A basketball player from the Thunderchild First Nation has been selected as the new face of a Nike campaign.
Michael Linklater plays for the Saskatchewan Rattlers in the Canadian Elite Basketball League and will now be seen modelling pieces from the Nike N7 collection.
“Growing up as an Indigenous person you didn’t see a lot of campaigns with Indigenous people so I’m grateful for this,” Linklater says. “I wanted to be involved with this because of the great things that N7 is doing and has been doing and I just felt that it really went hand in hand with the way I live my life. For quite a few years I’ve been running my own basketball camps and clinics. I’ve been able to share a lot of the knowledge I’ve attained with smaller and remote communities.”
Nike’s website states that the N7 Fund helps organizations provide physical activity programs in Indigenous communities and has donated over $6.6 million to reach more than 437,000 youth since 2009.
“They want to see more Indigenous youth being active,” adds Linklater. They created a fund that promotes a healthy lifestyle and wellbeing. That’s where N7 comes from. Thinking of the next seven generations to come after us so it’s really preparing for our future.”
Nike N7 General Manager Sam McCracken asked Tinker Hatfield to design footwear for the collection. Hatfield has designed several of the Nike Air Jordan models.
“On reservations, schools always have a basketball team and kids always want to play,” said McCracken. “Whether teams play at home or on the road, the gyms are always packed.”
(PHOTO: Michael Linklater. Photo courtesy of Nike.)