Hammer throw is not one of your traditional, popular every day activities but there are a group of students at both Saskatchewan Universities who hope that one day it will be.
Something slightly new, at least on the local scene, hammer throw is an Olympic sport but has not reached that same status around most parts of Canada.
Former Yorkton Regional High School and current University of Regina student Kyla Bassingthwaite told the newspaper, although she added it's picked up a bit in Ontario and in the Maritimes.
"I like it," she said during a telephone talk with Yorkton This Week last Thursday afternoon.
She added that it's one of those sports where it just might catch on in popularity both in the colleges and the high schools.
"MaybeI'm hoping so," she responded in regards to its popularity around Saskatchewan, before adding that "it just takes time".
Bassingthwaite is part of a University of Regina throw team that puts in 5-6 days per week of practice; at least she goes at it that hard, adding that "it's the amount of technique" involved that attracts her to the sport.
She said there are only three other girls on the University throwing team. At a national competition, she said she recently threw the 8 lb ball 39.36-metres.
"His goal for me for next year is 47 metres," she told the newspaper of interactions she's had with her U of R coach.
She said they train off campus at Douglas Park and there are a "few girls" up at the University of Saskatchewan that are also in the process of giving the game a try and seeing how far it goes.
Hammer throw has become a regular fixture at the summer Olympic Games. It is an athletic throwing event where the object is to throw a heavy metal ball attached to a wire and handle. The name "hammer throw" is derived from older competitions where an actual sledge hammer was thrown. Such competitions are still part of the Scottish Highland Games, where the implement used is a steel or lead weight at the end of a cane handle.
