The Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club will be hosting a series of youth clinics this summer in the hopes of improving the interest of tennis among Yorkton youth ahead of the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Blaine Stoll, spokesman for the Tennis Club, said that he hopes the clinics will help local youth find interest in a sport that has long been seen as a fringe sport within the community. 鈥淲e are targeting young people that may be interested in playing tennis and hopefully they鈥檒l help build the sport up in Yorkton,鈥� Stoll told Yorkton This Week, adding that the added possibility of competing at the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan might be something of interest to young athletes. 鈥淚f young people start playing now then they definitely do have a chance to play at the Summer Games, which would be a great experience for anyone.鈥�
Stoll said that the club has been hoping to hold summer youth clinics for years, however they had been unable to find someone able to coach the clinics on a regular basis until this year when Winnipeg native Alexa Zayac stepped forward. 鈥淔or the first time in many years we have a person that has decided to take on the summer camps and that is Alexa Zayac,鈥� mentioned Stoll. 鈥淎lexa is going to take the enrolment and do the camps. We鈥檝e always tried to get a little bit of tennis introduced to the community but we didn鈥檛 really have anyone available to take a regular day shift to do tennis camps.
鈥淪he鈥檚 going to take any children aged six to 16 that want to participate or take part in an introductory tennis camp and teach them about tennis and show them how to play.鈥�
In total Zayac will hold five camps 鈥� four in Yorkton and one in Melville 鈥� with the first one beginning July 6 and ending on July 9. The following camp will be held in Melville from July 13-16 while the next three camps will take place in Yorkton from July 20-23, August 10-13 and August 24-27. The cost of each camp will be 120 dollars with racquets, drinks and snacks provided. To book a spot in one of the camps please contact Alexa Zayac at [email protected].
Fundraising
In addition to the youth camps the Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club is also looking to raise money towards the installation of three indoor courts at Yorkton鈥檚 Flexihall. 鈥淭he purpose of the fundraising is to arrange for public access to the indoor courts for winter time use at the Flexihall,鈥� suggested Stoll. 鈥淲e鈥檒l have three full courts able to be set up with the posts and the nets so that anybody can go in there at their leisure and set up one or two or whatever they need.鈥�
Stoll says the club is still looking for near 1,500 dollars in donations having already raised 520 from within the club itself.
In addition, the club has received a grant from the 1989 Jeux du Canada Games Foundation for a total of five thousand dollars.
Anyone interested in donating to the tennis club is asked to contact them via their Facebook page (Yorkton Pirates Tennis Club) or call Blaine at 306-783-5887.
