Summer is almost over ... not that it really began to begin with.
That means plenty of sports are starting to ramp up their new seasons and that includes squash but before that, the Racquet Club wanted to make sure its junior players were well on their way.
A half-dozen of the city's finest were hard at it this week in the club's junior squash camp. It was the second of the summer and followed a similar camp held last month.
Melina Turk, the club's head squash pro, said it was a small group but one which she liked.
“It's pretty much some of the best players from our junior program and some of the high-performance kids,” she said. “It's a hard-working group and they're all keen to have fun but also work hard at the same time. It makes my life easy because it's the ideal group.”
Because all of the players had significant prior squash experience, going over how to do the basics wasn't a priority but what they already knew was what Turk wanted to go over.
She said it was about perfecting things.
“These kids are all in the junior program so I've already worked with them throughout an entire season,” she said. “They've learned almost all that they need to know so camp is more about being on court, playing a ton of squash, doing drills to perfect those shots, maybe learn a couple more things but it's mostly repetition.”
It's also a chance to get the players on the court when they normally wouldn't be thinking about squash, she added.
“Especially because it's summer, it's all about getting out there and getting ready for the new season,” she said. “These kids aren't always thinking about squash, especially in Yellowknife. Everyone wants to be outside when it's not minus-40.”
As for the participants, they seem keen to get a jump on their upcoming season.
Colton Tumoth has been to both camp sessions and said he simply wanted to learn.
“It's a great group of people because we've all known each other for a very long time,” he said. “I feel like I didn't learn anything I didn't know before but I have been working on the things I did know and got better at those.”
For Joe Depew, he said it's all about perfecting his skills and making sure he has the stamina.
“Working on getting fit,” he said. “It takes a lot of energy to play.”
The one thing he said he wanted to improve on was getting the ball out of the deep corner.
“I can already drive it but when it's a really hard shot, you need to know how to boost it,” he said. “I want to get better at my boosts.”
The camp wraps up this evening.