GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALTA - In a sea of more than a thousand athletes, how do 11 individuals stand out in the crowd? It's a question Team NWT's Deh Cho representatives hope to solve this week as they go for gold at the 2010 Arctic Winter Games in Grande Prairie, Alta.

Competing in soccer, speed skating, Dene Games, basketball, hockey, snowshoe biathlon, cross country skiing and snowshoeing they have high hopes.

Sydney Larocque-Rowe, 17, is the only hockey player from the Deh Cho at the 2010 Arctic Winter Games in Grande Prairie. She joins 11 other athletes from the region. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo

Speedskater Madison Pilling is back on the ice this year. Last year she took two bronze medals as a junior in the two-km sprint and the three-km mass start. Competing as a juvenile this year, she will be looking to build on that past success.

The region is best represented on the intermediate girls soccer team. Fort Simpson's Amanda Bradbury, Nicole Cholette-Antoine and Jacqueline Thompson are aiming for gold.

The trio played their first match on Sunday - soccer was the only event to begin competitive play before the official start of the games Sunday night. Thanks to solid goalkeeping by Thompson and aggressive play by both Cholette-Antoine and Bradbury the intermediate girls defeated Nunavut 7-4.

Sydney Larocque-Rowe, the only hockey player at the games from the Deh Cho, is excited to begin play on Monday. She had high hopes for her team, scoring their ability a solid "seven out of 10."

"We work well together," she added.

Like many of the Deh Cho athletes this will be the 17-year-old's first appearance at the games.

"I'm pretty proud of myself," she said above the cacophony of hundreds of athletes gathering to march into the opening ceremonies.

But the games are not only about competition. Echoing the sentiments of many of her teammates, Larocque-Rowe said she is just happy to be at the games and to have the opportunity to meet new people from the territory, around the country and the world.

All 350 members of Team NWT marched into the opening ceremonies at the Crystal Centre Canada Games Arena Sunday night to the thunderous applause of a packed house.

The eclectic event combined rock music, traditional dance and a prayer sung in Swahili.

Deh Cho Athletes:

Basketball

Thomas Roche - Fort Simpson

Snowshoe biathlon

Blair Kotchea - Fort Liard

Cross country midget male

Michael Gast - Fort Simpson

Dene Games

Trevor Bonnetrouge - Fort Simpson

Leslie Gavin Head - Fort Providence

Intermediate soccer

Amanda Bradbury - Fort Simpson

Nicole Cholette-Antoine - Fort Simpson

Jacqueline Thompson - Fort Simpson

Snowshoeing

Charlene Deneyoua - Fort Simpson

Hockey

Sydney Larocque-Rowe - Fort Simpson

Speed skating

Madison Pilling - Fort Simpson