Basketball at breakneck pace a way of life on Navajo reservation - Cronkite News
WINDOW ROCK — At 5:15 a. m. , sunrise is only a thin pale highlight over red rock mesas in the east as Alicia Hale steps out of her house for her daily run. Even in June, the morning is so chilly at an altitude of almost 7,000 feet that she needs several layers to stay warm. The Window Rock High School senior lines up next to her mother and younger sister in the dirt yard of their house in the capital of the Navajo Nation. They exit the yard through a chain link gate and set out at an easy jog. The peace and serenity of the early morning stand in stark contrast to the almost continual noise of big cities. Instead of shattering the sublime atmosphere, their crowing enhances it. Sixty miles to the northwest, in Chinle, the day progresses in similar fashion for Shane Yazzie, who will be a junior at Chinle High School in the fall. He runs, he does his chores and he practices basketball — he practices until he simply can’t anymore. As the day draws to an end and the sun sets behind the equally picturesque mesas that frame the valley where Shane lives, he shoots baskets until the light is gone — and sometimes later. Source: cronkitenews.azpbs.org
