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Kola Shippentower
1.1k Plays10 months ago
Shippentower signs with the Oregon Ravens
Kola Shippentower is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She has co-founded and is the Director of The Wisáwca Project - Enough Iz Enough, a non-profit organization working together for change, for better communication and involvement.
Kola has developed a Safety Plan to be utilized by anyone in identifying safety methods, contacts, and procedures to keep one safe whether in an abusive relationship or a plan to track a missing person. She is a professional fighter and brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Welcome back to the show Kola!!!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing, creator and host Ken Valente, editor and producer Peter Bauer.
Returning to Normalcy: Powwows and Social Connections
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey everybody, this is Something Rather Than Nothing and I am most excited to have Cola Shippentower back on the program. Hi, Cola. Yeah, I'm excited. This is gonna be really cool.
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm really excited. It's been a great pleasure to learn from you, watch what you do. I take a lot in from what you do. When I went to my first powwow out towards Pendleton, I got to see you there.
The Power of Connections and New Experiences
00:00:52
Speaker
It was a really amazing experience for me.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yeah, for me too, because I mean, we got to meet so many people virtually. And I really appreciate the work that you do in providing space just for those of us just to be and to be able to have our say and to tell our stories. And that's really important to us. But man, if COVID taught us anything, it was that we could do pretty much anything from our computer, from the comfort of our own home. So being able to have that space and meet you, but then to meet you in person in real human form.
00:01:24
Speaker
And when you came out here, that was really cool. I think that's probably one of the biggest blessings that's come from COVID, for me personally, was building and cultivating connections virtually and then having when you meet people in person be that much more special.
00:01:39
Speaker
It really is special. I went out to New York City for New Year's, and I featured a couple times opera singer. I don't know much about opera, but this is how I learned about a lot of things. I can hear it ely. First time at The Met, and I had a local docent, a guest that I've had on the show, and it's like,
00:02:02
Speaker
How else does that happen, right? Like how else does that happen except the way it happens for us? So, um, okay. I saw you signed, uh, with the Oregon Ravens, which I, you know, I check in with you here and there, but I was like, Oh, okay. Cole is up to this. Tell, tell me, tell me, we'll like, just tell us, tell me what's going on with that.
Sports Journey: MMA and Jiu-Jitsu Challenges
00:02:24
Speaker
Oh man. So if you'd like, I guess start from the very beginning of this journey and kind of fill you in. Yeah. Yeah. I want to, I want the whole journey.
00:02:36
Speaker
All right, so, well, you know, and everyone knows that I am a professional mixed martial artist, compete in MMA, compete in jujitsu, been traveling all over the country. And one of the promotions that we usually compete through is the International Brazilian Jujitsu Federation, IBJJF. And this is where people are usually seeing me posting like I'm heading off to worlds for gi or no gi. And in December of 2022, I believe it was, yeah,
00:03:05
Speaker
I went to Worlds in Los Angeles. And this is a promotion where you could possibly be one and done. If you lose that very first one, you could be done. Single eliminations. So we're putting in all this time, all this effort, all this money and energy into possibly only rolling one time.
00:03:25
Speaker
And so unfortunately for me, this is one of those experiences, but the girl I went against, and this is pretty common for me is being one of the smallest girls in the super heavyweight division. It's really, really difficult. I am five, five. I usually walk around about 180 and a majority of the time the girls that I'm rolling against at IBJGF could easily be over six foot and easily be over 200 pounds. So I mean, it's a pretty huge size disadvantage for me.
00:03:55
Speaker
But it's whatever. It's the name of the game. It's what I'm doing. But the girl I went against, she was really good. She was big. She was strong. And for that height and that size, for her, the way she was moving, it was like, whoa. But I had a really good time. It was a really good battle. It was really back and forth. And of course, with this sport, especially for females, because we're pretty rare, is we become friends with the people that we compete against.
00:04:20
Speaker
So really quickly, we meet, we chat, we exchange our information like Instagram. So we start following each other. Well, I noticed that she started posting about football. I'm like, oh, that's kind of badass. I mean, like she's training, competing, and now she's playing football. And I saw it was like legit. One of her pictures she posted, she's like in pads and a helmet. And I'm like, that's pretty awesome. So I'm thinking, OK, let's let's look at her post. She tags her team and it's the LA
Inspiration and Transition to Football
00:04:49
Speaker
team for the WNFC and I'm like wow like okay of course it's LA they have to have this kind of stuff it's a big city so that's that's a given so I start following her team and then I start seeing that she's traveling a little bit more go to San Diego for a game she went to Las Vegas for a game and then I see Oregon and I'm like wait a minute like
00:05:09
Speaker
That's that's me. That's my home state. Like she's coming to Oregon. Let's check this out. And so I see that she's there competing against the Oregon Ravens. So I'm like, all right, but I'm going to start following them. And I see that they're based in Milwaukee, which is on the other side of Oregon for me. But I'm like, it's still cool.
00:05:27
Speaker
So I start following their page. I saw that they were just about halfway through the season. So I'm like, I'm just gonna put in an application because they're recruiting. Let's put an application probably won't hear from nobody because they're pretty much done for this year. And it's whatever. Maybe like three or four days later, I get this huge long text message from Kim Pardon, who was their general manager at the time. And she's like,
00:05:53
Speaker
I got to tell you who I am, what I do, what we hope for here at the Oregon Ravens, but I'm going to let you know. I checked you out, stalked you a little bit, social media, and really just dove in and looked at you. We need you to come out here. Can you bake it to Milwaukee in the next couple of days? Because we want to see
00:06:13
Speaker
like, who you are, what you're about. And I do think the owners need to see you. And you can come see the team, you can meet the team, check everything out. So I'm like, Whoa, cool. So immediately make the plans to turn around two days later, be in Milwaukee at one of the practices and
00:06:32
Speaker
I'm kind of thinking, well, I didn't get to train today. It's like a three hour drive for me. So I better get a workout in. I don't think much of it because, you know, I'm an athlete. So I just hopped right into their workout and it almost kind of blew their minds a little bit. They're like, most people usually just kind of watch from the sidelines. They watch our drills, they watch the girls, how they work out, but you like hopped right in there. Not you, not you.
