With just two athletes returning from last year, the Yukon bowling team will be somewhat inexperienced when they arrive at the national championships in Vancouver this weekend.

Three members of the six-person team have never been to the championships as a competitor before, and one more hasn't been in five years.

'I don't think these guys are going to do quite as well as past years, just because of the experience level,' admitted Kevin Murphy, who coaches the team along with Wayne Beauchemin. 'There's a lot of new faces on the team. There's really only one veteran on the team, Craig (Beauchemin, a junior male bowler).

'We're looking at Craig to show something from all the years he's been at nationals.'

Craig will be joined by senior male bowler Shawn Hamilton, senior female Lindsay Tanaka, junior female Nicole Thompson, bantam male Matthew Smith and bantam female Olivia Smith-Tucker.

Tanaka rejoined the team this year after a five-year absence while Thompson was a surprise addition, edging out a competitor in the qualifying round earlier this season for her first crack at nationals.

At just 10 and seven years old respectively, Smith and Smith-Tucker have only been bowling for a few years, although Smith qualified for nationals last year as well but couldn't go because of an operation.

'This is going to be an entirely unbelievable experience for them,' said Wayne. 'They just need to keep their mind on the bowling and hopefully remember what they're supposed to do during the game.

'We're not in a position when we can coach them all the time (each athlete plays a total 24 games at the nationals).'

Murphy expects the crowd will make things a bit more nerve-wracking for the rookies, but he said Smith-Tucker is young enough that she probably won't be phased by it.

'It will be exciting for her and she'll have a great time. I'm thinking the whole lane will probably adopt her. She's probably the youngest bowler there.'

Because the bantam division features competitors anywhere from ages seven to 12, both Smith-Tucker and Smith could be facing athletes two to three years older than them and much larger in size on a regular basis. Smith said he won't be too intimidated, and he hopes to win as many games as possible.

'I need strikes, spares, two-pins and five-pins,' he stated. 'I've already had three turkeys (three strikes in a row) this season.'

Murphy said Smith has great competitive spirit, which will help him at nationals, but the coach isn't sure if Smith fully understands yet just how tough the competition will be.

'He's going to have his eyes opened a bit, that's for sure.'

In the weeks leading up to nationals, Murphy and Wayne have had a few talks with the rookies about what to expect in Vancouver, and have gone over the basics of bowling a couple of times a week during practices.

'We work on their approach, their arm swing,' said Wayne, adding it's tough not to get intimidated once you arrive at nationals. 'We're not asking them to beat everybody. We have realize we are a classic underdog, and we just have to bowl as well as we can.'

One of the main points the coaches have been working on with the bowlers is getting the corner pins, as you can either lose by two points or win by two points, said Wayne.

You can never give up or leave any points out on the lane without trying, he said.

Both coaches are expecting an improvement from Craig and Hamilton over last year, when they finished toward the bottom of the pack. Wayne would like to see them in the top 10 out of the 13 competitors in each of their divisions, while Murphy believes Craig could potentially finish around fifth.

'I'd like to see Shawn improve drastically on his performance from last year,' Murphy stated. 'It took until the last day until he started bowling like he's capable. He has a very smooth style that should serve him well. I think it's his mental game that has to improve.'

'I think he was intimidated last year, very quickly,' added Wayne.

Wayne said for all the kids who haven't been to nationals yet, he just hopes they bowl their average in Vancouver and stay on top of their game. He said it's important for everyone to get a win toward the start of the tournament and then just go from there.

'You don't want to get shut out, because that's tough on an athlete mentally,' he said.

As well, he said they need to avoid dwelling on a bad game and always look forward to the next one following a loss.

'The attainable goal I think for all six kids is to bowl 24 games and average at least 10 points higher than what they average up here in Whitehorse,' said Murphy. 'I think they should be able to do that. They all want to represent the Yukon to the best of their ability and I would like to see that up on the scoreboard.

'I will be pleasantly surprised if anyone wins a medal.'

The Yukon hasn't won a medal at the national bowling championships since 2002, when Harrison Kwok won a silver and was very close to claiming the gold. The territory has only been sending a bowling team to the event since 2001.

'(A medal) would definitely be real nice,' said Murphy. 'It would be a real boost to the program here. Once people see that you can be successful at that level, it gets more people interested in joining.'