Yorkton's Benjamin Lortie, born in St-Jean, Quebec, is one of Saskatchewan's top tennis players, competing in a National Championship tournament three times for Team Prairies as well as being a member of Team Saskatchewan since 2012.
Oh, and he's just 12 years old.
So how did a kid from Canada, the land of ice, snow and, more importantly hockey, become enamoured with a sport such as tennis in the first place? "I was in kindergarten and there was this tennis club at my school after school," said the 12-year-old tennis star. "My dad used to play tennis and he's the one that pushed me into trying it out and I loved it after that."
In fact the young Lortie enjoyed tennis so much that he regularly played it in Quebec from kindergarten until his family relocated to Yorkton in 2011, where he immediately joined the Yorkton Tennis Club and met Blaine Stoll, the man who would introduce Lortie to the world of competitive tennis. "We got Ben and his family about three years ago when they moved to Yorkton," offered Stoll, the president and main coach of the Yorkton Tennis Club. "They expressed an interest in Ben being able to access and play tennis in Yorkton and the club was more than happy to welcome them in."
Once Lortie became a member of the Yorkton Tennis Club his skills flourished to the point that he was defeating people far older and more experienced than he was, and he was doing so on a regular basis.
His impressive improvement in 2011/12 led Stoll to push Lortie towards competing in the 2012 Saskatchewan Summer Games for Team Parkland, despite being too young to compete.
Luckily he was allowed to take part in the 2012 Games, where he and his partner took the Gold medal in mixed doubles in what was his first competitive tournament.
Since then Lortie has improved immensely, competing in the 2013 U12 Outdoor National Championship at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, before competing in, and winning, the 2013 Saskatchewan Junior Open.
Lortie then qualified for two more National Championships, the U12 Indoors in Calgary and U12 Outdoors, once again in Quebec.
But facing fellow Juniors is not something that Lortie is altogether familiar with. While the majority of the competitors at the U12 National Championships, who are almost always from big cities like Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, are used to competing against their peers, Lortie, instead, competes against adults.
Actually, Lortie competes regularly against adults, most recently taking part in the Saskatoon Men's Singles and Doubles tournament, where he posted a record of two wins and two losses, despite playing against men who have nearly as much experience in tennis as Lortie does in life itself. "Almost every tournament right now in Saskatchewan I compete against adults," suggested Lortie. "Right here in the club I compete against adults too. There aren't many juniors here other than my brother (Isaac) to compete against, so I have to play adults."
However that doesn't bother Lortie. Instead, he feels it makes his game stronger and allows it to mature. "It's always different playing adults. Not stroke wise, but more attitude wise," mentioned Lortie. "Kids get more frustrated with themselves than adults do so it's different, but usually I do pretty good against adults, no matter how old or how good they are and by playing them I get better."
Stoll, too, acknowledged that the lack of junior players in the Yorkton Club means that Lortie regularly finds himself facing a far larger and stronger opponent than he would usually face. "We don't have a huge junior selection that Ben can play with like big cities have, so one of the things that it does is it allows him some mature tennis playing with adult club members and the tennis club members, which I think greatly helps his game," said Stoll, adding that because Lortie can't overpower his adult opponents with his shots he has to become more methodical and technical with his game, something that Stoll has noticed an improvement in every time Lortie competes.
Another thing that Stoll notices, however, is that Lortie, for all the talent and skill he has, is still just a kid. "Sometimes when he's playing he starts to mimic some professional players," laughed Stoll.
And Lortie does not disagree with that accusation. Instead, he agrees that sometimes he'll find himself doing what his idol, Spain's Rafael Nadal, does on the court. "I know my dad and Blaine always tell me to play my game even though sometimes I try to be like Rafael," admitted the 12-year-old Lortie. "I do wish I could have his stroke and I try sometimes to model his stroke, but then I get told to play my game because that is what's most important."
That is what is most important. And when he plays his game he is hard to beat, as evidenced by his continuous upward movement throughout the Canadian U12 rankings, where he currently sits 26th overall.
His game, too, is the reason why he'll be going to Miami, Florida, in December to compete in tournaments with the hopes of qualifying for one of the biggest youth tournaments in the world, the Junior Orange Bowl.
But while Lortie is clearly on a path to tennis stardom if he continues to work and train hard, there is really only one thing truly driving him to play tennis.
No, it's not the dream of winning Wimbledon. It's far more simple than that.
It's because tennis is fun. "The whole point of tennis is to have fun," said Lortie, continuing, "Yes I love the competition but you have to have fun doing your sport most of all.
"That's what is most important to me."
