The Behchokǫ̀ Cultural Centre was packed each of the three days for the 2025 Ediwa Weyallon Handgames Tournament.
Some numbers from the massive event, which attracted players from across the NWT, the Yukon and Northern Alberta:
- $150,000 in total prize money, with $40,500 for first place.
- $2,250 entry fee per team.
- Nine players per team.
- Sixty-two teams registered.
- Sixteen years and older only.
- Three games happening at once.
- Ninety-three decibels inside the gymnasium.
- Minus 23C outside
And hundreds of fans in the stands.
On Monday morning, participant Tommy Lafferty, a member of the second-place winning Billy Tawetsi Team, spoke with Denendeh Sunrise host Roy Dahl.
“It was just quite a great weekend … the games are always fun, just something that we love to do,” he said.
“It’s a traditional game our people have been playing, well, many, many of our people have been playing for many, many years. It’s a game that people used to when we came together in the different seasons.”
And how about the throbbing, booming teams of drummers at each game?
“The drum is pretty much everything. It’s a heartbeat. You can play the game without a drum and stuff, but once you have that drum going right behind you, and it turns into 20 drums …
“When it gets it’s really going and everything that drum just pumps you up and brings all of us together. It’s brings all of us together. It makes us whole.”
And Rusty Mantla’s team from Behchokǫ̀ came in first.
Members of Rusty Mantla’s team with prizes after winning the 2025 Ediwa Weyallon Handgames Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Tlicho Government livestream)
(Photos below by James O’Connor/CKLB)
