Regina athletes keeping skills sharp in Labour Day weekend HoopLife camp

Hooplife in Regina WATCH: A few Saskatchewan athletes are tuning up for the basketball season with hooplife in Regina. Hallee Mandryk has more.

Many in Saskatchewan associate Labour Day weekend with football, but a few young athletes spent the time tuning up their basketball skills.

For several high school students in the Queen City, back to school season means more than just textbooks and classes.

They’re attending a HoopLife camp to keep their basketball skills sharp in the off-season.

Many of these athletes have been attending HoopLife sessions for years.

While improving skills is certainly a goal – according to coach Isaiah Merk – it’s about more than just scoring points.

“The lessons I’ve learned in sports are core things that I still live with today like working hard and pushing yourself, keeping healthy,” Merk said.

“Those are all things have brought me to where I am today and help me continue to live.”

This particular HoopLife camp is one of many hosted by the organization.

It caters specifically to the high school skill level, which is the natural next step for many of the athletes who have been involved with the program from an early age.

“I was four, I could barely dribble a ball and now I’m one of the top scorers in a HoopLife league last year,” athlete Boston Hickey explained.

“Just because they’ve been around, I’ve been able to do way more stuff than I could’ve [done] on my own.”

As the academic year is beginning once again, several of these athletes are off to their very first day of high school, and basketball is a place to escape those first day jitters.

“It’s not really about basketball,” Merk said.

“It’s about the lessons they learn from basketball.”

“There’s not much to complain about in basketball,” Hickey added.

“The ball comes back to you.”