by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
The Mighty Ducks of Grand Rapids, MI won the recent Pipeline Box Lacrosse Tournament in Louisville, KY. One member of the winning team is a native player that travels to be on the travel team. He lives 185 miles north of Grand Rapids in Petoskey, MI.
Zhaawon Smith is Ojibwe from Lac Court Oreille, WI, Assiniboine from Fort Peck, MT, and Odawa from Little Traverse Bay Bands in Petoskey, MI. His full name is Zhaawonobanaise and it means southern thunderbird in Ojibwe.
Zhaawon is a junior at Petoskey High School, Petoskey, MI. He is a 6-0, 230 lb. and plays offense and defense for box and attack and midfielder for field lacrosse.
The traditional lacrosse game is called the medicine game. One of the reasons to play is to honor people. The traditional ways to play also connect with the modern ways to play the games of lacrosse. “Recently I’ve been playing for my newborn niece and my late great grandmother,” said Zhaawon.
“My father is RJ Smith from LCO WI and Fort Peck Assiniboine. My mother is Netawn Kiogima from Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey, MI.,” said Zhaawon.
“When I play I don’t just play for myself,” said Zhaawon. “I play for my ancestors and my people. I play for the ones who can’t play. This game is medicine so I play to heal not just myself but others. When anyone plays this game there supposed to have a good mind and not be out there to hurt people.”
“Dan Ninham was the one who introduced me to the game when I was in the sixth grade,” said Zhaawon. “I’ve had a stick in my hand ever since.”
“My first coach was Jake Tracey,” said Zhaawon. “He’s the one who pushed me when I wanted to give up and who saw my potential.”
“As an 8th grader Zhaawon was obsessed with the sport, never putting his stick down,” said Jake Tracy, middle school head coach. “His dedication and time committed to the sport was born out of pure passion. It was easy for him to keep playing because he love lacrosse so much.”
“Jordon Mireles was the first coach to recruit me for my first travel team and I’ve been playing with him ever since,” said Zhaawon.
“I have coached Zhaawon for the past three summer seasons and he has grown not only as a great lacrosse player but an exceptional young man,” said Jordon Mireles. “He brings a special perspective on lacrosse to our team (M3 ELITE) being one of three natives on the team, and he shows us what it truly means to play the ‘medicine game’. He’s not only a leader on the field but he leads off by keeping our guys ready to go for important games and situations.”
Zhaawon and his travel teammates won the Pipeline Box Lacrosse Tournament this past Sunday in Louisville, KY. The event was national class bringing teams in throughout the country. There was also controversy with poor sportsmanship exhibited by a player on an opposing team. The player told Zhaawon “you should go back to the reservation.” This team ended up playing Zhaawon’s team again and in the championship.
“A kid on a team from Texas got lippy with him while they were playing and literally told him to go back to the reservation,” said dad RJ Smith who traveled to watch the team play. “They ended up facing each other in the championship. My son’s team was beating on that boy pretty bad I guess, so much so he didn’t play the last period. Anyway my son‘s team ended up winning the championship. A lot of his teammates came up to me telling me they were going to target the boy who said that to him. I told them to just play their game and win, and that would be the best way to get back at him. I also reminded my son not to let it bother him, it was going to happen and it’ll probably happen again. I didn’t want that other boy to think he could get in my son’s head by saying that kind of thing.”
“I was going into the game thinking to myself keep my head together and don’t worry about that kid,” said Zhaawon.
Zhaawon’s team won the championship 9-2. Opposing teams need to do their homework on the traditions of the original game.
Photographs Credit: RJ Smith
Congratulations Hrand Rapids Mighty Ducks! Zhaazowonobanaise is wise & a leader!
This is one fine young man from a Great Family. The exemplify being a good Anishinaabe. It has been an honor knowing R.J., Netawn and their children. He is a future leader.