There’s a few sore knees at Greentree School after Grade 6 students from Greentree, Morrin School and the Drumheller Dragons played some knee hockey the morning of Wednesday, February 15.
The knee hockey tournament was postponed this year when a brutal cold snap prevented school’s from making it to the event.
Normally, the knee hockey tournament coincides with Weedless Wednesday, a national day that challenges smokers to quit for the day.
This year, because of the delay, the tournament is raising awareness to stop tobacco chewing.
“We also tend to focus on chewing tobacco, because in rural areas it’s really big. Linking with sports, chew is really big in hockey,” said Martin McSween, an addictions counsellor with the Province of Alberta.
Chewing tobacco, often marketed as smokeless tobacco and with flavours such as peanut butter and jam, is just as much if not more, harmful than smoking.
Once the tobacco is chewed, enzymes within the mouth break down the tobacco. From there, the digested tobacco travels down the esophagus to the stomach and intestines. After being absorbed, the liver and kidneys can be affected as well.
Basically, the entire digestive system is susceptible to cancer, because of chewing tobacco.
Roughly 1.6 per cent of Canadians and 9 per cent of Albertans chew tobacco. It’s highly addictive and one regular sized tin equals 30-40 cigarettes.
Kenton Levesque, co-captain of the Dragons, talked about his own battle with chewing tobacco.
“I was doing it just to do it. I had no intention of quitting, but then my coach talked to me. He made me go to AADAC sessions to stop chewing,” said Levesque.
Once he managed to kick the habit the benefits soon became apparent.
“The positives are, now there are more flavours and I have more energy. It’s not performance enhancing, I play harder now, because I have more energy,” explained Levesque.
Five years ago, McSween’s idea and collaboration with schools’ and the Dragons made the tournament a reality.
“The school’s were looking for a fun, interactive way to teach. We came up with this and the Dragons were excited, because of the community involvement with kids,” said McSween.
The tournament was originally meant to be a one time affair, but demand from students and the tournament’s lasting affect has kept it running for five years.
“Kids came up to me and asked when we would be doing it again, and so it was born,” said McSween. “It’s great that a lot of older kids remember the tournament and the message.”
Apart from the tournament, students have been given lessons on the negative effects of tobacco.
For the students, having the Dragons deliver the anti-tobacco message means a lot.
“A lot of the boys here are hockey players,” said McSween. “They really look up to the Dragons.”