00:06:56
Speaker
I'm like, this is what I'm here for. You guys got to see what I could do. And it very quickly progressed. I think, for me, they pushed me along really fast. They're usually trying to build people up, like their endurance, their stamina, their conditioning, to be able to carry these pads in the helmet. And I think it was about my second practice.
00:07:17
Speaker
Uh, Kim is like, I'm going to talk to the owner. I'm going to see if I can get you showed up because you should be in here running these drills with these girls. And like, I feel like you could handle it. And so they pushed me along fairly fast. Unfortunately, I couldn't play it in any of the games because I'm not there from the very beginning to, you know, get out there, but I did attend a couple of games on the, you know, on the sidelines with the team. So get an experience, like everything from the sidelines, see how the girls are, you know, getting prepared for the game, how they're warming up, how they're getting out there on the field, how the coach is
00:07:47
Speaker
interacting. It is like a hype situation, like hype. I'm like, I'm a fighter. I get excited about hopping, bouncing around, getting ready to go out into the cage. But this is like a whole other level that you got like these chants, you got cheers, you got people like going through their own little rituals. And man, it was intense. And
00:08:05
Speaker
you know, the season ended and I'm just thinking like, eh, like I don't know if this is gonna really become much of anything. And a huge motivating factor for me has always been my boys. And I think we've talked about this before, even with my MMA, I don't want my boys to have to look to mainstream media for inspiration or motivation. And you know, they're very active. All three of my boys are, all three of them train in jujitsu. And then they have their own, um,
00:08:33
Speaker
sports that they really do enjoy whether it be football or basketball or dance and they have their own interests but I still feel it my responsibility to be right there with them showing them that whatever it is that they want to do they can do it and
00:08:50
Speaker
I have an older son, Abraham, he's 13. He's a lineman and he's really, really good. And I don't say this to discredit his passion for football or to downplay like his motivation, but you know, he's a typical teenager. They kind of lose focus on certain things and they just want to do their own thing. He really loves jujitsu. That's kind of his jam, but you know, football, he hasn't quite tapped into that side that, you know, boys can get into.
00:09:18
Speaker
Um, and so he's still kind of just thinking like meh, it's football. It's not really that big of a deal So i'm telling you i'm like, all right, dude You finish out this season strong and we start thinking about high school because people are looking at you already right now Because of your size and your strength and how you move So if you can stay motivated, we gotta we gotta try to make it to tryouts for like fall of your freshman year Let's see if we can do that and it
00:09:43
Speaker
He's very strong. He'll stand his ground, even when it comes to me, which is how I raised him. And he will try to give me his two cents, where he's just like, it's hard, mom. You don't
Cultural Ties and Indigenous Representation in Sports
00:09:53
Speaker
understand. And I'm like, out of all people, I don't understand. OK. I'm like, but you finish out this season strong. You promised me you're going to try out freshman year for high school ball. And I'll do this thing with the Oregon Ravens. I will put my all into it, just like I do with MMA, just like I do with Jiu-Jitsu. And you'll see.
00:10:12
Speaker
like we could do this and so he makes it through the rest of his um this last football season and the very last game we had a baker and they had just had their very first snowfall of the season and so they're out there like playing in about two inches of snow and it's freezing we're all cold in the stands and they went into overtime it was a really hype game and at the very end of it he's just like the very first thing it wasn't like yeah we did hella good it was like now you gotta play in the snow
00:10:38
Speaker
Instantly it was just yeah, he's like I finished this because you said you were gonna do the same thing I'm like, all right, then I'm gonna follow through with it So again, it's just another outlet for me to be able to show my boys like if we we set out to do something We got to finish it. We got to complete it and regardless of what it is. That's that's what we're gonna do That's how we show up. And so all three of my boys are super excited because they're like my mom plays football and yeah, you know
00:11:02
Speaker
Abraham has now gotten to the mindset of like alright like next year I'm then I'll try out and we'll see where we go from there and I'll put my all into it and so they're really excited and I The the past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind because that was my initial mindset when I tried out for the Oregon Ravens was just as a mom How could I use this to help my boys and to further motivate them? not thinking too much of it and not
00:11:30
Speaker
you know, making it in anything like in my mind that's like, hell yeah, let's go. I still got primary focus on like MMA and jujitsu, but also my advocacy work. But
00:11:42
Speaker
We hit national signing day, which was January 5th. And everybody saw the pictures from that. And that's what everybody's all of a sudden got super hyped for in this course.com posted about it. And it just blew up. And it literally blew up in my face because I'm getting calls and getting texts and messages and people are, you know, hit me up like, this is hella cool. Where did this come from? How does this start getting started? And so now here we are. And I'm still still trying to like,
00:12:07
Speaker
come to terms that this is a new part of my journey. And it's really exciting. And I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. Yeah. Oh, wow. There's so much there in what you said. And thanks for taking me through it. I think it's that kind of reaction from Abraham that you said, where it's like the first thing was like, all right, I did my thing. Now I want to see you. And it's such a...
00:12:36
Speaker
I know it's such an inspiring thing to hear. I trace my memory banks back and I had seen, I wasn't sure if it was a loosely affiliated club team or the Ravens were, this is a few years ago, I mean like 2018. I remember it was in Milwaukee because it was over at Milwaukee High School, their football field. And a great friend of mine and colleague that I do union work with,
00:13:04
Speaker
Her wife was a player and I had never like, you know, I was like, you know, I hadn't been to a women's football league, but
00:13:15
Speaker
I was brought up to speed really quick about like, yeah, that's it's football, no other funny stuff. And it was it was a great experience. So then when I saw your football jersey pop up, I said, yeah. But I'm like, well, what the hell happened? This is so this is so great to so great to see.
