Indian athletes settle in for National Western stay

By Deborah Frazier
Rocky Mountain News

Call it the Best National Western Lodge.

Young Indians in sports gear, not urban cowboys, are roaming and slumbering in the hallowed halls of the National Western Stock Show this week.

"It's great," said Dylan Waupoose, 15, who won a gold medal Wednesday in shot put for Team Wisconsin at the North American Indigenous Games.

Waupoose and about 800 other young Indian athletes competing in the games reside at the National Western.

Inside Stadium Hall and the Hall of Education, where Vegematic vendors hawk wares during the stock show, hundreds of cots are lined up toe-to-toe.

"You make new friends and really get to know them," said Waupoose.

The boys' section is separated from the girls' by rolling metal gates. Hip-high fabric dividers provide a little privacy - but not much.

The girls shower with warm water in the tiled rooms usually reserved for show cattle. The boys shower outside in tents where the water has been chilly.

"There's a lot to do here," Waupoose said of the sprawling stock show complex of bulky buildings, parking lots and corrals.

"We play football, cards and hacky-sack," said Waupoose, a Menominee, who uses a CD to fall asleep listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The $130 fee each athlete pays to compete covers food and lodging.

The games' organizers also rented dorm rooms at area colleges and universities.

The National Western, better known for livestock than lodging, opened its floors to about 8,000 youngsters for Pope John Paul II's World Youth Day in 1993, said Marvin Witt, stock show vice president.

"We had some people drop out because the kids thought we would be staying in the horse barns," said Margie Canadian, 40, leader of Team New York.

The guys haven't complained much, but a few girls went to stay with relatives in Denver rather than share bathrooms and all else.

"I'm a heavy sleeper, so the noise was OK, but they had set times for taking a shower," said Jayme Leigh Glen, 15, who competed in Tae Kwon Do.

The chow at the complex has been a hit with nearly everyone.

The food, provided by KM Concessions, which also caters the National Western events, has been a drawing point for other athletes, Witt said.

"Kids sneak friends in," he said.

Pork chops, roast chicken and lasagna got raves from the youngsters, adult chaperones and coaches. Wednesday: barbecue beef.

The cavernous halls where every sound echoes, especially the midnight giggles of girls, are hard on the adult chaperones and coaches.

Canadian knows the drill.

"The first thing I went to buy is ear plugs," said Canadian, a Seneca who travels with athletes to competitions throughout New York.

On the other hand, Canadian is overseeing more than 300 youngsters and sees the advantages of the National Western's remote location, served only by the tour bus.

"I'd rather have them here than in a hotel in Denver where we would have to take their shoes away to keep them from wandering away," Canadian said.