NANGGHAAHLAANGSTANGS
COACH, TRAINER, SPEAKER, FACILITATOR
WE CULTIVATE INCLUSIVE AND EMPOWERING ENVIRONMENTS GROUNDED IN DEDICATED COACHING, CULTURAL COMPETENCY AND GROWTH MINDSET
DAMEN BELL-HOLTER
NANGGAAHLAANGSTANGS
Founder/Trainer/Former Professional Athlete
Damen Bell-Holter (Nangghaahlaanstangs)
Damen, a proud Haida, Tlingit, and Black man, specializes in providing trauma-informed, community led capacity building for Native and Black communities across Turtle Island. Informed by his experiences as an Indigenous leader and former professional athlete, Damen combines world class sports training with culturally relevant care to help communities, and especially youth, improve their relationships to themselves, one another, and develop healthy habits that create long-term success. With over 10 years of experience of coaching, facilitation, and public speaking Damen is well positioned to respond to and adapt to each community's unique needs and work towards shared empowerment goals.
Collaborative Opportunities
Coaching & Youth Workshops/Clinics: Through immersive, culturally grounded coaching clinics, coaches and players will have the opportunity to create team culture, develop healthy habits and integrate trauma informed coaching into their long term team strategies. Damen will give participants the tools to build programming, facilitate talking circles and run sports clinics.
Creating a Culture Workshop: We know that Native communities know themselves, their issues, and potential solutions best. Rather than applying an outsider perspective, Damen works closely with community leaders and youth to identify problems, come up with a culturally relevant plan, and work towards meaningful change.
Public Speaking: From a 300 person Haida village to the NBA, and beyond—acting as a community advocate and catalyst for community change across Turtle Island, Damen’s story has inspired thousands. We need to elevate more stories that Black and Indigenous youth identify with. Damen can provide inspirational storytelling tailored to your community’s needs.
Basketball Camp: Damen focuses on the fundamentals of the game alongside emotionally intelligent coaching and support to help youth become better teammates and players. Through this grounded approach, basketball serves as a catalyst for a change to instill leadership, discipline, commitment and hard work into the everyday lives of the athletes who participate.
School Partnership: The predominant Western education system fails many Indigenous and Black youth with a lack of culturally sensitive and trauma informed care as well as outdated and carceral practices. With over 10 years of experience, working as a coach, mentor, and teacher, Damen is well positioned to work with schools to design effective youth programming, coaching, and counseling to help youth address emotional and behavioral issues, develop effective coping mechanisms, and thrive academically and beyond. Damen will work closely with school leaders, administrators, teachers, and students as desired.
Native Leadership for Native Success: The violent and devastating impact of colonization lives on today—indigenous communities across Turtle Island are plagued by substance abuse, addiction, poverty, and violence. Our communities and youth need to be provided with the tools to heal themselves, develop healthy habits and relationships, and organically organize solutions for their community. As a Haida and Black man, raised in a small village, Damen has first hand experience dealing with addiction, abuse, and discrimination. He knows how to honor local traditions, leaders, and youth to break cycles of trauma and work towards a brighter, culturally grounded future together