by By Dan Ninham
“Shekoli teyutaw^lye niyukyats wakny^tha niwakital:ota wisk yawale niwakaosliyaku okhale on^yote’a:ka niwakahutsyota okhale talukowane.”
MarjaRia Stevens, 15, is Oneida and her Indian name is teyutaw⋏lye, it means ‘she travels’. She is a member of the Turtle clan. She is a sophomore at Green Bay Southwest High School. Her parents’ names are Margaret and Mirac Ellis.
MarjaRia is a volleyball and basketball athlete. Her basketball accomplishments include competing in the Wisconsin State Division 4/5 5th grade – 2nd place, Wisconsin State Division 4/5 6th grade – State Champs and All-tournament team, Wisconsin State Division 4/5 7th grade – 5th place, Wisconsin State Division 4/5 8th grade – State Champs, and she played AAU basketball since 4th grade with the Legends, and Purple Aces Elite Blue Star travel team.
She played on the Green Bay Southwest HS varsity girls’ basketball team and varsity girls’ volleyball team starting middle hitter as a freshman.
“When fasting for rites of passage, a tradition for Oneida young men and women coming of age, I’ve learned self-discipline and self-control,” said MarjaRia. “That teaches me strength in my mind and body in basketball and I feel I can take on a lot more than others. One of my core values as an Oneida is to be thankful for all of our surroundings and that has taught me in sports to appreciate myself, teammates, opponents, refs, coaches, etc.”
“My mom Margaret Ellis is one of my influencers because she has been taking me to most of my sports events and supporting me,” said MarjaRia. “She talks with me after games of what I should do better or what I need to work on. Also she was one of the best defenders and passers when she played and that made me want to become a better defender.”
“Margie is a quiet team leader,” said mom Margaret Ellis. “One thing I’ve noticed is when she is on the court she can control the pace of the game. She is mentally strong, which is something that is tough to teach any athlete. She is an amazing passer, which makes her team better.”
“Things she needs to work on are her jump shot, three-point shot consistency and confidence to shoot. She should be outside shooting daily. Post moves and overall aggressiveness. Ball handling and knowing when she has someone beat and taking them to the rack or one/two dribble to pull-up jumper,” added Margaret.
“She can handle the ball and shoot and at 6’0 she has an amazing opportunity to play college basketball,” said Margaret.
“I played at the NJCAA DII level at United Tribes Technical College,” said Margaret. “I still hold the rebound record. I played my last two years at NAIA DII Haskell Indian Nations University.”
“My papa Ernie Stevens is one of my influencers because he has always supported me through camps when I couldn’t afford it,” said MarjaRia. “He would give me long talks about his career back in the day. That encouraged me to want to have stories of my own to talk about one day when I’m older. Hearing his stories of how he used to work out a lot so he could dunk, which inspired me to try to dunk and be the first woman to dunk at Southwest HS.”
“My Aunt Ria Parker influences me because when she was young she worked hard through high school and scored over a thousand points,” said MarjaRia. “She also had the leading scorer record at Haskell Indian Nations University that made me want to get a thousand points or more and try to have a leading score at wherever college I go to.”
“I haven’t had the privilege to watch her as much as I would like since I’ve been living in MT since she was seven years old, said Aunt Maria Parker. “I know for sure she is a beast on the court and off she’s sweet, sometimes quiet but very smart and fun. My daughters look up to her, they’re 12 and 13 years old and they absolutely love their cousin.”
“She’s an amazing player and I’m certain she can score with ease but she kept passing the ball. She wanted her teammates to score and she constantly encouraged them,” added Maria.
“She asked me once if I could dunk because she wants to,” said Maria. “I told her weight training is very important especially if you want to dunk and I believe she could do it.”
“She takes sports very serious as well as her schoolwork and that’s what it takes to be an amazing athlete,” added Maria.
“Off the court she’s a great role model for her younger cousins,” said Maria. “I had seen her get up in front of 100’s of people to say an opening prayer in our language. She walked up there with no fear and did awesome and surprised the heck out of me. I wouldn’t have been able to do something like that without being nervous or stumbling my words. She’s an amazing young lady and will do so many great things in the future.”
“I played at Haskell from 04-06, took a year off, got married and had a couple babies then went back,” said Maria. “As of 2018 I’ve had the most points scored at Haskell. I’m an NAIA All American as well something I’m very proud of.”
“MarjaRia has the skill and patience to play every position,” said Maria.
“In 2015 I played for Aces in 4th and 5th grade,” said MarjaRia. “The next year, in 6th grade I took a break. I didn’t work out as much and I got out of shape. Then in 2017 in 7th grade, I tried out for Purple Aces but I didn’t make the team. I was a little mad but I understood the reasons why I didn’t make it because of the one year I took off and didn’t focus on the sport as much as before. I was recruited for another local team called Legends, so I played there for two years and started to work out and get back in shape.”
“I noticed that we played the same teams over and over and were even playing younger teams. I knew that Aces was the best team in the area so I decided to go back and try out again. I was very nervous because I kept thinking back to when I didn’t make it but I pushed hard through the tryouts anyway. They said they would email my mom when they were done making the teams, but the coach called my mom an hour after the tryout because she wanted to get me on the team right away,” added MarjaRia.
Photo Credit: Cher Stevens