00:13:35
Speaker
Folks and listeners, there's a great short documentary that you can find on the Oregon Ravens, the team that Cola signed with, called Waymakers, and it's done by a group called In Good Company, about 17 minutes, and a really great short documentary, and just talking about
00:13:59
Speaker
the women who are playing they're like we got tons of ketchup to do societally and not being part of a football infrastructure like the like like the boys and the guys are and they're like we get a pole full in right now there's no excuses and this this is about as real as this is real as real and uh it was it was really inspiring cola i had a question that i really don't want to forget to ask i um
00:14:26
Speaker
I've mentioned to you, I've learned a lot from you and other indigenous artists and athletes and guests that I've had on the show and I'm familiar with
00:14:38
Speaker
maybe a longer history of say hockey and indigenous folks, hockey, I think of. There's a couple movies and famous book by one by Wagamese and about about playing hockey.
00:14:58
Speaker
In my head, I start to think back, an indigenous relation to a particular sport. I thought of hockey, but I immediately thought of Jim Thorpe football. Is there something I won't know about maybe as far as indigenous relationship to football at all?
00:15:21
Speaker
As far as the game itself goes, I don't think there's a direct connection, but I do believe that a majority of the games like lacrosse, handball, a lot of these other field sports have a lot to do, like kind of have a little bit of like an indigenous tie to a lot of these. But again, indigenous people were active. This is what we do. Movement is everything from, you know,
00:15:44
Speaker
Battles wars fighting being a warrior to hunting being able to gather all the different things that we do as a people culturally Are based off of these movements that we developed as children You know, we had all of these games that were fun and kept our attention but it was building up a lot of these skills to be able to do the things necessary to survive as a people and to keep going so I don't think that there's
00:16:13
Speaker
Really any, uh, football, like American football game that we had culturally, but I do think that there was a lot of different field games that we had that would kind of mimic a lot of the things that the game of football does entail. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, really sudden here that I wanted to mention though.
00:16:30
Speaker
Just popping over so this kind of like so I don't forget these things about the powwow I laughed so hard during the powwow there was the MC and what people were saying I didn't know it would be like this really fun comedy. I struck me like I was I was I was laughing my ass off and amongst all the other
00:16:54
Speaker
wonderful aspects of the powwow, including I'm still digesting the fry bread from back last summer, which was lovely. But it was such a wonderful experience. I laughed so much. I felt so great leaving it. My partner Jenny and I had traveled from, we're out in Joseph, a beautiful, you know, the land I love out there, the Wallowa. And
00:17:19
Speaker
Had that experience and uh, yeah, just saw the the billboard sign I said well and pulled in I tell you one little thing pulled in And they had like free dry camp and like right on the ground and I just felt like wow It's like I just felt welcomed like i'm like, okay I can just put my tent right here and I can be at this for the next two days really subtle for me, but um
00:17:43
Speaker
It was a really beautiful experience. And then and then and then seeing you as it was really a great highlight of summer. But man, that MC I mean, I was laughing my ass off and I didn't expect that.
Women's Football: Empowerment and League Dynamics
00:17:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's probably one of my favorite parts about powwows is usually the announcers MCs usually have a really good sense of humor they keep the people entertained and engaged and wanting to be involved in the dances that are going on and I think that's a common misconception when people are going to powwows they're thinking
00:18:15
Speaker
ceremonial. They're thinking, Ooh, super sacred, like be very, very respectful and just stand from afar. And nope, powwows definitely are not like that. Whether you're indigenous or not, like, we as a people have always been as inclusive as we can be. And I think that's part of that aspect that you're talking about. Like there was
00:18:34
Speaker
free camping available right there on the powwow grounds to be able to be so close. I mean, if you're obviously not a night owl, and it's like 11 o'clock at night, and you're trying to sleep, you're just hearing like the powwow music, which is a unique experience for anyone that's never been a part of this culture before. But I do say that that's probably one of my most favorite parts as indigenous people is our ability to bring people in and make them feel like they are at home or welcome to be there.
00:19:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I am. And so so listeners, I got my Cola Shippen Tower shirt. I'm proud to help support colon and talking about this and the football and the things that you do.
00:19:15
Speaker
learning about the league, right? It's like, this is a make do type of league by the players. This is a make do, make your time. You know, it's a league that wants to grow to be big enough to say, okay, let's sign contracts now, but this is a beginning independent league. I also believe it's black owned league, minority owned. And so, right? So lots of things to do. Can you talk about,
00:19:44
Speaker
I mean, knowing what you do, I mean, that part wouldn't necessarily be intimidating you. But could you tell us about, you know, interacting in the league kind of getting into it and that it's really make it what you will, which is a lot of work, but also I see a lot of empowerment, like we can make this league work as players. Can you talk a little bit about that?
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah, I really think that this entire league is truly in its infancy. And with that being said, if you even go take a look at the website for WNFC, if you take a look at their social medias or any of the players or their teams, it doesn't look like it.
00:20:24
Speaker
It doesn't look like we're just starting from the ground right now. Like everything looks so like super legit and professional. It's really well put together. And honestly, I think that has a lot to do with the owners of the teams and their their time and their commitment and their energy to building this league and with it being in its infancy because it just started in 2019 and COVID happened.
00:20:45
Speaker
so it really shut down a lot of stuff for everyone and so Last year I want to say was kind of like their first solid year of having this, you know Pretty full roster for the the Ravens anyways, and now we're getting to this point But it's exactly what you said right now the experience for players. It's it's kind of a pay-to-play situation and so when you get all of these women together and
00:21:10
Speaker
or they them on this one team who are fully committed not only to themselves and the betterment of themselves as an athlete, but also for the team. It's really cool to see how it's coming together because we have to come up with our player fees. We have to come up with, we have to pay for our own gear. There's certain things that we have to come up with the funds for.
