CANADIAN OLYMPIAN DOROTHY YEATS VISITS ABGC

Dorothy Yeats, 2016 Canadian Olympian visited the Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club earlier this month to share her Olympic journey, teach technique, and play games with our youth.

Her visit to the Club on January 3rd, Yeats spoke to approximately 60 Akwesasne youth aged 6-18. With each group, Yeats shared the story of her Olympic journey and stressed the importance of goal-setting, work ethic, and having fun. Yeats then ran youth through a short workout that included basic gymnastics and wrestling games before teaching fundamental wrestling techniques to our youth.

Competing in the 69 KG (152 lbs.) category, Yeats is a four-time Canadian National Champion, 2012 Junior World Champion, 2015 Pan-American Games Champion, and is currently ranked 5th in the world by United World Wrestling. In her 2016 Olympic debut, the Montreal-based grappler fell in the bronze-medal bout to Sweden's Jenny Fransson. Yeats intends to continue her Olympic journey in hopes of qualifying for and medaling at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Yeats came to speak to our youth as part of the Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club's T.R.A.I.L. program. The T.R.A.I.L. program is a diabetes-prevention program run yearly by the club to promote healthy lifestyles, physical activity, and conscious nutrition choices in our youth. The grant affords for our youth the opportunity go on field trips, receive guest speakers, and participate in a yearly community-service project.

The staff at the Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club extends our gratitude to Dorothy Yeats for providing our youth with this unique experience and we wish her well in her future endeavors.