One of them is the CrossFit champion of the Middle East and African region while the other is two years into an athletics sponsorship in the United States.
Jamie (24) and Rebekah (22) Greene are back in Otago for the Christmas holidays, catching up with family and friends.
Both were brought up in Dunedin but are living overseas as they chase their goals.
Jamie has been in Abu Dhabi for a year and a-half as a personal trainer while Rebekah is two years into an athletics scholarship at the University of Florida.
Jamie, who played rugby for the Otago Spirit and also did gymnastics for many years, arrived in Abu Dhabi as a personal trainer early last year and has not looked back.
"I went over there personal training but when I got there I crossed into CrossFit. I started making a few contacts and then got into working at a CrossFit gym.
"There is a large expat community there and the locals are really welcoming. It is a good place to be, really easy living.''
Working in a CrossFit gym allowed for plenty of time to train and she put that into competing in the CrossFit Games for the Middle East region.
The Games are not an event held in one city as such. In the modern world of competition, it is all done in your own gym and online.
"You receive the programme, it gets sent out from CrossFit in the United States and you have four days to do it all. You're looking at a whole lot of things, really, from rowing, running, dead lifts to weightlifting.
"Then you have to submit your times against everyone else in the world.''
Greene did so well she was judged the best in the Middle East and African region.
"We decided as a team we would go to the European champs. So we went there and managed to finish second and qualify for the World Games in the United States. But we got disqualified.''
One of Greene's team-mates had moved to Abu Dhabi on January 14, when the qualifying date was before January 1, and the team's dream of competing at the World Games in California was dashed.
"That was pretty tough to take, but you just move on.''
Greene, who has a physical education degree from the University of Otago, says she will stay in Abu Dhabi for the foreseeable future and she enjoys the lifestyle.
She wants to qualify for the World CrossFit Games next year and there are always fitness competitions in the United Arab Emirates.
Younger sister Rebekah is two years into a degree at the University of Florida.
She is studying food and resource economics and hopes to do a master's degree in international business in 2017.
On the track, she has been busy running cross-country, an indoor season and then the regular track season.
She had an impressive track record while at St Hilda's Collegiate School.
In her final year at school, she set records in the 1500m and 3000m at the national secondary schools athletic championships.
She went to the world junior track and field championships the following year, where she finished seventh in the 3000m final.
On a full scholarship, she has just come out of the cross-country season, and when she returns to the US, she will be heading into the indoor season.
Last season had been a bit disappointing as she was hampered when she pulled muscles in her hip.
"My first year, my times came down, but last year I had a few issues with injury and I could not get into any consistent training. But we had a mile time trial just before the Christmas break and that went relatively well.''
She still wants to run the mile and 3000m and is looking forward to a good year in 2016.
The university, in the city of Gainesville, has 50,000 students and Greene enjoys the student life, which she says is similar to Dunedin.
Her dream is to represent New Zealand in athletics and she says her coach in the United States is fully aware of her ambitions.