00:21:32
Speaker
But I mean, this is the stage of things that I love being a part of. I love being a part of that foundational work. And just like with MMA, I was starting in a time where I very rarely ever ran into another female on the mat.
00:21:48
Speaker
or training in a cage or anything like that. So I am very accustomed to having to put the grind and the work in. And it's just so awesome to see this huge roster of women who have the same exact mentality. And they have that heart set where they're like, we're in this, we're going to work together and make it happen.
00:22:09
Speaker
And it is really exciting because I do truly believe that we're kind of just about to break through that ceiling to be able to get opportunities for players to be paid. Now, there is at the end of the season, there is the
00:22:22
Speaker
the pro team and so that becomes a whole different situation because at that point you got all these amazing players from all the teams all over the country coming together for this one huge game to really put on a show but I mean right now we are truly building up what this league could possibly be and if I could be a part of that and you know say like five ten years down the road and I'm showing up as an old head this vet to one of the games just to be like I used to play for you guys and see these girls going out there and
00:22:50
Speaker
working hard and getting paid for it, or having some other type of representation for them, whatever the case may be. But I will truly feel as though I helped with a little bit of that change with the work that we're putting in today.
00:23:05
Speaker
Oh, I'm, I'm, I'm sure of it. So, uh, everybody, um, yeah, make sure, make sure you check out, um, Oregon Ravens. And like I said, that documentary, uh, learn about this league. This is, you know, in the work, uh, that you do, Colin, a lot of the work I do around advocacy, this is not, this is not sitting on the couch. You want this to help work then, then, you know, get, get behind it and support it. I've seen, um, so in, in, in part of the show, uh, that's been special for me is kind of to,
00:23:33
Speaker
uh connect uh with women's sports and i tell you i see on the um the professional women's hockey league um and i've been reading about their crowds um this year they they keep breaking records at least two or three subsequent games at one there was 13 000 hockey fans in attendance uh for the professional uh women's league and i think the next one was 15 000 and i'm like
00:24:01
Speaker
There's Tampa Bay Rays baseball games where fucking like 9000 people are showing up. I'm like, this is it's I mean, it doesn't make everything rolls from that, but it's on. There is something going on. And despite the misogyny and such that exists, you know, in our world, people are digging on women's sports. And that's why I think it's like exciting to talk to you and to like lift that up.
00:24:26
Speaker
And again, there's advocacy in it of being like, you know, don't cross your fingers and assume everybody's getting paid. Like the guys, that's not the way our society is even structured. So, um, kind of, kind of throw in, in, in, in, in support. And, uh, I think there's a lot of energy behind it because the interviews I heard with the players were about that, like get behind this thing that we're doing. I know. I'm laying out the groundwork. I know that we are. And, um,
00:24:55
Speaker
It's great for you to, it's great for you to be part of it. Cola, tell us about, I know the seasons at different times and what's the season look like for the Ravens?
00:25:08
Speaker
So we have our very first national tryout day, which was, oh, the first Saturday of October, I think it was. For the Oregon Ravens, we had three different days for tryouts. But it started back in October. And this kind of starts getting that ball rolling for a lot of the athletes who have been off season, where they're kind of like, OK, now we've got to get back into the swing of things. We've got to get back to training. We've got to get back to field work.
00:25:36
Speaker
And so we start really building up to the month of January, which is our national signing day. And I think that's where everything is fully hit. The coaches are looking at players, trying to see where their strengths are, maybe pointing out a couple of weaknesses and then figuring out what positions people are going to want to play for or what would be most appropriate for them and what they bring to the team. And we actually did have a minicamp this weekend. And unfortunately, it was supposed to be in person, but it was canceled due to the weather that's happening in
00:26:05
Speaker
Oregon right now. So pretty much Portland shut down because for some reason that side of Oregon, man, they don't know how to act when, you know, snow hits or ice or anything like that. For everybody to know, call us on the eastern side with a little bit of a different habitat and weather conditions. It is a freak show out here and it's a freak show because of the weather as well.
00:26:33
Speaker
So but it's crazy because I'm like, no, I could like people are like, you should probably just hunker down Cola and stay there. And I'm like, no, I'm good. I can I can drive in this. I know how to drive in this. And I can I'm capable. And everybody's like, no, no, no, it's really bad. Like I got out on my front step and I almost about just ate shit. And I'm like,
00:26:51
Speaker
I'm fine. So it's pretty interesting because we have, I believe I'm the furthest player for the Oregon Ravens all the way in Pendleton, Oregon. And then I do believe we have some that come from Tacoma, Washington, they come down. And so there's some of us that do travel and most of them are kind of like city folk.
00:27:11
Speaker
that they don't know what they're doing out there in the weather anyways. So we were supposed to have a camp this weekend. It got canceled. They changed it to virtual. So I mean, we're starting to put in work where we're trying to do like a lot of the team bonding and building. And, you know, I think that's probably one of the more difficult aspects for me is that because I'm so far away, I don't get to connect with these women.
00:27:29
Speaker
or these two-spirit people on the same level as they do with each other because they're around each other, they're friends, they're really close to each other and able to hang out on a regular basis. So any opportunities where I'm able to be there with them, I'm usually like, let's go. So I was excited for this weekend.
00:27:45
Speaker
But you know, things happen. But we're in the part of the season now where practices are going to start picking up. I know that January 18th is our very first field practice together as
Advocacy for Indigenous Athletes and MMIW Awareness
00:27:55
Speaker
a team. So we'll be hitting the ground running from there. And our games kick off in April. So we've got a good couple of months to be putting in a lot of work, a lot of hustle, a lot of grind, to start getting our team ready.
