SAMBAA K'E/TROUT LAKE - Even in Trout Lake, the Olympic dream is alive and well thanks to the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT.

Twenty students at Charles Tetcho School were given the chance to take part in the "Right to Dream" program on Feb. 5. It's designed to get youth active in the NWT through the 2010 Winter Olympics. The program is a variation of the "Fun on Ice" program, also going through various communities in the NWT, but is focused squarely on the Olympics, said Greg Hopf, executive director of the sports circle.

"Whether people are in Trout Lake or Tampa Bay, you can go to the Olympics," Hopf said. "We talk about how everyone has the right to dream about something and we use the Olympics as an example. It's a message of how powerful a dream can be. Most people who have been in the Olympics, like the Firth sisters, started by watching it and dreaming about it."

The kids from the school were taken out on Trout Lake itself for an afternoon of skating. Hopf said the kids were given the tools needed to enjoy themselves.

"They all got a brand new stick, a helmet, and a bunch of authentic 2010 Olympic clothing," he said.

The GNWT provided $300,000 through its Olympic Fund to help get the program going.

"We want to give kids, no matter where they are, a connection to the Olympics," Hopf said. "They wear the clothing and they see other people on television wear the same stuff they have and all of a sudden, they're connected. It's a small way to help these kids feel like they're part of the Olympics as well."

Following the skating portion, the kids were given a presentation about nutrition and the importance of staying healthy. Twelve-year-old Sheyenne Jumbo said the talk was mostly about the good and bad types of food.

"They told us about all the sugar in energy drinks and how it was bad for you," she said. "They told us not to eat junk food and eat a lot of traditional food."

Traditional food consumption isn't a problem for Jumbo as she said she already eats many different kinds.

"Moose meat, caribou meat, rabbit meat, beaver meat, bannock and duck soup," Jumbo said.

Skating isn't the only sport in the program. Hopf said any community can select any sport in the Olympic program.

"Some will do curling, some will do skating, and there's even one community, Fort Good Hope, who plans to do sliding, but turn the hill into a bobsled track," he said. "They choose the sport, we provide the gear."