INNSBRUCK, Jan 12 - Each time Renee DE WOLF (BEL) puts on her Ice Hockey equipment her coach sees a role model for young people in Belgium.

The fact DE WOLF is participating in the Ice Hockey Skills Competition at the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games is proof of someone realising their dream.

"She would have never been here if it was not for the skills challenge," Johan BOLLUE (BEL), an official with the Belgium Ice Hockey Federation, said.

"This is really good for Ice Hockey in Belgium. She is a role model for everyone."

When the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) decided to stage a skills contest at the Youth Olympic Games, invitations were sent to countries not playing in the Ice Hockey competition.

BOLLUE explained that of the 15 club teams in Belgium, only three participated in the skills challenge to select who would go to an IIHF summer event in Finland, and only three players were willing to test their wares in areas such as skating, shooting, passing and puck control.

DE WOLF, 17, jumped at the chance to measure herself and when she made the cut in Finland to qualify for Innsbruck 2012, she became the envy of the Ice Hockey scene in her homeland.

"Some players said afterwards that they could have done it but the problem was they did not do it," BOLLUE said.

"And that is the great thing about this. She really proved she can do it. Renee showed that if you really want to work and believe, then you can be here."

DE WOLF's dream of becoming an Ice Hockey player started with some recreational skating.

"I saw hockey players and said, 'I want to do that too'. My parents did not want me to but I kept going skating," she said.

"One day the people playing hockey just started talking to me and they asked me to come and try it. I tried once and I just kept going and going and never got bored. It is the only sport I really like."

DE WOLF plays for Belgium's national women's team and also in a competitive boys' league.

She follows Ice Hockey on a global level and when asked whether she had heard of Canada's Sidney CROSBY and Russia's Alexander OVECHKIN, who are two of the biggest stars in the professional National Hockey League, her answer was emphatic.

"Otherwise I would not be an Ice Hockey player."

YIS aa/rm