Sade is the current junior world waterskiing champion while older sister Molly is the current Australian open women's slalom champion who will call Stoney Park home this summer.

That's not to mention brother Fletcher who has also worn the green and gold of his country in a number of disciplines.

"My parents used to do tournament bare-footing, changed sports and decided to do something different and then we came into tournament waterskiing," 18-year-old Ferguson said.

"All of our family then got a bit hooked on it."

She started social skiing at just four years of age before competing in her first tournament four years later.

Only 10 years after her first competitive event, the teenager found herself as the open women's slalom champion.

All things considered, it's a meteoric rise for the humble teenager from north of the border.

When the Ferguson's grew up, their parents built their own lake which filled naturally and then after three years it went into drought.

It's been dry ever since.

"A lot of training and a lot of hard work gets you there," she said.

"Up to the event (you compete in) you have to do a lot of training and on the day it's more about who is mentally prepared for the tournament."

Short, sharp training sessions are now the norm - they try to mirror the competition environment as best as possible.

Not overdoing it is the secret.

"We normally do three to four sets a day leading up to a tournament," she said.

"They're usually only 15-minutes, but it's 16 seconds through the course, then you go back and do another so you replicate what you're doing in a tournament."

Ferguson finally reached the top of the tree when she became Australian open women's champion in April this year.

All her hard work had been rewarded.

"I did like chasing, but being able to get up to that level is nice because it's open women's and it was a bit of a jump going from under-17s to open women's," she said.

"It was a bit unexpected, but I like to stay a little bit humble; it's about what happens on the day ... you can't pick it."

When the Queensland product wasn't trying to improve her own ability out on the water this summer, she will be instructing others.

It's a past-time that is quite fulfilling.

"You're around lots of other instructors and you learn a lot because everyone has a different technique and way of learning," she said.

"Even when you're just driving the boat you learn something off other coaches that they're teaching someone and you can use that for your own skiing."

As for the upcoming season - what goals did Ferguson have?

"My goal is to jump 40 metres this season; it's been a long-time goal of mine," she said.

"I want to keep improving both on and off the water."

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