Above the Clouds

Seems like life always has more curve balls than expected, thus far my time in BC has been a bit frustrating.  Festivals, weather and other miscellaneous happenings are interfering with my plans.  As I have said before, during these days it is important to see the positive side.  

Yes, those are people!
Where's the Pipe?

I have been home for two weeks and due to weather, contests and photo shoots I have not ridden a solid day in the pipe.  Most of the time the pipe looks like this.
 That’s not to say that I haven’t been getting work done, just not the work I planned to do.  I came here to work on two specific tricks, but end up riding jumps, rails and the natural features of the mountain.  The positive part is that I still work on the essence and fundamentals of the tricks on these other features, and I must admit that I do have a lot of fun working new components. 

This makes me think about my seminar on passion and how a good work ethic supports my following of snowboarding.  Sometimes I don’t want to try new things because I know I will be awkward at them, let’s face it…no one wants to look uncoordinated and sloppy.  But in the end I trust my coach and am determined so I am willing to put myself out there; at this time of the year it means getting soaked too!  I know it will all contribute to the successes of my goals in the future. 

For today, it’s getting some house and computer work done.  I have the privilege of Rope for Hope, a thirty story repel in June for Make-A-Wish Foundation, so, I will be looking for sponsors.  Check out all the action HERE. 

For tomorrow, it will be waking up and looking to get the most out of my day.  My fingers are crossed for the sun to be out!!!    

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Passion

The last ten years of my life have been passion driven, and I must say that I am privileged to have found things I was passionate about at a young age.  I was lucky enough to be exposed to many experiences to gauge what my possible passions were.  However, not every kid out there is as fortunate as I was, and I am pretty sure the schooling curriculum does not include finding your passion.  So, for the past few weeks I have been composing a presentation to take to schools and social groups to get kids thinking.

My goal is to get them to think about what they are good at, enjoy, and are interested in.  Or to just be more conscience of what is happening around them so they can get some ideas on what they could be passionate about.  I feel this is an important step to get kids motivated and confident again. 

Included in my presentation is talk about how to make passions a realistic occupation, since I have so many great examples around me to pull from.  I live with examples like my friend Tenika, who is pursuing acting and modeling, but has her Bachelor of Arts in political science.  When speaking to her about this project she reminded me that your passion almost has to be an obsession, where perseverance gets you though many set backs.  With her, it is audition after audition, where getting turned down is a very common occurrence.  Another amazing example is my parents and our family business.  They deal with a lot of crap, but they are passionate about retail.  My Mom loves the social aspect and my Dad loves directing and taking care of everyone.  At times he sounds like air traffic control, making it happen for the people around him.  Lastly, I think of my own adventures and how the love of snowboarding makes me responsible and have initiative to work on my own on the mountain and off the mountain.  We are all people who followed our calling.   

 

Even though all our passions are different we all have one common trait…a great work ethic.  This characteristic allows us to live our passions as a job, where we live to work and not work to live, and we are okay with this.  It would be amazing if the next generation of workers lived like this too.  More people would take pride in what they do, work quality would rise, and the ordinary person would live a much happier life.

I am excited about this project and having the opportunity to inspire others to follow and live their dreams, as I was inspired to do years ago.  I have found great supporters like Sony of Canada, Iyashi Bedrock Spa, Anakie, Scott Goggles and iFound.  And I can’t forget about my incredible parents and coach/partner Roberto Marfia.  My supporters mixed with passion and work ethic is a recipe for success.  And with a little help, I believe anyone can follow this recipe.  I would love the chance to help a kid find their way and place in this world.         

If you would like more information on a presentation, which right now is a free presentation, please fill out a email form at http://www.ktathletics.com/   

The Refresher

Sqamish from Above 

My time home in Squamish after nationals was invigorating.  Not only did I get quality time in my house but I also was able to ride my favourite mountain, Whistler Blackcomb and pick up some new techniques on riding. 

Being back in my own bed was heaven; I even call that bed the coffin because you could spend the rest of your life in it.  The feeling of my own effects around me was comforting after the long journey of traveling for competition.  When I am on the road I hardly think about how much I miss my room in my home, but when I return I definitely appreciate my belongings and their placement. 

Aside from enjoying my house I also spent time tidying my garage and the small things that always need tending to after I have been away.  I also must admit that I cleared most of the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles WII game, love my video games! 

Heading up to Whistler was beautiful too.  There, it was still a winter wonderland with fresh snow right to the village.  I met up with my great friend and snowboard tuner Yohann Sheetz to take some peak to creek runs.  In spite of it being spring it was cold there maybe minus five to minus ten.  That first day my legs and feet were burning from the long runs, my feet were used to six minute pipe laps and we were riding twenty-five to thirty-five minute runs! But it was awesome to get some last powder days in before the end of the season.