00:28:06
Speaker
And I think one interesting aspect of it all has been that trying to see some of these girls kind of have this, like, wake up call. Like, we're in it now. We need to be working. We need to be hitting the gym. We need to be getting these reps in. And I feel pretty fortunate that as a professional athlete, that's just kind of my...
00:28:27
Speaker
my regular my regular state is constant training. I don't have an off season and I think that that was hard for maybe um some of the other athletes and maybe even some of the coaches they're like cola don't take time off i'm like no i'm steady on it because i gotta be ready so i don't have to get ready if there's all of a sudden this crazy opportunity for fighting coming up then i gotta be ready for that but it's just
00:28:52
Speaker
also me as an indigenous person, we as athletes are a whole different breed. And I think that's something that gets really underestimated by athletics, like people who do recruiting, coaches, when they're trying to find people for their teams, whether it be basketball, football, anything else is that our indigenous athletes are kind of underestimated. But as soon as they get one, they immediately are like, holy
00:29:16
Speaker
Crap, where have you been? And it's like on the res. Like that's where most of us are. Ready to go, ready to go, ready for an opportunity. And so I think that's something that is pretty new and probably fairly unique for this team is being one of their very first official
00:29:37
Speaker
teammates because there is another individual on the team. She's the hydration specialist. She's actually grand ron. And I believe she's enrolled out there, but she doesn't play. So I mean, it is a different aspect. But I think that's something that's been really cool to kind of see unfold for some of them. They're kind of like, all right, Cola, we see you. And I'm saying you tell me exactly what you need done. I'll get it done. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure that attitude is well appreciated. I've
00:30:04
Speaker
I had Rachel Balkavit on the show was in baseball and she ended up becoming the first single-A manager for the Yankee system. Last week she was hired for the Florida Marlins as the lead player development person in the entire organization.
00:30:29
Speaker
It's it's been it's been incredible to see that and mentioning like the the hockey attendance I just part of me is my connection and learning here is Like I can feel I could feel that things happen and which is why you know, both of us have a lot of energy I'm like, oh
00:30:44
Speaker
I need to like, you know, thread the wires with Cola for a little bit. And do you think, I wanted to ask a question related to what you said, the indigenous, you know, and being ready and, you know, where you're coming from. Do you think when you first showed up,
00:31:01
Speaker
when you were ready and people were like, wow, she's like right in on this. Was that part of what you were referring to as far as being ready to get in? Or was it general attitude and training in jiu-jitsu? You need to be ready. And I heard that point a couple of times. Was that the piece where people were like, whoa, she's in? Was that what was going on?
00:31:31
Speaker
Um, so I think as For outside perspective when it comes to the other the other uh players or the coaches or the owners when they were watching it was probably Refreshing to see somebody so Like ready to hop in no questions asked. She was ready to get in there like get her hands dirty She was ready to put on the shell and go for it. I think it was
00:31:53
Speaker
maybe a little new I mean obviously it's football so you have to have some intense personalities come in there so I'm pretty positive that I'm not the first but to show up on the very first day like that I think it was probably refreshing to them but me as an individual like who I am it didn't take work it didn't take like hyping myself up in the parking lot to like get out there I think that
00:32:17
Speaker
how I've been brought up, how I've been raised in the culture that I come from. It's just this overall mindset and this heart set that's like deeply ingrained in me as a person is, regardless of the space, regardless of the place or the people that I'm showing up with or in.
00:32:35
Speaker
I'm mindful of how I move. I'm mindful of how I represent not only myself, but my family, my parents, my ancestors, my culture, my people. And I think that's what makes us unique as, you know, Indigenous athletes is that we have that. We have this unique perspective that we're like, we have
00:32:53
Speaker
We have tons of people who aren't able to do things like this with their bodies or their minds or whatever the case may be. So we can, so we'll show up 110% every single time. But we also understand how precious this is. I feel it would be a disservice if I don't mention it that whatever platform I'm at, whatever platform I'm asked to be a part of, I will always use that as an opportunity to advocate for my people and most specifically for MMIW, for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
00:33:22
Speaker
I'm trying to be mindful of the fact that what opportunities I have are so special and that I have to speak to this crisis and make sure that people understand that this is something that we're still fighting. And still in the same breath is understanding like this could all be taken away from me in a split second because of this crisis, because of these statistics that I have this huge target in my back.
Gender Dynamics in Sports and Overcoming Obstacles
00:33:47
Speaker
And it has been getting a little, I don't wanna say I'm nervous or scared, because I don't move in my life like that, but it has gotten to a point where I'm more cautious and more mindful because it's like, when you start elevating, when you start leveling up and you start getting into these places, you have to remember that the amount of hate and the amount of negativity that's gonna be thrown your way is gonna be even more to try to match that. Your energy comes up, it's gotta try to stay up there with it. So I stay more mindful about myself
00:34:16
Speaker
personally with my own safety and with my boys and whatnot. So, but I mean, I think that was something that the team had seen was definitely as a refresher is like somebody that we don't have to try to coach up every two seconds, somebody that we don't have to, you know, be on like, this is important Cola, like you need to be in the gym this many times a day, you need to be training this, you need to have this set out. I think especially for the owners is that they are feeling
00:34:41
Speaker
Okay, good. We have this athlete who's all the way across the state, but we don't gotta worry about her in that aspect. She's got that covered. But for me personally, and I think for a lot of the people that follow me and a lot of my own people, my relatives, they already know that's Kola. That's how we show up as a people. So of course she's gonna kill it out there. We can almost rely on her to show up in that way. So I think that's what the two different perspectives for that meant in that moment.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, and thank you. And talking about MMIW and persons, girls, two spirits, and it's been a part of the show where I've, I've been open about the fact that I'm, I've been learning and I
00:35:25
Speaker
Uh, at times have stumbled in and been kind of said that out loud because I'm learning and I am not, I am not going to allow a mistake or misunderstanding to get in my way of like diving in. And that's just that my attitude with, with, with things in general, but.
