My name is Lona Johnson. This is my husband, Joe Johnson.
We are paddlers with the Rikkole Cree Canoe Club.
I am also very proud to serve as the health director
of the Nooksack Indian tribe.
Part of that work is to help our youth
with the prevention of drugs, alcohol and suicide
using our canoe way of life.
I started paddling when I was 11 years old.
I was very fortunate. I think that paddling—and a lot of people have testimony—that they believe
paddling has saved their lives.
And I think it gives our people a sense of belonging.
All: One, two, three, Rikkola Cree!
With paddling, we're taught to respect the cedar tree
because it gave up its life for us.
So when we paddle and we breathe and we count on our switches and all of our breaths
and our sweat and our sacrifices bringing that canoe–in a sense–back to life
and keeping our culture alive. And that's what our ancestors and our elders
want from us: to be a healthy people.
Before a race we try to get mentally ready.
You know, stretch out. My dad says, "Bring your minds to the canoe."
"Forget everything else. Now it's time to focus on the canoe and what we're going to do."
He tells us to visualize all of us working together.
One heart, one mind, one paddle.
We're all in it together.
We say a prayer before we race. We pray for the community that we're paddling in,
for the people in the community, for our canoes, for our paddlers.
So I think the emotional-spiritual component is just as important to us as the physical sense of paddling.
We try to teach that to our kids–to our paddlers.
The canoe races that we get to do every weekend throughout the summer bring people together.
It allows different canoe families to meet up with other canoe families and all the relations
that can be connected within each different canoe club.
So the competition is fierce, but it's a healthy competition.
You know, everything that happens on the water stays on the water.
When the race is complete, everybody says, "Good race."
High fives, smiles, waves and it's all in good fun and good competition.
[cheering]
One weekend you could win. The next weekend something could happen.
You never know what's going to happen in a race.
It could be the water, the weather, the waves, a bad switch, anything can happen in a race.
The canoe filled up about halfway with water.
I don't know if you noticed, but we didn't switch on the way back when we were coming in.
We had to hide on one side because we had so much water.
Seeing the love of the sport and the way of life
and other cultures, you know, that's—that's amazing.
From the beginning of our season to the end of our season, we know where we're going to be,
we know what we're doing, we have goals, we have milestones that we like to reach.
PRs will follow, just like in CrossFit.
We have structure. We have a place to work out. We have the WOD on the board.
You go through your whole routine, warm-up, stretches. We do the same thing in paddling.
Technique, form, warm-up, stretches, workout.
So the more you give of yourself, the more you're going to get from yourself.
And I feel that's the same thing with working out and with CrossFit: The more you put into it,
the more benefit you're going to get from it. The healthier you'll be, the stronger you'll be.
The faster you'll get.
So that's another parallel of paddling and CrossFit.
All: One, two, three, Rikkole Cree!
I think ultimately, paddling helps us be our best self.
It's taught me from a very young age, like I said, how to love and respect myself.
How I treat myself and honoring my parents, my grandparents with the way I live
and carry myself in teaching that to my children.
My children paddle and they're doing great things in life, as well.
We really give a lot of credit to the canoe way of life.