2006 ARCTIC WINTER GAMES - KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
March 4 To March 12,2006
The NWT Badminton
Team was selected during the territorial trials held in Hay River in January of
2006. Many thanks to Hay River, the many volunteers and especially Kelly Webster
for hosting the event. The following individuals were selected:
Junior men: Glen
Collins of Fort Resolution and Dale Nigiyok of Holman Alternate: Eric Kagyut of
Holman
Junior ladies: Lucy Escalante of Yellowknife and Susie Memogana of Holman
Alternate: Taylor Reid of Hay River
Juvenile men: Stephane Pontus of Yellowknife and Chris Aitken of Yellowknfe
Alternate: Curtis Banksland of Holman
Juvenile ladies: Gillian Waugh of Yellowknife, Amber Mandeville of Fort
Reolution Alternate: Pooja Chugh of Yellowknife
Laurell Graf was the coach and Jim Umpherson the manager of the 2006 Arctic
Winter Games Team. On February 18th and 19th 2006, a preparation camp was held
in Yellowknife. All the team members participated. As well as conditioning and
skills development the athletes participated in two mental training sessions.
The badminton competition was held in the Soldatna Middle School. Two gymnasiums
holding 3 courts each were side by side. Competition was a round robin format
where Team NWT played every other contingent. There were teams from Alaska,
Nunavut, Yukon, Northern Alberta, Greenland and Nunavik. Teams competed from
Monday to Friday from about 09:00 in the morning to about 14:00 in the
afternoon. The round robin determined who would be moving on to the medal rounds
that were held on Saturday. Every Team NWT member moved on to the medal rounds
qualifying in the doubles category. Chris Aitken and Stephane Pontus made it to
the finals in doubles.
Following were the results:
Stephane Pontus and Chris Aitken - Silver in Juvenile mens doubles.
Gillian Waugh and Amber Mandeville - Bronze in Juvenile ladies doubles.
Glen Collins and Dale Nigiyok - Bronze in Junior men's doubles.
Lucy Escalante and Chris Aitken were deserving recipients of 'Fair play pins'.
All team members played hard, showed good sportsmanship and were a credit to
Team NWT. Congratulations to all!
Many thanks to Sports North, the Alaskans that made us feel welcome and all the
other athletes from Nunavut, the Yukon, Nunavik, Northern Alberta, Greenland and
Alaska.