00:35:43
Speaker
I think for me, one of the proudest things that I've done is learning more about the issue within the labor movement and concentration of labor and man camps and maybe what labor can do about this issue, which is a tiny, non-existent conversation. And did some trainings with my colleagues within my union work and got the ability to the best of my ability
00:36:10
Speaker
to teach and in using some of your audio from podcast Rosalie fish who I've learned just a ton about Jordan Marie brings three white horses Daniel and
00:36:24
Speaker
It's been part of my learning, not as just like something to study or think, but as hearing about this. And I really appreciate the opportunity you bring in this on because it is a deep part of my learning in the show. And I think if we listen to that issue and we listen to what's going on in women's sports or in talking about football, again, it's like not to berate the listeners, sorry out there, but it's like,
00:36:53
Speaker
You can get involved you can support with money and time you can say Like you look at the videos like you said that these teams are point out that you don't have to explain that it's football
00:37:06
Speaker
The video shows it's football and people are down. And once you're in that area, let's make this happen. And so I, uh, I get excited about it, obviously, which is why I wanted to, uh, any, uh, okay, before I let you go, any, um, what about, uh, what are you thinking on positions or is that somebody else's decision or like, what do you want to do on the field position?
00:37:30
Speaker
So I would like to say that it is the head coach. Coach Price, it's his decision. Absolutely. Head coach, final decision, nothing about that. No. Yes. And I think this is a little bit of a topic that I haven't really got to discuss openly. And I'm going to talk about it with you because I feel like you're going to see me where I'm at and you're going to understand is that when I came into this, I did so with this mindset of just show up, show out. Do what you normally do, Cola.
00:37:59
Speaker
you're an athlete, you perform, you're a competitor, do what you need to do in order to let them know that you're here for real and you're not just kicking tires like you actually do want to play. So we get to like tryouts and I think because it was allowing these girls to see me in movement coming from off season,
00:38:18
Speaker
because they saw me on season obviously all of them are in this mindset of like we're here to work hard we're grinding we're getting ready for game day so they aren't really paying attention to the new girl that hopped on the field other than that's just another body out here so we get to try out days and you know like i said this is the time where players are starting to realize like oh we got to get ready to amp it up like we're coming from off season my body's hurt and i'm sore but then here comes cola who
00:38:42
Speaker
is still pushing like she always has since last season. What the heck? Where did this come from? And I'm trying to explain to some of the girls, like I don't have an off season. Mind you, I'm still in it, like 365. Like I might have 52 rest days in a year, probably not, but it'd be nice to have a rest day every single week. And so I think some of the, some of the veterans, maybe some of the old heads, and you know,
00:39:10
Speaker
Regardless of being a female team, we still have some issues as women. We're still going to have a little bit of that drama side of things. I think men run into it too. It's just not as prevalent and not as out there like it is for women.
00:39:29
Speaker
And I, I explained this with one of the, one of the owners and one of our, I believe he's one of our defensive line coaches. Cause they're asking me like, how are you feeling Cola? Like, how are you kind of like, you know, moving in here? And I'm like, I'm kind of just running into the same issue. I usually have always had with team sports, which is like, I get a good handful of people that really absolutely love me and they can't wait to get this working with me. And then, you know, you have your couple little sprinkles here and there that are kind of like, all right, Cola.
00:39:57
Speaker
Like, you're good, but mind yourself. And so I'm like, I get seen as a threat sometimes. And, you know, when I run into that, I think of my dad, I'm like, if you don't want to see me as a threat to your position, maybe you should have been working off season.
00:40:14
Speaker
And that's something that my dad instilled in me is like, you know what? It sounds like it's their problem. Sounds like it's none of your business because you're doing exactly what you need to be doing in the off season, off field. And unfortunate for them, that's just who you are as a person. That's who you are as an Indian person. It's just that you work. And that's because it's who we are. How we're going to survive is how we show up every single day. So I have ran into that a little bit. I have a lot of players who have their own opinions as to
00:40:39
Speaker
what they think I should play, how they think because of my build, my stamina, my speed, and my endurance, and what they think I should be playing. You know, I have a couple of hype people on the team where when they see me, they just immediately gas me up. I think I posted a couple pictures of some of them, and it's just crazy because they really are just like, come on, Kola, I need to get that energy. And you know what's really hard is that when you're coming into a new space, especially as indigenous peoples, we're very observant. We just want to kind of sit back, read the room,
00:41:09
Speaker
watch how people interact with each other because, you know, we thrive on connections and we want to, you know, and we read energy. And so I've been in some spaces where it was off field and you have to kind of like figure out how you're going to mesh with other people. And we do that in general. Like we kind of just see, all right, that that's got a good feel right there. I can I feel like I can have conversations with that person. That's kind of negative over there. So I
00:41:32
Speaker
I'll be cordial, but I'm not going to let people in too close. But the beautiful thing about being Indigenous is our ability to make that choice on who we connect with and who we don't want to connect with. So that's definitely happening right now. That's a dynamic within a team sport, I think. So I do have quite a few people that are like, dang, Cole, I'm just waiting for you to like, I know you're kind of kicked back. I just want to observe people. I'm just waiting for you to get hype. And in my mind, I'm like, no.
00:42:00
Speaker
I can't it's just like there's appropriate time and place for that. It's I have this mindset of like a warrior isn't 100% every single day like a warrior has to know when it's time to sharpen the tools and a warrior has to know when it's time to work with those tools and the warrior also has to know when it's time to sit and reflect and remember like the bigger whys of why they're fighting so I mean we're not always up there and hyped and ready to go at it all the time
00:42:24
Speaker
So it's definitely been an interesting experience, you know, trying to mesh with the team in that regard. But ultimately, when it comes down to picking a position, it's going to be up to the head coach, and that's Coach Price.
