J.H. Sissons School won the Yellowknife Schools Squash Tournament, held at the Racquet Club on Oct. 6. But they didn't know that until contacted by Yellowknifer to talk about it on Wednesday. Surprise.

The school finished on top of the overall standings with 21 team points, beating out St. Joe's in second. N.J. Macpherson, last year's winners, had to settle for third.

When Yellowknifer contacted Stephane Sevigny, J.H. Sissons' coach, he had been anxiously waiting to hear about the results.

SA国际影视传媒淭hey told us we would know after the tournament but we hadn't heard anything,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淚t's a nice surprise and I'm really happy for the kids but I had an idea we would be close to the top from how our kids were doing in their games.SA国际影视传媒�

The rules were modified from traditional squash in a few ways. Serves didn't have to cross the short line by the service boxes in order to count but did have to go above the service line on the wall. Each game was also a 10-minute affair with players trying to score as many points as they could in that time. Whoever won a game earned a point for their team. J.H. Sissons did that 21 times.

Melina Turk, the club's head squash pro, said the rules were tweaked to allow for more action out on the courts.

SA国际影视传媒淲e wanted the kids to have rallies and score points instead of having them miss a serve and give up the point that way,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

The traditional small black squash ball also gave way to the blue dot ball, a larger and softer ball that bounces more than a regular squash ball, she added, and that also helped the players.

To get ready for the tournament, Turk went around to all seven of the participating schools to hold squash clinics during phys-ed classes and that was a bit of an adventure in itself.

SA国际影视传媒淎 lot of them didn't know what squash was at first,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淏ut they know what tennis is like and so the best way to describe it to them was a tennis court folded in half.SA国际影视传媒�

When it came to J.H. Sissons, Sevigny said the students got a chance to get in some extra practice time during the lunch hours leading up to the tournament.

SA国际影视传媒淎ll of the teachers worked together as a team to help the kids get their practice,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淭he set-up that the club had was great because they integrated fitness with the racquet skills. It was a good program for everyone to take part in.SA国际影视传媒�

Each school was able to enter up to eight players SA国际影视传媒� two boys and two girls in each of the Grade 4 and 5 divisions for a total of 56 players.

Turk said one school had a missing player, meaning 55 took part but that was still a great turnout.

SA国际影视传媒淓verything went great,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淣o problems and everyone looked they were having a lot of fun.SA国际影视传媒�
For Sevigny, he's just happy his players got the chance to try something new.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's good for the kids to learn a new sport and enjoy it,SA国际影视传媒� he said.