Editor's note: this is part of a series of features being published on the various sports which make up the 2007 Canada Winter Games, and the athletes who will be representing the Yukon in them.

After four weeks in an air cast, Sammy Kent had it taken off Thursday, and received word from his doctor that he's clear to represent the Yukon in the Games.

'I need a week of physio and then I can start skiing again,' says the student of the National Sport School, in an interview from Calgary yesterday. 'It's going to be tight for the Games, but I should be able to ski.'

The 18-year-old native of Whitehorse was weaned on Mount Sima, and has been attending the elite academy for some of Canada's Olympic hopefuls since beginning Grade 11 in September 2005.

Kent says his injury, suffered in early December in a crash at 120 kilometres per hour during a downhill training run at Lake Louise, Alta., has obviously set him back.

He expects he'll be at about 75 per cent of his ability when he takes to Sima's slopes just over a week away, but is confident he'll make up much of what he lost by the end of this winter's normal race season in April.

'It will be fun, just to race in Whitehorse,' says Kent, a regular on the NORAM circuit, or the step just below the World Cup circuit. 'It will be a great time.'

Alpine skiing, Kent explains, requires non-stop commitment.

When he's not in the bindings, he's working his cardiovascular routine, day after day.

Kent first put the skis on in preparation for this season with a trip to Chile last August, as part of a national ski program.

Much of the fall was spent focused on the giant slalom, and he expects that will be his strength.

With conditioning so much a part of the sport, its not so much the burning thighs and calves, or the need to keep the abs tight, that the born-and-raised Yukoner thinks about.

A clear head, focused on the task at hand when you're in the gates, is mandatory, on the other hand.

'If you are thinking about too many things at the top of the race course, you don't ski very well,' says Kent. 'You just have to relax and ski, and let your muscles do what you train them to do so many times over.'

'Before all the races, we go down the course and take a look at it, and think about it,' says teammate Derek Wilson, the youngest of the territory's five alpine representatives at 15.

'We think about the course. When you are at the top of the course, you think about it. You think how you are going to go down,' he says. 'You visualize the course, I guess.'

Mount Sima is home for Wilson too, as he's lived in Whitehorse all his life and first clicked into a pair of skis at the age of four or five.

As he is a year younger than the 16-to-19 age class for alpine skiers, special permission was required to approve his participation.

He says he's not expecting to be the next Erik Guay, not this time around anway, but nor is he looking to carry the red lantern down the hill.

'I am hoping to beat a few people,' says Wilson, who has enjoyed the preparation and travel in advance of the Games, and is relishing the moment, the event.

'It's pretty sweet to have the Games here, and to go to all the ceremonies,' he says. 'And just meeting people in the village and stuff like that should be pretty cool.'

Rounding out the team will be 16-year-old Raissa Anderson, 17-year-old Matthew Wolsynuk and 18-year-old Jessica Young, who is also attending the National Sport School and will travel to Whitehorse for the Games.

The alpine competition is comprised of a slalom, giant slalom and super giant slalom races.

Coach Dick Eastmure has been on the road with his team this winter to give his skiers additional exposure and training: Smithers, B.C. two weeks ago, Terrace at the end of January and to Vernon, B.C.'s Silver Star in the first week of January.

The extensive training, on and off the hill, is essential to handle the speed and the buildup of lactic acid as they power their way through the course, says Eastmure.

'They are in really good shape now for going top to bottom.'

Unfortunately, the coach explains, Anderson is listed on the day-to-day list, having injured her knee in a fall while skiing the Super G event in Smithers.

'She went off one of the bumps in an odd position and wasn't able to hold it.'

Eastmure says they're still not sure whether Anderson, whom he describes as a top calibre skier, will be ready for the Games.

The recent addition of Young to the team is a definite bonus to the territory, he says.

Like Kent, Young has been exposed to the highest calibre below the World Cup class, and should do well for the Yukon.

'You are going to be exposed to the highest level of skiing we have ever seen here,' says Eastmure. 'Some of these kids, some of these athletes here, you will eventually see in the World Cup.

'Most of them have been skiing the NORAM circuit, and the next step is the World Cup.'

Kent says he doesn't expect any deviation from the typical top four teams coming from Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec.

Which province will produce the top skiers this time around, however, is another question, says Kent.

'Everybody has different strengths, so it's hard to say.'

'I am hoping that our kids will do their personal best here,' says Eastmure. 'And I would be quite happy with that. I think it will be a real experience for all of them.

'And for the Yukon, just to have that calibre of event here is actually amazing.'

Eastmure will be stepping out of his coach's suit and into a referees uniform for the Games, while Jon Standing, the freestyle and snowboarding coach in Week 1, will take on the alpine squad for competition in Week 2.

As a referee, Eastmure will be the athletes' advocate on a three-member jury should there be any disputes or questionable disqualifications.