00:42:39
Speaker
Obviously, as athletes, we do have the choice of what position we want to try out for. So when I showed up to National Tryout Day, I was thinking running back and linebacker, just because I like to run, but I also like the fact that I'm strong and I'm a little bit bigger in the shoulders. So if I run, I might be able to run over some people.
00:42:58
Speaker
So that'd be kind of fun.
Learning, Team Dynamics, and Community Impact
00:43:01
Speaker
And everybody kept talking about linebacker because, like, you get to hit people with your body, not just with your fists, not with just, like, grappling. Like, you get to hit people with your body, and I'm like, that sounds like my jam right there. So I got really excited about those two positions, and I went to go try out for those. And I think it was when Coach was kind of setting people up in their different areas of the field, like, running backs over here, linemen over here, QBs over here, and kind of just setting people off in their ways.
00:43:27
Speaker
Coach Price kind of saw me stand there. He's like, what are you doing? Get your butt over there with the QBs. And I'm like, Oh, you were serious for quarterback. So there was a lot of us that tried out. And obviously there was some of us that maybe shouldn't shouldn't have been, but that's not my, that's not my place to say, but yeah, running back linebacker and then toss my hat in for quarterback. And
00:43:49
Speaker
I mean, I know what they're telling me that they need. I know what the other coaches are telling me is what they're looking for, especially in a quarterback. And I definitely am confident that I could fulfill their every want and desire for a quarterback because I've been very, you know, let them know like you tell I might not know the fancy lingo, I might not.
00:44:07
Speaker
know all of your guys' plays because obviously I'm new. I haven't even seen a playbook yet. But you tell me exactly what it is that you want done. I can guarantee you I will get it done. If I don't get it done the first time, best believe the second time, it'll be done and with probably some flair at the end of it. And so I feel like I've really set the tone for who I am as an athlete that Coach Price has even be like, I know you will, girl. I ain't got no doubt in the world.
00:44:32
Speaker
I think it's a hard thing for the other players to hear because they're like, where do you feel like you're going to be at? I'm like, wherever Coach Price needs me. And they're like, no, you got to make that decision for yourself. I'm like, I know I do, but it's not up to me. I could sit here and tell myself that I'm an alignment, but I'm really not. I might have the heart and soul for it, but I'm not built for it. And Coach is going to call me out on that and be like, you're too small to be on that line, girl. Go someplace else. So I mean, it's really going to be up to him.
00:45:00
Speaker
But running back linebacker, I think will be a lot of fun. But, you know, when a coach says, hey, you got to be out there throwing that ball for me, then I'm gonna be like, all right, then you just tell me how, when, what I need to do and I'll get it done. Well, it's a good, you know, it's a good dynamic. I see particularly with folks, you know, eyes on you and your openness. We don't always know.
00:45:21
Speaker
I mean, we might've seen a poster when we were a kid and like, that's, that's who I am and it might not be you, you know? So it's, I think it's kind of like being open to, to where you fit in. And it's a team sport, right? So that, that just makes a lot of sense to me.
00:45:36
Speaker
And I think for athletes in general, being coachable is what most teams want in almost every single sport is you want athletes that's going to be coachable. You know what somebody that's so set in their ways that is just like, no, I'm not going to do that because you could immediately get dropped for not wanting to listen to the coach or do what the coach is going to tell you to do. So I think that's something I've always tried to carry is like.
00:45:57
Speaker
If they want me to do something, I'll get it done. If I enjoy it, I'll make it fun. But if they need me someplace else, I'll do exactly that as well. So I think it just comes down to being coachable. Ton of respect for that. My my athlete days are way back when I was in my teens, but
00:46:14
Speaker
Team sports were difficult for me and I'd have more conflict with my own teammates playing basketball than I ever did with anybody else. It became manifest. It's a dynamic.
00:46:30
Speaker
I'm really excited for you in doing this and hearing about your approach and just kind of connected with all the aspects in your life. Cola, on all the things you talk about, what are your handles? Where do people find out info? How do they connect on advocacy for the ongoing crisis, missing and murdered indigenous women? What do people do?
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah, so if people are looking for me specifically on both Facebook and Instagram, I'm at Kola, Shippentower, and a lot of the different resources, a lot of the different topics. I don't have separate social media accounts or anything like that. If it's football related, if it's MMA, if it's MMIW, everything is all on those accounts.
00:47:18
Speaker
People will definitely feel free to message me if they're looking for information on one topic or another, but that's, that's where I post everything that I'm, I'm up to everything that I'm doing or everything that I'm advocating for. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I'd like to thank directly Cola for.
00:47:33
Speaker
your time spending time with you when I say that you've had an impact upon me just thinking or new things and learning that continues and just have an excitement about senior play football. I was really excited when it comes to the NFL, I'm a New England Patriots fan and of course, long term coach Bill Belichick.
00:47:55
Speaker
has moved on, and 37-year-old Gerard Mayo, African-American, immediately hired into that position. And I just jumped for joy. I was like, this is...
00:48:08
Speaker
That was exciting. It was just exciting to see that significant move from a significant franchise and the disparate hiring that exists, particularly within college ranks, but also the NFL for a lot of great coaches, players, coaches who have been overlooked.
00:48:27
Speaker
I hope there's just a growing energy all around of seeing what's going down. And like I said, even with the women's hockey league, people don't buy tickets if they don't want to spend money and go see what they're seeing. So the proof is right there. And I just implore everybody to be.
00:48:45
Speaker
get behind the league and I'll wait until coach makes a decision upon where you're playing, but I'm sure you will excel and I'm looking forward to the Cola energy on the field and everything you do. Well, thank you so much, Ken. I really do appreciate the times and the conversations that we have. And I really truly, I think one of the bigger things is your willingness to learn.
