on her and finally got the commitment I was looking for. This was the missing piece to our puzzle. Now we KNOW this model will work. I can’t tell you how excited I am. Not every tribe will be able to do this, but if we can start here there is no telling what changes we will see.”- Stated DAR Director Matt Roberson
The Indigenous Athletic Commissions summit is open to all elected officials, gaming officials, casino management, athletic commissioners, fight inspectors, referees, judges and Native American combatants. For more information or to reserve your room, please visit www.IACSummit.com .
