N.W.T. squash players say one last goodbye to former coach at Canada Games

For many athletes, the Canada Winter Games is the culmination of years of training and a chance to show their skills to the country. 

But for members of the Northwest Territories squash team, it's also a chance to say goodbye to a beloved coach one last time.

Coach Melina Turk, who was living in Yellowknife, got a dream offer last winter. She was offered a job to run the squash program at club in Bermuda.

She had to start immediately, and that meant leaving the athletes just a few months before the biggest competition of their lives. She had spent the past year and a half working with them.

"It was super emotional," Turk said. "I know I definitely broke down. The tears came as soon as I started talking about leaving the juniors."

On her final day in Yellowknife, though, she was given a surprise by N.W.T. head coach Spider Jones. The territory had a spot for her coaching in Red Deer, Alta., for the Canada Games. 

It was a chance to spend one last week with her athletes.

"[It was] so exciting and such a relief at the same time," Turk said.

"It's a pretty tight-knit bond. With squash especially, being sort of a smaller sport … It's a pretty small group, so the relationships get pretty tight."

Turk still keeps in touch with many of the territory's athletes, including 15-year-old India Edwards, who said she'll relish Turk's last week with the team.

"I can't even think about her leaving again," she said. "So this week, I'm just going to spend as much time with her as I can. Just taking advantage of her presence."

It's only been a couple of months since Turk left, and team captain Stephen Messier said that means the team "kind of picked up right where we left off."

Messier said that beyond the team's emotional connection, Turk's experience as a former touring pro player could help pay dividends on the court at a high-stress tournament like the Canada Games.

"She's such a settling presence," said Messier. "So at games like these where tension is high… it could make quite a difference."

So far, the results have been promising. The boys team began their tournament with a 2–2 tie against Nova Scotia, and the girls lost 3–1. 

But regardless of how the team finishes, Edwards said she sees the week as a celebration of the team's time with Turk, and of the end of a road that several of the players have taken together for years.

"We've been looking forward to this moment for so long," she said. "And there's been so many ups and downs, and side roads and everything.

"But we've grown so close together now. It just makes this more special, and more memorable."

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