Athletes across Canada are working hard so they'll have an opportunity to earn gold, silver and bronze in Prince George at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
But they aren't the only ones trying secure a place at the Games. Sport leaders, coaches and many other people are beefing up their knowledge and credentials in their chosen sports so they'll be ready as well.
Lisa Davison, 2015 sport leader for badminton, said in the next 18 months they'll be plenty of opportunities for sport judges and statisticians to practice and for coaches to improve their credentials - in badminton a Level 3 certification is required to coach at the Canada Winter Games.
Prince George will host a test, or simulated, event in badminton March 28-30 at the Northern Sport Centre where organizers will try to duplicate how they want things to run during February 2015.
"It'll be something that will actually look a little bit different," said Davison. "We won't actually be using the courts at the Northern Sport Centre, we'll actually be using portable courts. So we'll be rolling out mat courts to fill the space so it'll look quite a bit different. Plus there's training officials and lines people."
Davison said the sport leader for the 2011 Halifax games had more than 200 line judges to work with during the seven days of competition.
"It's a fairly nerve-wracking experience," said Davison about the organizational aspect. "It's going to be interesting to gain all that [knowledge], which is why the test event will be great because we'll get a core group already to go."
The members of the Prince George Badminton Club are already learning what it takes to be line judges, having done the job during exhibition matches Friday at CNC where four top-level B.C. and Canadian players were putting on a show. It may have only been exhibition but for Amanda Tomm and Olivia McClair the pressure was intense.
"One player is hoping it's in and the other player is hoping it's out and you have to make a decision and if you didn't see it, it's like 'Oh no. What do I say?'" said McClair.
Davison reassured the girls the umpire can always overrule if they get the call wrong, adding the important thing is to make a quick decision. But, McClair said if she doesn't make Team B.C. she doesn't think she'd want to do the job.
"I'd rather sit in the stands and cheer then not be able to cheer for the athletes," said McClair.
