It may be their first time competing at the Arctic Winter Games (AWG) as snowboarders, but the sport itself couldn't be more familiar to Sam and Beth Ferguson.

The siblings represent two of the five members on the snowboarding team that were chosen two weeks ago to compete at the Games, which officially begin on Sunday.

At the AWG trials event, Sam finished in second place with an overall score of 81.7.

In the Big Air event, he tied first place finisher Alexander Chisolme for the most points scored with 42.9. He also did well in the Slopestyle competition, scoring 38.8.

Beth, who was the only competing girl at the event, also did very well, finishing with a total score of 47.9.

Her score is particularly impressive because of how new she is to freestyle snowboarding. Before the trials weekend, she had not even gone off a jump. Beth is the only girl heading to the Games for snowboarding.

"You can tell they are both naturally gifted athletes," said snowboarding coach Mary Binsted. "I think that natural athleticism seems to run in the family and they are both really balanced. They have the ability to hang on and cleanly ride away from a manoeuvre."

The Ferguson family have lived in Whitehorse for nearly seven years and are all members at Mt. Sima, which will remain closed for the rest of the season due, in large part, to mechanical problems with their T-Bar.

In previous years when the hill was open, the Ferguson's would usually go out every weekend during the season.

Their experiences at the hill helped both Sam and Beth develop as athletes in the sport. They each currently have their own unique style and approach to snowboarding, which will be well suited for the three freestyle disciplines at Games.

Sam, who is 17, became active in snowboarding through his parents when he was about eight years old.

This will be his first AWG competition, but he has had experience in other snowboarding events, such as in the 2007 Yukon Championships.

Beth, 15, has been involved in the sport for two years now. She credits Sam and her eldest brother, Liam, as her reasons for taking it up.

The 2008 AWG will be her first major competition in the sport, but she said she is more confident heading into the event because of the advice given to her by both brothers.

"He (Liam) has given me a few pointers," she said. "He is the one who taught me to snowboard and Sam has given me some pointers too about going on the rails and stuff."

Liam, 18, knows firsthand what it is like to not only participate as a snowboarder at the Games, but to medal as well.

At the previous AWG he won a gold medal in the juvenile age group for the boardercross event and a bronze in the slopestyle competition.

Medals don't factor into Sam and Beth's goals at the Games, which centre on just performing to the best of their abilities.

Despite not placing so much emphasis on medals, both Sam and Beth are happy with the progress they have made in their limited amount of time out on an actual ski hill this season.

The two are especially confident after taking part in last weekend's AWG training session at Mt. Maichen in Watson Lake.

At the practice, the team worked on hitting jumps and improving their technique in areas including spins, grabs and inverts.

They also practiced hitting hand rails and increasing their overall speed for the one racing discipline at the Games.

Beth said she is looking forward to the learning experience that she will gain at the Games.

"Hopefully I can learn a few things from the people there, meet some new people," she said. "You can get ideas from other people and see what they are doing and know what is out there."

Sam is hopeful that the team will do well this year.

"I think that team will do pretty good. Or the boys will do good," he joked, looking over at his sister. "We are all pretty confident, it should be good."

He said he is looking forward to the Big Air event the most at the Games.

"It's pretty much my strongest area," Sam said. "I am just best at that kind of stuff."

Binsted said she is really impressed with the team's development.

"Everyone progressed really well in the short amount of time that we have been together," she said. "So I expect to see progression over the week as well, while we are out there."

Binsted is pleased that despite the problems at Mt. Sima, Snowboard Yukon was still able to send a team this year.

She credits this to the work that not only Snowboard Yukon put in, but also Mt. Maichen and the parents who were willing to drive their kids out to Watson Lake to take part.

"I think it is fantastic," Binsted said. "So definitely all players within the snowboarding community came together in order to make this team happen this season."

Binsted said she is looking forward to coaching at her first Arctic Winter Games.

"We have a fairly young team," she said. "So in fact all of the athletes will have the ability to at least tryout for trials for the next Games, so I think that it could be a building year and that it is a great beginning. I am really excited to see how well we do this year and confident that we will be able to build on it for the next Games."