28 Apr Head NYO Official Nicole Johnson Celebrates 20 Years with NYO
“When you’re passionate about something, you always find a way to stay involved”
At her first Native Youth Olympics (NYO) competition, a tiny, seventh-grade Nicole Johnson walked right up to World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) gold medalist Reggie Joule and said, “I hear you’re the best, and I would like you to help me.”
Nicole has not only been the best in her event—she has become the head NYO official and an ambassador for the Games, traveling throughout the state to teach young people about Alaska Native traditional games. This year, Nicole celebrates twenty years of volunteering at NYO Games. She was honored at the 2024 NYO Games closing ceremony.
She got her start in traditional games as a way to battle boredom on Sunday afternoons when she attended an after-church program with a friend.
“I learned to do the Two-Foot High Kick and found I was a natural at that game,” she recalled. She started competing at NYO in 1982 as part of a team made up of mostly older athletes—teammates she found intimidating, at least at first. “But once I got started, I felt like I belonged there with them, and they never made me feel uncomfortable—they encouraged me.”
Nicole found her confidence growing as she tried new events, like the Kneel Jump, Alaskan High Kick, and Scissor Broad Jump. During her high school years, she “toned down” her competitiveness, recognizing that her teammates wanted to compete in some of the same events in which she excelled, exemplifying one of the qualities that makes NYO so special: sportsmanship.
After high school, she began competing at WEIO and at the Arctic Winter Games, pushing herself harder and making one of her most memorable athletic moments when she attempted to hit the seven-foot mark in the One-Foot High Kick.
In 1989, she set the world record for the women’s Two-Foot High Kick at 6 feet, 6 inches — a record that was not broken until the 2014 NYO Games.
“When you’re done competing and you’re passionate about something, you always find a way to stay involved,” Nicole remarked of her history with NYO as a coach, an official, and eventually head official.
In 2017, Nicole was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame for her role as a champion—not just in competition, but as an ambassador and mentor to other athletes.
“I’m very humbled to be inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame,” Nicole said that year. “I don’t do it for the notoriety; I do it because I love the games. It’s nice to be recognized, and I’m extremely honored.”
At the annual NYO Senior Games, she can be seen in her “Head Official” shirt, down on the floor with the athletes, consulting with coaches, demonstrating the proper way to do a particular game. But NYO isn’t a one-time event for her: Throughout the year, she travels all over Alaska to work with P.E. teachers and coaches, bringing traditional games to the next generation of record-breakers and athletes.
“NYO is one big family, and once you have become part of that family, it just grows,” she said. “Kids who participate in traditional Native games create that sense of family and community — and it’s not just the athletes. It’s the coaches, the officials, and the spectators who see this amazing event and say, ‘Wow, this just really is the coolest thing. You don’t see this in other sports; you don’t see people helping each other in this way. I am going to tell everybody I know about this.’ And that’s really special.”
Thank you for all you do, Nicole, for our athletes, officials, judges, volunteers, and community! Congratulations on twenty years with NYO Games!
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