by KELLY FRIESEN
Journal editor
Humboldt athletes don't have to leave town this summer to hone their athletic abilities. The City's community & leisure services department is offering various sports camps throughout the summer for students ages eight to 16.
This is the first year the community has offered the camps, but it could grow into an annual event.
"We would like to make it an annual event if all goes well," said Michelle Smith, who is coordinating the summer sports camps. "We received recommendations from the community that this would be a good idea. We have high hopes for it."
A sports camp will take place every Wednesday from July 9 to August 13. The camps not only include traditional sports such as soccer and football, but less-popular sports such as fencing, sepak takraw and tennis are also offered.
"We tried to have a mix of more popular sports like soccer and also give athletes the opportunity to try out new sports like lacrosse and sepak takraw," said Smith. "There's also an opportunity to learn more about tennis. Humboldt doesn't have a tennis court, so that's a sport that isn't very popular here."
Trainers will come to Humboldt from various parts of Saskatchewan to teach the camps. Every trainer has both knowledge and experience in their respective sport.
"We've gotten provincial support to bring in quality trainers," said Smith. "They send someone in for each sport who knows the sports really well and played it at a high level."
Since there's no precedent set in Humboldt, the potential number of athletes is fairly up in the air at this point, but the City is hoping for a strong turnout.
"We're hoping for 10 per group and there's two groups per sport," said Smith. "It's a high number, but why not aim for the sky."
The sports camps were kicked off with lacrosse on July 9. It's no coincidence that Canada's national sport was included as the Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association is pushing to grow it. The sport isn't near as popular in Saskatchewan as it is in other provinces such as Ontario and B.C.
"Lacrosse is a sport that the province would like to see grow," said Smith. "The Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association is pushing the sport to get it more out there and they offer affordable prices for trainers in order to help their cause."
The sports camps cost $10 a child per camp or $50 for all six camps. Contact Michelle Smith at 306-682-2597 or [email protected] to register.
