It was the second last practice before the Canadian Junior National Judo Championships Monday night, and the students at Shiroumakai Judo were hard at work practising their blocks and throws.

The practice was held at Vanier Catholic Secondary School on the club's permanent mats, and the students showed no signs of the pressure they will be facing against the best judokas in Canada once they arrive at the tournament in Lethbridge on Thursday.

"We're looking forward to really high level competition,” said senei Aaron Jensen, one of the instructors.

Joining Jensen on Monday night was fellow coach Richard Zebruck.

The four students attending are Lara Bellon, 15, Camila Gaw, 14, Erik Vasseur, 13, and Andrew Jensen, 12.

The Yukon students face a significant challenge. While larger provinces host fight-offs to determine who will go, Yukon judokas only have to meet the age requirements to attend.

To get prepared for this tournament, the four students have been participating in extra practices since the regular season ended in May. They have also been doing off-mat dryland training in their own time.

"We acknowledge that these kids don't have the same experience,”

Usually Shiroumakai Judo students meet twice a week, but since May the four students – along with several other friends – have added a Wednesday night practice.

"I'm impressed we've got this many kids out now,” Jensen said.

Those attending the late practices are generally more serious about judo, Jensen said.

With only four students attending the Outside tournament, the practices have also welcomed a few extra students and judo enthusiasts to provide extra opponents to spar with.

Participating in the extra time with their instructors are Max Brewster, Tavis McCallum and Tristan McCallum.

Jensen said they approached the students months ago to ensure they were willing to dedicate the time to training for the July tournament. The students had to be committed, and the four that will be going to Lethbridge were happy to have extra time with their coaches.

One of the extra students, Tavis, is attending practice with a broken arm. On Monday night his fellow judokas were careful not to injure him further as they threw him onto a crash mat during a drill.

Shiroumakai Judo has extended their season to include the nationals. Judo Canada has to hold the tournament this late in summer – despite the regular judo season ending in the spring – because summer holidays prevent travel for younger judokas.

Therefore the Yukon club had to have special permission to continue their practices at Vanier school after it closed.

Jensen said the Outside matches can be a bit overwhelming for the students. They spend long days waiting for their matches, and get several fights at each tournament. He said it is common for the kids to want to head right back to their hotel at the end of the day, instead of taking in any more matches to see the higher level of competition they don't get to see in the Yukon.

This happened at a recent Edmonton tournament the Yukon judo club attended.

"The kids weren't interested in watching any more judo,” Jensen said.

Following the junior nationals the kids will attend a four-day training session, which Jensen said is an incredible opportunity.

The four students and their coaches will be leaving the Yukon on Thursday for the weekend tournament and training session.