If you return home with a different jacket than the one you left with, there's a good chance you had a good time.

That's how it was for four Cranbrook athletes who took part in the Canada Winter Games in Halifax recently.

Colin Adams, Becca Bermel, Daley Oddy and Adam Pitney all represented B.C. and had the times of their lives in the process.

Adams - who eventually traded his Team B.C. jacket with a member of Team Saskatchewan - was in the Nova Scotia capital for the second time in a year, having competed at the national boxing championships there in 2010.

"There was a lot of distractions compared to last year - because a lot of girls are there," he said, with a laugh. "I like this one more because you got to meet a bunch of new people and interact with all the other athletes and go watch other sports. We cheered on the B.C. girls' hockey team a lot, and they came and cheered us on. It was great."

Oddy, a member of that hockey team, went on to swap her Team B.C. garb for Manitoba gear on the last day. But before she did that, she got a kick out of showing off her home province's colours.

"You would walk around town, and little kids and their parents would be like, 'Oh, that girl is from B.C.' That was cool."

As B.C.'s sole male compound bow archer, Pitney knew the feeling.

"It was really sweet, knowing I'm one of the ones they chose to represent," he said.

Forget about jacket swapping - Bermel, an alpine racer, had so much fun in Nova Scotia she didn't even come home with her ski equipment (It was to arrive on another plane).

The skiers had to stay in Truro to avoid two-hour commutes every day to Wentworth hill. But once their competition was over, they made their way to the athletes' village in Halifax for a couple of days.

"That's where all the athletes were staying, and it was so much fun to be there," said Bermel.

Located in a complex of hotels connected to a convention centre and mall, the athletes' village had a stocked recreation room with video games, a foosball table and other ways to pass the time with new friends.

Pitney said the nightly entertainment was good: Great Big Sea was a featured performer the first night he was there.

The athletes' village also had another facility befitting one of the country's largest gatherings of teenagers.

"We went into the cafeteria and it was just huge," said Adams. "There were tables everywhere and food all in the front. It was great."

"The volunteers were really friendly, and they always had a smile on their faces, so that was enjoyable," said Oddy.

UPHILL BATTLE

Growing up between the Rockies and the Purcells can spoil a skier.

With a top elevation of 302 metres, Ski Wentworth - the Canada Winter Games hill of choice - didn't have a lot in common with Becca Bermel's home.

"The hill there was very flat. It had two little uphill sections," she laughed. "It was something else, but definitely it was something that we all had to adapt to. We all had to race there."

There were a few ways to deal with those rollers.

"We had to get a really good start and make sure we were riding a flat ski through that section, and just hope that our ski-tech Scooter made our skis fast."

It seemed to work for Bermel, who threw down the fastest Super G run last Thursday (55.530 seconds). Unfortunately, it was part of a super-combined and she wound up in eighth after the slalom leg.

"Usually Super G is just a one-run event, but since the hill wasn't big enough they couldn't call it a real Super G," said Bermel. "They had to throw the slalom in there, which kind of sucked because if it had just been a normal Super G, B.C. would have had three medals that day."

She also finished 20th in GS, and 11th in slalom.

Bermel was impressed with the strength of the field, and its competitiveness.

"They weren't holding back," she said. "Anyone in the top 15 or top 20 had the potential to throw it down any day."

Overall, she was very happy with her CWG experience.

"You can basically say that you're national Super G champion," she said. "I'm really happy with my performance and happy with how much fun we all had."

NO ROOM FOR ERROR

The good news for Colin Adams was his parents were able to make it for his first fight of the games at the Halifax Forum.

The bad news is that wound up being his only fight after he dropped a 14-7 decision to three-time Canadian champion Bradley Wilcox in the 52-kg weight class.

Adams said he's watched video of the fight a couple of times, and doesn't feel he got out-boxed to the degree that was judged.

"I came back to the corner after the first round, and they were like, 'You're down 8-0.' I got upset and (felt like) well, I'm going to give up. But I didn't."

He won the second round, then Wilcox edged him in the third.

It was a tough division as Wilcox went on to lose his next bout and settled for bronze.

"It's really hard to make my weight class because it's so light, so I had to watch what I ate," said Adams. "I felt a little weak. When I went into the third round I was tired, and I'm usually not tired."

A weight division below Adams, a Saskatchewan fighter won gold. Adams had beaten him on three different occasions.

"I was disappointed because I worked hard for it and lost my first fight," he said.

Daley Oddy noticed that small margin of error as she watched the sport for the first time in Halifax.

"They have one chance and one fight, and if they lose that fight then they're done," she said. "In hockey, they can score a goal but you can always get it back."

Oddy and her team finished sixth in a field of 11 teams.

"Last year they said they got last, so it was a big improvement. I was happy with how it turned out," she said.

It was her first national-level tournament, and Oddy said B.C.'s 4-0 win over Newfoundland and Labrador was the highlight.

Now Oddy's attention returns to the Kootenay Wildcats major midget team. They are about to enter the final weekend of the regular season, for which her mom drives her to twice-weekly practices in Nelson.

Such is life for an aspiring collegiate hockey player.

"It's quite a commitment," she said.

SETTLING NERVES

Adam Pitney had been to the B.C. Winter Games in Terrace last year, but they didn't quite prepare him for the enormity of the Halifax games.

"Most of the archers that I was shooting against have been to world championships and Commonwealth Games and stuff," said Pitney, noting he'd like to reach that level himself one day.

The eventual gold-medal winner set a Canadian record at the event.

"You're (at a higher level) so it feels like you need to step it up a notch. It's like, 'Oh, I've got to shoot better,'" said Pitney.

Nervousness isn't an asset when shooting a compound bow, but it was something he had to deal with.

"My nerves were through the roof," said Pitney. "I was shaking like a leaf."

Listening to music on his iPod and taking deep breaths had the necessary calming effect, and he went on to shoot close to personal bests.

Pitney and Quesnel's Sydney Watson made it to the mixed team bronze-medal match, which Ontario ultimately won 230-223.

Individually, Pitney made it as far as the quarterfinal before Saskatchewan's silver medalist eliminated him 117-112.

"It was a good experience, getting used to the bigger competition," said Pitney. "You can calm your nerves for the next time."