About 80 young athletes received intense basketball training in Weyburn last week, courtesy of July Heatwave Hoops.

The camp, co-ordinated by Len Williams, offers students from grades 3 to 11 five days of non-stop action. They receive about 36 hours of instruction and are given chances to put what they've learned to the test in games held each evening.

"Most of the coaches have been through this program or the provincial basketball program that emphasizes fundamentals," said Williams. "This is a key feature of our camp - we really emphasize instruction in fundamental skills and concepts."

The majority of the players this year came from Weyburn and surrounding communities like Fillmore, Oungre, Stoughton and Pangman. An impressive instructor-student ratio is one of the reasons many students return each year.

"I've been here for seven years because there's great coaching," said Megan Leach of Weyburn. "We get to run through the fundamentals over and over and have challenges in the next level at the same time. We do learn new moves and get to use what we learned during the day in games at night.

"It's also a chance to meet other people and former players who are coaching," she continued. "There's lots of intensity - you get to play others at your level and older players get to help younger people. I learn something new every year."

Players train at gyms located at Weyburn Comprehensive School, Weyburn Junior High School and Assiniboia Park Elementary School.

Instructing this year are Jeremy Hall, a teacher/coach from Lumsden; Curtis Norman, a teacher going to Regina Beach; Scott Bansley, a teacher/coach from Oungre; Amanda Spear, WCS alumni, and former provincial team player; Amy Frederickson, provincial player who played at the University of Winnipeg; Gary Frederickson, teacher/coach from Weyburn, and Dan Manning a teacher/coach from Weyburn Junior High School.

Athletes new to Heatwave Hoops found it a rewarding experience.

"We just started our basketball team in Pangman three years ago and I've been on it every year," said Holly Loucks. "I wanted to learn new skills and get better at the game. It is very tiring, but it's been fun and I've learned a lot about how to improve."

Holly Annand of Melfort is also participating in Heatwave for the first time. She has encountered Weyburn basketball teams in a few games and knew from her own coach that the instruction was good.

"It's been really good, I've learned a lot about shooting from Len. Yesterday, we worked on two-on-two play (Monday was one-on-one), and last night when everyone competed Danielle (Linde) and I won. We have really good coaches and I've had fun."