This year's Laura Gauthier Memorial (LGM) volleyball tournament in Rankin Inlet marked the 25th anniversary of the largest volleyball tournament in Nunavut.

The 2025 tournament, held last week, featured 15 teams in the female division and seven in the male division.

LGM committee member Toota Tatty said the committee kept talking about it being the 25th year for the LGM and it just felt very big.

She said there's a huge sense of accomplishment and a sense of pride with the growth of the tournament over the years.

鈥淭he committee has been in many hands, as well,鈥� said Tatty. 鈥淭here's been many people who helped it get to this point, but there's a real sense of accomplishment to know that we've been getting together to play volleyball and keeping the sport vibrant.

鈥淚t's getting more and more competitive every year and, I think, one of the most awesome parts about this tournament is to have the juniors competing, as well as some of us who are a little older.

鈥淛ust the fact that it brings so many people together 鈥� it's to the point now where the grandkids of the people who started playing in the beginning are now also playing.鈥�

Fellow committee member Reanna Johnston said the LGM has definitely encouraged the growth of volleyball throughout Nunavut.

She said she feels like it's a tournament that teams from all over the territory look forward to every year.

鈥淭he number of tournaments throughout Nunavut has increased since last year,鈥� said Johnston. 鈥淭here's now a Pangnirtung tournament and ones in Naujaat, Gjoa Haven and Iqaluit.

鈥淚 don't want to say the LGM was part of that, but I feel because we've been doing it every year for so many years, it's encouraged other communities to step up and run their own.

鈥淲e get a lot of positive feedback from others who run their own tournaments and they come to us for suggestions too. We support them however we can.

鈥淲e're always open to helping whomever we can. It's nice to be able to provide that kind of support because ours is the biggest volleyball tournament in Nunavut.鈥�

Committee member John Ussak said the 25th edition of the LGM is a milestone for Rankin Inlet.

He said he sees the women as being more competitive than the men but, throughout the years, it's been quite successful for men to compete in the LGM, as well.

鈥淭he men's participation encourages younger males to participate,鈥� said Ussak. 鈥淪o it's quite successful, I would say.

鈥淣ot this time around, but, hopefully, we're going to see more men participate in the tournament during the years to come.鈥�

Tatty said using 2024's LGM as an example, there were a bunch of teams her squad had to compete against and a lot of those contests had finals vibes, like they were playing in the final game, but it was still in the crossover stage or the semifinals.

Unfortunately, this year the defending female champs from Iqaluit (Iqaluit were also the defending men's champs) couldn't make the tournament because they weren't able to raise enough funds, she said.

鈥淚 think a lot of the difference in the attendance between women and men is, basically, the ability to fundraise,鈥� said Tatty.

鈥淲omen excel at fundraising and do better than the guys do. This year our turnout was great. However, there are still teams out there who couldn't make it because of the costs associated with getting to Rankin. Even as central as we are, some communities have to start their travels so early to get here.

鈥淎nd, the way the flight schedules work, we made a big push this year to try and have the tournament end on Sunday before the flights back to the Baffin takeoff, otherwise they'd be stuck here until Wednesday.鈥�

Johnston said the LGM committee talked about the size of the tournament a number of times this past week.

She said there were at least five teams that competed in 2024, but weren't part of it this year.

鈥淭hat goes to show we probably could have had about 30 teams this year, so we have to discuss what next year will look like because we need to be realistic in how we can schedule the games and fit them all in.

鈥淟ast year we had 21 teams in total and this year we have 22, but it's way more women than men, so we have to make sure we don't exceed our capacity going forward.鈥