INUVIK
There might be no resisting a new league that encourages its players to squash their opponents.

Mackenzie McDonald is one of the 20 or so youngsters signed up for the new junior squash league. - Shawn Giilk/NNSL photo

A new instructional junior squash league has been in operation for about a month now and appears to be flourishing, said Kendall McDonald, one of the organizers.

He's an avid squash player in his own right, and a multi-talented athlete.

"I picked this game up a bit later in life, in my mid-20s, and I think it's just a great sport."

He said some of the impetus for establishing the new league was to take advantage of the "excellent facilities" at the Midnight Sun Recreation Centre, which tend to go underused.

"With these courts here in Inuvik, there's no reason why we shouldn't have more interest and more people using them, like this junior league."

Along with the junior squash league, which runs Tuesdays, a Monday night league is being set up for adults aimed at everyone from beginners through to uber-competitive players.

It hasn't started as yet, though.

"This is for beginners, and we're just trying to get more of the youth interested in the game," McDonald said as he took a break from working with the dozen or so youth in attendance on Oct. 28. "That's the mission, just to get them interested.

"We've been going for one month now, and it's been good. So far, we haven't lost any members. We've had about 16 to 18 people showing up, and we still have about the same numbers coming out weekly."

McDonald added with a chuckle that might change though, since participants were now being asked to formally register with the league and pay a $85 membership fee. The clinics up to that point had been free.

The membership fee includes a racquet and glasses, he said, making it quite a reasonable cost.

"It's very inexpensive."

McDonald said the league and instructors were concentrating the first half of the season on learning the basic racquet skills. He expected the youth would spend the first half of the season mastering those skills and improving their eye-hand co-ordination to the point where they can handle rallies comfortably. Only after that will they move on to more serious real-game practice and begin learning some of the strategies needed to become skilled at squash.

"It's nothing fancy at the moment. We just want them to be able to hit the ball consistently and keep it within bounds. Once you can rally, you can get into more strategy and stuff."

Several of the youth who were playing Oct. 28 are accomplished athletes in other sports, such as Nina Verbonac and Darcie Setzer, and they were working hard at mastering those racquet skills, which aren't as simple as they look.

McDonald said raw athletic skills are important, but the ability to use a racquet intelligently is just as important.

He said he plays with one or two skilled competitors who have the fortunate ability to make their opponents run while they conserve energy and move less.

Kyra McDonald, one of the youth players, said she's been playing for about a month.

"I like to try new sports and new things, so this has been fun," she said. "I think I do best at hitting it back, but I have trouble serving, especially hitting it back into the opposing square."

Mackenzie McDonald said "I thought it would be fun to try something new."

"It's kind of difficult but it's fun. Just hitting the ball sometimes is tough. I'd like to get better at this."

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