On Sunday Feb. 5, 2023 the Raiders boys basketball participated in a traditional sweat in Nespelem with Colville Tribal members Dan Nanamkin, William Womer and Benny Marchand. 

The goal of taking the sweat was to get ready for the upcoming month of playoffs, get all the negative energy out and connect as a team.

We started off talking about how the sweat works and what it does for the people who haven’t taken a sweat before, then we started the fire up and put the rocks in so they can be red hot. We waited for about two hours then we hopped in the sweat that had to fit about 12-15 people. 

When everyone got in we closed the door and it was pitch black. We were doing four rounds where we would sing songs sweathouse songs, pray and learn. The first round was just the starters so it wasn’t that bad, the second round was a little harder, then the third and fourth round were pretty tough. 

When we went through all the rounds we bonded, laughed and chilled around the fire. 

We all went and ate at the Nespelem community center and ate spaghetti.

Update: The Lake Roosevelt Boys beat Liberty Bell, 60-51 Wednesday in Omak, to advance to play Brewster, Saturday.