There are some options when it comes to what youth can do over the summer. They can always watch television or putter around on their phones.
Some others between the ages of eight through 14 attended the Just Fitness Multi-Sport Fitness Camp, which wraps up its inaugural session today. Over the course of the month of July, those who have taken part got to participate in soccer, softball, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing with fitness training lumped in between the sports sessions each day.
Mackenzie Chiasson, left, dodges a punch from Sophie Mossman during a boxing drill as part of the Kids Multi-Sport Fitness Camp at Just Fitness on Wednesday.
Scott Thomson, co-owner of the Yellowknife Just Fitness, said the camp is modeled off a similar type of program that John Stanley, the gym's other co-owner, does at their location in Grande Prairie, Alta.
“They do a multi-sport program with one of the schools in Grande Prairie and it was very successful,” he said. “We decided to give it a try here in town for the summer to keep the kids occupied, work on their bodies and introduce some sports to them.”
Each week of the camp saw the participants do a different sport three days a week with a specialist from each sport to help teach: Jenn Lukas of the Yk Fastball League for softball, former U Sports soccer star Matt Thomson for soccer, Mitch Wiles, a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and Stanley for boxing.
A typical day began with a warm-up, followed by technical work in the sport for that week. Conditioning and workouts specific to each sport were also part of it along with a chance to scrimmage.
While this year was meant as a test run to see how things went, Thomson said all signs point to year two happening with a possible extended schedule.
“We could have done two weeks straight for five days or we could spread it out over the entire month and go three days a week,” he said. “We looked at both and decided on the month-long option because it takes up more of the summer.”
Attendance was capped at 20 per week because there was no way of knowing how many would sign up, he added.
This week saw boxing as the sport of choice and that's where Stanley came in as the expert, bringing several years of experience coaching and training boxers all over the country.
He said the one thing he notices about people who come in from outside boxing is they find it more technical than they first thought.
“People are shocked when they experience the technical aspect of the sport for the first time,” he said. “There are so many little intricacies that you don't see when you're just watching fighters throw punches. People can say 'Oh, I can throw a punch' but if you do it with proper form and technique, it's not as easy as it looks. The kids who are serious about this put in four or five days a week and that's the difference. You don't push them when they're young but the big thing as they get older is work ethic.”
Pretty much everyone who was in the camp was learning boxing for the first time and Stanley was impressed with how quickly they picked up on the basics.
“It's like anything in life – the ones who are focused and paying attention are learning,” he said. “There will always be kids who aren't interested so they may be less active in this than, say, soccer. On the flip side, some of them are really focused on boxing and maybe wouldn't be in the other sports.”
When it came to softball, Lukas said she jumped at the chance to work with the campers.
“Scott reached out to us and told us what they were doing,” she said. “He's involved with softball as well and I've always liked working with kids. You get to see some new faces and the nice thing about something like this is you see them for a short time so everything stays fresh with them.”
When it came to the participants, they were just enjoying doing something different.
Mackenzie Chiasson, a gymnast by training, did all four weeks of the program and said her favourite part was the combat side of it all: boxing and jiu-jitsu.
“I just felt like they were the most entertaining,” she said. “My mom introduced me to it and I saw that it looked like a lot of fun so I wanted to join. I'll probably do this again next year if they have it.”
Desmond Hutchings, who is into hockey, has done the entire month as well and said he's loved every minute of it.
“I think it's been a really fun camp,” he said. “I liked doing the softball, boxing and jiu-jitsu so far.”
This week was the first time Hutchings had ever boxed and he said he thought it was going to be simple.
Until he tried it.
“At first, it looked easy but then you see what the stance is like and how you have to hold your hands,” he said. “It's a big arm workout. I knew about how you had to protect your face but I learned how you have to protect your kidneys as well.”
There will be no camp in August this year, said Thomson, but next year could see the introduction of new options throughout the summer based on the success of the inaugural season.
“The one thing the kids are really catching on to the importance of training for their sport,” he said. “You see the Connor McDavids or the Odell Beckham Jr.'s of the world and you explain to them that the fancy videos you see on YouTube are only about 20 per cent of what they do. The other 80 per cent is spent in the gym on technical fitness aspects and doing all the repetitions.”