00:49:11
Speaker
and the humbleness that you carry in saying, I don't know about that, but I will definitely reach out to people that do. And I think we need a lot more of that, especially when it comes to MMIWR and people trying to find the ways to help.
00:49:26
Speaker
and it's going to always come down to support Indigenous voices, support Indigenous people. I don't think that there's any amount of doctors who are non-native that have all these crazy degrees that could ever come into a space and tell people how to help solve this Indigenous issue. It's going to be Indigenous people, it's going to be up to us, and it's going to be
00:49:48
Speaker
us telling everybody how it needs to be done and then it's going to be the law enforcement, government entities, and agencies that are going to have to listen to the people to understand what it is that we need and what we want done to get this issue resolved. So I think it's definitely very big of you to be able to be willing to have such an open mind and open heart when it comes to this topic and any topics that matter. You strike me as somebody that really does, you know, dive into information and I think we need a lot more of that
00:50:14
Speaker
from our non-native allies as well and advocates. So, I mean, that really is big and I really do appreciate it. I appreciate it. It's a natural tendency I have and if it's supported, that's the way that I go. It's been absolutely great to talk with you. I'm reporting here on the west side of Oregon, of course, over the mountain.
00:50:37
Speaker
from Albany, Oregon, Kalapuya lands. It's ice and snow and crinkly snow, and the temperature is not supposed to rise above freezing until Wednesday or Thursday, so we may have a society shutdown.
00:50:56
Speaker
for about four days over here. And so maybe I'll get to record some more podcasts in the ice storm. I can, we can go back and forth. Will you get some time Cola? When you get some time to available here, you're available there.
00:51:12
Speaker
And here I am in Eastern Oregon, and we're just like, so we're all still showing up to work on Tuesday. We're going to be just fine. I mean, we're OK over here. That's why whenever I hear people are shutting down or keeping themselves at home, I'm like, oh, that's a thing. But man, well, before you kick me off of here, I do want to remind people that there are so many different ways that you can support me and my journey with the WNFC. We have replica jerseys being ordered right now. There is a huge push to get them done.
00:51:41
Speaker
because there is incentive to the players. Like I said earlier, it's a pay to play situation. So everything that we're doing is in some sort of way to be able to help us and be able to help our team and help this entire league grow. But ultimately, I like to remind people that I utilize every single platform that I have in order to advocate for
Closing Remarks and Call to Action
00:51:59
Speaker
my people. So
00:52:00
Speaker
Um, the more attention I bring around it, the more possibility I have to be able to speak on the issues that I'm passionate about, most specifically, uh, MMIW or even, you know, S1723 with residential schools. That's something that I'm also been talking about quite a bit, but, um, any help to me helps.
00:52:17
Speaker
indigenous issues in general. I mean, when you're helping an indigenous athlete, you're helping a community, a people, a tribe. So definitely keep that in mind. But those replica jerseys, toss my name on their ship and tower. And I'm number 29. That is my official jersey number for the season of 2024. But I have all that information on my Instagram and also on my Facebook. And if there's any businesses out there that are looking to be a team sponsor for the Oregon Ravens, we have
00:52:43
Speaker
Excellent. I'm really impressed by the sponsor packages that the Oregon Ravens are providing to sponsors. If that's something that anyone seems like they're interested in, definitely reach out to me and I can get those connections made. But man, I wish I could talk about all the things that they're offering those things that it's like.
00:52:58
Speaker
team or season tickets and one of them or tickets to some of the other big games, there's merch, there's just tons of stuff. I really have to put the list in front of me, but there's all several different types of levels. But yeah, doing things like that definitely help out in the long, long run. But if anybody also wants to be an individual sponsor to me in my journey with WNFC, reach out to me on those social media handles that I gave you earlier.
00:53:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, no big shock, uh, something rather than nothing podcast and Ken Vellante in particular will, uh, be on not only the cola support, uh, train and continue that, but, um, for, for the league and, and for your, for your teammates, um, again, you know, uh, merch, man, everybody's about merch. Get the merch out there. Oh, it looks, it looks bad. It looks bad.
00:53:54
Speaker
It does help build up the league, but this is exciting. I'm looking forward to this opportunity.
00:54:00
Speaker
Thanks so much, Cola. Great seeing you. And for folks, if you missed Cola on the first interview way back when, oh my gosh, Cola, it's interview episode number 121. I'm going to be hitting 250 episodes. So you're right there. I hope that's in the heart or when I was just getting my getting my shank in my legs, you know, not the first 10 episodes, which were good, which were good, but
00:54:26
Speaker
You know, kind of midway is like, all right, Ken's hitting this thing. Wow. 250. That's pretty awesome. I think we'll have to just make this like, what do they call that? What do they call those? Like the century celebrations? Centennial. Yeah. There we go. We'll just keep coal on there in the hundreds, the 200s, 300s. You never know. By 300, I could be something completely different. And everybody would be like, whoa.
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not even going to predict what that will be. And it could be it could be it could be related to what we're talking about, but it could be quite completely left field, you know, completely different. Well, once you stake out that territory, I've done it myself, once you stake out some territory where people kind of look at you sideways and be like, what the fuck are you doing now? Then even more motivation, like, let's go. I'll do it then. All right. You draw on comics now. Sure. Why not? Yep.
00:55:20
Speaker
All right, Cola, much love from me and the show. Best of luck, stay healthy, stay strong, and thanks for everything you've taught. This is something rather than nothing.
00:55:49
Speaker
and listeners to stay connected with us in our guests, visit something rather than nothing.com. Join our mailing list for exclusive updates and access to guest created art. If you enjoyed this episode or any episode, please like, subscribe, leave a review on your podcast platform. People really read that shit.
00:56:09
Speaker
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00:56:37
Speaker
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