Soccer was the focus of the second day of the Coast Salish Games, held in Nanaimo.
The young athletes competed in jamboree-style games, mixing players from different participating communities into eight seven-player teams in two age categories.
Dano Thorne, a lead organizer from Cowichan, said the jamboree style allows the youths from different communities work together.
"That's the social atmosphere we're taught in our First Nations and Indigenous communities. We do have extended families and we're respecting each other and learning to get to know each other because out there in the big world we have to do that…" Thorne said. "You've got family, also extended families, we're all related, as our elders have said."
He said while most of the players are already active with competitive soccer, the Coast Salish Games are a more relaxed format.
"This is about building all the social things that are needed."
