North Vancouver's Evergreen Squash Club wrapped up one of its most successful seasons to date in league play this year, with three women's teams finishing first place in their respective divisions.

The club's three teams won the Division 1, 2 and 4 seasons in the Vancouver Squash League this year. While the Div. 1 team has several wins under its belt in the last 10 years, this is the first time all three teams have finished on top together.

It's a reflection of the club's growth from new players in the last few years, said club pro, Div. 1 team member and junior coach Alicia Haneine, who said the teams are improving all the time.

"Especially the Div. 4 team, it has been improving a lot with new players," she said. "We used to be kind of the same players for a few years, and now we got juniors coming to that level, which is great, right, because they're kind of replacing some of the older ladies."

To top it off, the Div. 2 and 4 teams took gold in their respective playoffs, while the Div. 1 team finished second.

Haneine said she's encouraged by the number of junior players who are coming up through the ranks of an expanded program for young squash enthusiasts.

The junior program itself has 80 kids aged 6-19, up from 30 just a few years ago, and as those players get older, they're joining the other leagues and adding new blood to the club.

That said, the same thing is happening across the six-team Vancouver Squash League clubs, said Haneine, meaning the competition is also getting stiffer.

"The league used to be more amateur players a few years ago, and now top B.C. provincial players and even national players have been joining the league," she said.

Haneine herself is ranked eighth in B.C., and was a member of the Mexican national squash team before she moved to Vancouver 13 years ago, but she played a few higher-seeded players in this season and had several close matches, some ending in her favour but not all.

Looking to next year, Haneine hopes to continue the growth of the sport among younger players in particular, to make sure squash continues to thrive on the North Shore.

"One of the problems in the sport is many are baby boomers who are getting older, they're retiring and that's probably 70 per cent of the membership," she said. "We have an aggressive plan for the next 2 years for juniors and ladies."