Native American pro athletes Shayna Powless, Eli Ankou planning summer camps in Wisconsin

ONEIDA - Shayna Powless, a professional cyclist and Oneida descendant with roots in the Green Bay area, and her boyfriend, Eli Ankou, who plays defensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts, are planning to host a series of youth summer camps, including in Wisconsin.

“With both of us being Native (North) American professional athletes, we know Native Americans are an underrepresented demographic in the sports we represent,” Powless said. “That’s what drives us.”

She and Ankou, both 26, hope to inspire Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth living on and near the reservations to become more active to promote better health physically, mentally and emotionally.

Ankou also hopes the camps will help foster more understanding between Indigenous and local cultures.

“Native American culture will always be a deep part of who we are,” he said. “We wanted to do something to help the community. … Native American people have always existed, but people don’t really understand who they are.”

Ankou, an Ojibwe from Canada, hosted the first summer camp last year in Ottawa, Canada, through the couples’ Dream Catcher Foundation, which drew about 150 attendees.

Six Ojibwe bands reside in northern Wisconsin.

Powless was away racing during that camp and Ankou mostly focused on football drills with the kids, but they’re looking to co-host next summer’s camp, barring cancellation if the pandemic continues, with a focus on both football and cycling.

Powless had already hosted a couple cycling clinics in Wisconsin two years ago leading youth through trails on the Oneida and Stockbridge-Munsee reservations, where she has family.

Her late grandfather, Matthew Powless, was a respected elder on the Oneida reservation, and although she was raised in California, she has fond memories of her summer vacations in Wisconsin and attending the pow-wows.

Powless comes from a very athletic family.

Her father, Jack, loved competing in the Ironman Triathlons and her mother, Jen, represented Guam in the 1992 Olympics marathon event.

Growing up, Powless was very competitive with her brother, Nielson, after they both took up cycling.

“I was 2 years old when I started riding a bicycle without training wheels,” she said.

While their parents had them try several sports, it was cycling they both found they were best at and that they loved.

“It’s the speed and the sense of freedom I get when I’m riding a bike,” Powless said of the sport. “It’s the wind in my face. It’s hard to describe.”

Nielson competed in the Tour de France this year as the first Native North American to do so.

With strong finishes in the early stages of the race, Shayna is confident he’ll be invited to compete again next year.

Her own accomplishments include winning the U23 Cross-country Mountain Bike Nationals in 2013 and winning virtual races this year through the app Zwift.

“It’s something that’s really been a lifesaver,” Powless said of competing through the app since in-person events were canceled this year in the U.S. because of the pandemic. “It adds fuel to the fire. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be much motivation to train.”

She races with Team Twenty20, which aims to train cyclists to compete in the 2020, now 2021, Olympics.

Powless hopes to bring the Dream Catcher Foundation summer camps in or near the Oneida and Stockbridge-Munsee reservations as soon as it’s safe to do so.

She also is hoping to bring awareness to the phenomenon of missing, murdered and trafficked Indigenous women and children through the foundation and her social media accounts with #ProjectGOAT (Global Offensive Against Trafficking).

Powless and Ankou met while studying at UCLA and have been together since 2013. They live in the Indianapolis area.

Ankou said a website for the Dream Catcher Foundation should soon be live.