Terrel Walker, 19, credits his family and friends to the reason that he was able to play for Canada at the ISF Junior Men's World Fast Pitch Championship.

Not only did his family introduce him to the game at the young age of six, but his Okanese First Nation reservation, located just 10 minutes south of Belcarres, Saskatchewan, raised around $15,000 when they found out he was selected to the team in May.

The money was to cover Walker's expenses as well as to pay the fee needed to charter a bus, so members of the reservation could come up and cheer him on in person.

Last week, nearly 40 band members from Walker's reservation arrived in Whitehorse to show their support for the popular short stop.

"It means a lot to me," Walker said about his band members travelling to Whitehorse. "I don't think I could do it without them. They got me here, they pushed me, they kept me going and gave me every kind of support I needed. As soon as I found out I made the team, they started fund-raising. Right away they told me they were going to try and come and sure enough they did."

Besides being popular player with the fans, Walker was also very well liked by his teammates. Going into the championship, he was friends with all five fellow Saskatchewan players on Team Canada.

Walker said he was excited when he foundout about playing with his fellow Saskatchewanians.

"That was very exciting," he said. "Just knowing I had buddies on the team, right away, it just made me feel a lot more comfortable."

With six players, Saskatchewan had the most representatives on Team Canada, while Ontario and Nova Scotia each had three players. Newfoundland and B.C. each had two representative and Alberta had one player.

Walker said he was not at all surprised by the high number of Saskatchewan players on the team.

"I know Saskatchewan ball players are pretty up there in Canada."

Richard Stonechild has known Walker since he was a kid, playing with the Okanese Braves, which is the local community softball team. Stonechild was one of the band members that came up to see Walker play.

He said it was important for the band to travel to Whitehorse and show their support.

"Okanese has a real home spirit," he said. "We are so proud of our youth and support our youth and all their endeavors We just knew that it was going to be something big and exciting and everybody wanted to take part and to come along in support and see a different part of the country."

Stonechild said he doesn't think a member from the Okanese First Nation has ever been selected to a national team before and that Walker is an inspiration for other youth in the community.

"We brought quite a bit of our youth too and to give them the opportunity to come and take part in something like this it's going to be memories that are going to last forever," he said. "They are going to remember this and they are going to want to strive to someday make it here too."

There are approximately 280 people who live on the reservation and sports are a popular pastime.

Besides Softball, some of the more popular sports in the community include martial arts, ringette and hockey.

Stonechild said the community is really proud of Walker and that they were all impressed with how he did.

"Watching him play back home, he plays quite well too, but I think he is really stepping up here," he said. "He is raising his skill level here and stepping up and making it happen. It was a beautiful experience for him. He really had a chance to show his talent and his skill level against this level of competition."