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DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - Despite having only a few months of practice under their rackets members of Deh Gah school's badminton team won silver and bronze medals at a competition over the weekend.

Ten students from Fort Providence competed in the NWT Junior and Senior Championships held in Yellowknife from Feb. 6 to 8. Considering that the team members only started playing in October, they represented themselves well, said Jeremy Kielstra, the team's coach.

Members of Deh Gah school's badminton team display the medals they won at the NWT Junior and Senior Championships in Yellowknife. Team members include back row, from left, Dwight McLeod, Clayton Lacorne, Joseph Antoine, Nolan Bonnetrouge, Sidney Squirrel, coach Jeremy Kielstra and Lynette Sabourin; front row, Bradley Thom, Spencer Bonnetrouge, Aubrey Nadli and Megan Antoine. - photo courtesy of Jeremy Kielstra

"I'm pretty proud of the team. They did very well," Kielstra said.

All four of the students who competed in the pre-juvenile division won medals. Bradley Thom and Spencer Bonnetrouge took second in the doubles while Nolan Bonnetrouge and Joseph Antoine finished just behind them in third. The team's two female members, Megan Antoine and Lynette Sabourin, also placed. Together the girls took third in the juvenile doubles and Sabourin also took third in the singles.

Kielstra placed third in the open men's singles and played with Craig Rooney in the doubles. Other team members included Aubrey Nadli, Dwight McLeod and Sidney Squirrel in the juvenile division and Clayton Lacorne in the junior division.

This is the first time the school has sent so many players to a Yellowknife badminton tournament. In the past the school usually had one or two representatives, but never 10, said Kielstra.

This was the team's second tournament of the season. All the students, with the exception of Thom, who has only been playing for a month, also went to the NWT High School Badminton Tournament in Hay River in early December. Prior to the first tournament, the team had two practices a week - one for older and one for younger players, said Kielstra.

For the rest of December and January, when participation declined, all of the athletes started practicing together twice a week, he said.

The chance to go to competitions is why Nolan Bonnetrouge, 13, decided to join the team and learn how to play badminton.

"It's a hard sport," Bonnetrouge said.

Badminton involves a lot of running and you have to be able to hit the birdie at the same time, he said. Bonnetrouge, who also plays singles, said that doubles is easier because with a second person you don't have to run as far.

Bonnetrouge and his partner Joseph Antoine took third in the pre-juvenile division at the championship.

"It felt good to get a medal," he said.

A total of approximately 70 badminton players from Hay River, Fort Providence and Yellowknife competed at the weekend event.

"I thought it went very well," said Cathy MacAskill, who was a referee at the championship.

Singles play started on Friday night and continued into Saturday. The doubles and mixed doubles teams also competed on Saturday. The finals for all of the divisions were held on Sunday, MacAskill said.