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Hundreds of athletes from across the province are in Prince Albert this week for the provincial winter games.

Ten of those athletes make up the South West badminton team with four coming from Swift Current, two from Fox Valley and two from Maple Creek.

"We're nip and tuck," said South West Coach Dennis Franz. "We're in with the strong pool. We've got Regina and South Central. We've got a good crop of kids."

"We've got some strong singles and just trying to find the right combination for doubles."

The team can't get together too often given the geographical make-up of the region.

"Cooperation with the local coaches," Franz said. "Since we're a big region I can't get to meet everybody and train them and stuff. The athletes have to work with their local coaches and work on singles and doubles."

There is one team especially on the coach's radar.

"I'm worried about Regina," Franz noted. "But we have an inside person because one of our players who lives by Moose Jaw trains with the Regina badminton club. He's been giving me some ideas on how he plays against them and what not."

"It's going to be our doubles and our mix that makes the difference."

Badminton play gets started on Thursday. Other events were underway as early as Sunday.

The Swift Current athletes on the team are Kimiko Espiritu, Taylor Mattson, Dylan Mortensen and Jonathan Neustaeter. Kristina Birchall and Raye-Vaughn Francis are from Maple Creek. Montana Schneider and Raelyn Schneider join the team from Fox Valley. Joel Simrose or Mortlach and Magbeni Keita of Moose Jaw round out the roster.

In the boys hockey tournament Team South West went 2-2 in round robin play. They lost 5-0 to Prairie Central and 9-2 to Prairie Central, but beat Lakeland 4-0 and North 17-1.

They didn't advance to the semi-final and instead will play in placement games.