Medicine Game by Delby Powless
Genre: Fiction
Originally published: October 19, 2020
About the Book: MEDICINE GAME is a modern-day story set on the fictional Sparrow Lake Nation. It’s a story of Tommy Henry’s life on the Rez. Events from Tommy’s childhood lead him down a path of violent outbursts that trouble him throughout his young life. The very same outbursts he saw from his father Beau. Tommy finds solace in the friendships he develops with his lacrosse teammates. He finds that the game of lacrosse is where he can go to let out the emotions, he has hidden deep inside him. Unfortunately, Tommy turns to heavy drinking and violence to help forget the issues he had hoped to leave in his past. Tommy’s friends and his love for the game of lacrosse keep him balanced for most of his life, but a time comes when he is forced to deal with his past demons. Beau soon must help his son fight the same battle he faced as a young man. The people of the Sparrow Lake believe that the game of lacrosse was a gift given to them by the Creator. It was meant to be played with a good mind and strong heart. They believe that when they play the game the Creator smiles and blesses them with good health. That is why lacrosse is known to them as MEDICINE GAME. Embracing a good mind and strong heart, Tommy must come to terms with his childhood problems and find a way to heal before he hurts himself and those he loves. MEDICINE GAME is an emotional story that brings to light some of the dark issues in Native communities while displaying the comedy that many Native people use to cope with such issues. This is the story of one young man’s healing journey.
About the Author: Delby Powless is member of the Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan. He is a Child and Youth Counsellor in his home community, Six Nations of the Grand River, in Ontario, Canada. Powless graduated from Bellevue University with a Bachelor of Science in Child Protection and Juvenile Justice. He also graduated from the Child and Youth Mental Health program at Wilfred Laurier University. While attending Herkimer County Community College and Rutgers University, Powless was named to three All-American Teams in the sport of lacrosse. He played lacrosse professionally, winning the Champions Cup in 2008 with the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League and the Steinfeld Cup in 2009 with Toronto Nationals of Major League Lacrosse. Delby Powless represented the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team as a player at six World Championships, and at the first-ever World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, he was selected to the All-World Team. Also, in 2003, Powless was named the recipient of the Tom Longboat Award as Canada’s Top Aboriginal Athlete.