The rain may have delayed the conclusion of this year's territorial championships, but it couldn't put a damper on an otherwise very successful season for the Yukon Tennis Association.

The Yukon Territorial Tennis Championships wrapped up last Saturday after rain and wet conditions forced organizers to postpone matches in singles, doubles as well as the junior division.

"The play was great and constant," said Stacy Lewis, president of the Yukon Tennis Association. "People got in a lot of tennis and we had a really nice time those two days of the tournament. It got frustrating because of the weather."

The three-day tournament began Aug. 22 with both junior and adult competition at the Mt. McIntyre courts. Players at the tournament enjoyed nice weather and great crowds for the first two days of the competition before the rain resulted in postponing its conclusion.

There were 10 men and 10 women competing in the adult singles division, while six teams were competing in each the men's doubles, ladies doubles. The mixed doubles category was the most popular and featured eight teams.

The junior division had three separate categories. The first was for the more advanced players, who were evaluated by Tennis Yukon, which hopes to send a team to the 2009 Canada Summer Games in P.E.I.

The other two categories included both a full court and half court competition for younger or beginning tennis players.

The junior division was for players 18 or younger and used a round robin format in all three categories.

Registration was $10 for Tennis Yukon members and $15 for non-members.

Players were competing for more than just bragging rights, as there was also a variety of tennis related gear given away, such as cans of balls, wristbands, carabiners and racquet bags.

There was also a championship trophy, which included the names and divisions of this year's winners.

Some of the nicer prizes such as the carabiners and racquet bags will be awarded to the divisional winners and finalists.

Beth Ellis took top honours in the women's singles division, defeating Vickie Roche, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 in what turned out to be a hard-fought three-hour marathon match up.

In the men's championship final, Kyle Marchuk avenged his Capital Cup loss to fellow Yukoner Jan Polivka to finish as the territory's top male tennis player, winning the match by a score of 6-2 and 7-6.

Marchuk added to his list of accomplishments by winning the men's doubles draw with partner Polivka. The men's singles finalists went on to beat the brotherly team of Scott and Eric Hindson by a score of 6-2 and 6-3.

Unfortunately the poor weather conditions resulted in an unfortunate conclusion in both the mixed doubles draw and women's doubles match.

A previously scheduled trip forced Laurie Drummond, who is one of Whitehorse's most talent players, to pull out of the the two divisional finals.

Drummond was partners with Marisa Johnson in the women's doubles draw, as well as Eric Hindson in the mixed doubles final.

After the matches had to be cancelled all week because of poor weather conditions, the mixed doubles semi-final was changed to include Jan Polivka and Sophia Flather, who took on Marchuk and Vickie Roche

Marchuk and Roche ended up taking the match by a score of 6-2 and 7-6.

The women's doubles category ended in a default victory for Vickie Roche and Leighann Chalykoff, who were named as the winners of the division.

The more advanced junior category featured players Kieran Halliday, Ryan Lane, Khang Pham, and Sophia Flather.

Halliday, who has worked hard all summer perfecting his game at both clinics and tournaments, had an outstanding championship. He won all three of his matches, while Lane also played very well finishing at 1-1.

Khang finished with one loss and had two matches cancelled because of the rain, while Flather, who is a familiar face on the squash courts, lost two matches and her final match was cancelled because of the weather.

This was Flather's first year as a tennis player and she has already committed to training for the Canada Summer Games. Halliday has also committed to preparing for the Games as well.

Flather, 15, said she was happy with how she played in her first outdoor tennis season.

"It came easier to me since I play squash," she said. "I want to go to the Canada Games next year in P.E.I. and I was just trying to get better."

She was modest about having the opportunity to represent the Yukon at the 2009 Summer Games.

"I am the only girl, so it's really not that hard," she said laughing. "It's not like trying out for me, since there is nobody else to compete with."

Flather said she hopes to improve her speed on the court and hit the ball with more power during the off-season.

The four competitive junior players will have the opportunity to train for the Games in the off-season, which will involve practicing for 41/2 hours on the court at Yukon College and most likely for around four hours off the courts each week. Off court training will aim to improve their overall fitness levels.

There is also an upcoming doubles tournament in Juneau, which Flather, Halliday and Lane plan on attending, The Juneau tournament starts on Sept. 18.

There will be plenty of opportunities for game play for the Yukon juniors both in tournament and non-tournament matches in Juneau.

This is a direct result of the Yukon Tennis Associations strong relationship with the tennis community in Juneau that it was able to develop after the Capital Cup tournament, which is a friendly competition between the Yukon and Alaskan capital.

The Yukon Tennis Association resurrected the Capital Cup this year and it was held back in July.

Flather said participating in tournaments is a major help with preparing for the Summer Games.

"I think it is good because it gives you experience and I imagine that the people from the other provinces and territories will have a lot more experience playing games," she said. "They probably play on regular basis, so it's good to actually have a game situation."

Lewis said she was impressed with how the juniors played at the Yukon championships.

"They really showed how they have developed over the summer," she said. "Their points were a lot longer, they were a lot more patient, not so many unforced errors.

That's what they were working on all summer and they were all doing that when they played each other and you could really see it. It was a big development from the beginning of the summer to now."

She said she is optimistic after the first season of training.

"We have some really athletic kids and competitive kids," Lewis said. "They are taking it seriously they are working really hard and it's great to see. They will get results because they are putting in the effort, so I am really pleased."

Lewis said she was happy with how the season went this year.

"I think it's great," she said.

"This is our first outdoor season and I was just really excited about how much the courts were being used, how much people got together. We had 40 or 50 people for the Capital Cup and then we had another 30 for this tournament and we did lots of programs with the city and I think that we really got a firm foothold in this first season."

This Saturday, Tennis Yukon will participate in the registration fair at the Canada Games Centre.

The organization will hold junior lessons at the Yukon College gym on weekdays after school from Tuesday to Saturday as well as Sunday afternoons.

There will also be adult lessons offered on Friday and Sunday evenings, as well as shot clinics from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month and drop-in time on the other Sunday evenings.