Whistler Blackcomb 

 

I finally had the opportunity to get together with Olympian and Whistler local Crispin Lipscomb to learn new edging and stance techniques on my snowboard.  I felt it was necessary to get back to some fundamentals; at times you can take leaps ahead by going back a few spaces. 

Crispin Lipscomb

One always feels a bit awkward when trying new things, and so did I, but I was pumped to be learning new ways to use the full potential of my snowboard.  Crispin had a lot of great pointers to improve my carving, and I had a blast putting them to use. 

I cursed thought the on snow techniques, but needed more practice to refine it off features.  Riding some mellow small park and rails was so enjoyable; we only took one run though the full sized half pipe.  I loved learning these new things about my sport and applying them. 

The continual learning of snowboarding is one of the most alluring aspects of snowboarding.  The three days with Crispin were fun and they now leave me with new concepts to think about and utilize in my half pipe riding.   

Summit County 

Home is always the favourite trip during the year, but now it was time to go back to Summit County, Colorado, to get in some spring conditions to train.  Breckenridge and Copper are great stomping grounds to have consistent courses and learn new tricks. 

So far it has been a great riding trip, getting back some old tricks and I even won a quarter pipe contest in Breckenridge.  The time ahead will be short but intense and I will achieve great accomplishments from it…but I am looking forward to heading back to Squamish after :)   

Back to Katie's Site Here http://www.ktathletics.com/

Canadian Snowboard Championships

The Canadian Snowboard Championships are over and as I had forecasted, it was a great contest.  The contest was unlike any I have been to before.  Probably the best Canadian contest in a while.

For me it started with arriving in Calgary three days in advance.  My first day riding was a fun one and it was great to see some new faces around the Calgary Olympic Park pipe, but I was especially stoked to see the old faces too.  The sun was out with warm and soft conditions. 

There were the same conditions the next day, so the officials made the decision to cancel practice.  It was a little funny because I was starting to see a pattern emerge.  This was the third cancelled practice before the contest this season.   

Once again I turned to my mental coach, Bob Palmer, to help me visualize some snow time, giving me an edge on other athletes.  We had a great session in substitute for the last day of training.  Although almost nothing could prepare me for the conditions on contest day. 

It was a Friday and it was warm all day.  We didn’t get started until the late afternoon hoping the cooler temperatures would help keep the pipe’s shape.  Although we waited later in the day to start, the semi-qualifiers of the women and men left some ruts and bumps across the bottom and down the walls.   The worst part was that the temperature was dropping leaving the rutted shapes frozen in the snow.

I had qualified in third place and it was time for finals.  Dropping in was like a rodeo, not knowing where I was going to be bucked, but I was able to pull together a run on my first one and it was decent but I thought I could improve on it. At the end of the women’s first run I was in second. 

At the start of the men’s first run I could see a crew of people start walking up to the pipe course.  They came up the rider’s right side of the pipe and all the way to the starting area.  They were even walking all over the drop on the right side of the pipe.  A bunch of people had costumes on like 80s one piece ski suits with wigs, astronaut cowboys, pokey, etc.  People started walking down the bob sled track and one guy even passed was lying in the patrol toboggan; it was mayhem.  Once we got some crowed control at the top the men were able to start dropping again.

I saw a lot of men getting bucked around the pipe and when I went for my second run all I was thinking about was just staying on my feet.  I accomplished that but the run wasn’t so pretty.  So I was relying on my first run’s score.

  

My first run won me second place.  I wanted to do better but I was so happy to see how proud my parents were.  It was enough for me.  

                                                                                                           Another awesome part was the flash dance mob and their 2000 boom boxes all tuned into the same transmitted station, from a FM transmitter, the party was pumping in the viewing area.  It was nice to have a Canadian contest with more than 50 people at the bottom.  Here are some pictures, as you can see it was crazy. 

I was satisfied with second, but winning would have been awesome.  Still, it felt good to get back on the podium; it has been a long contest year.  Looking back at all my results this year I noticed that I had a better placing with every contest.  This is the important thing to look at because it’s going to be a build up to Sochi.  I don’t want to be hitting the ceiling now, peaking at the right time will be paramount.  

I didn’t get to say a speech on the podium but I am so thankful for the people who came out to support me.  Of course there were my biggest fans my Mom and Dad, Stacy Carmichael, Bruce Inguard, Chris Castle and Wyatt (my littlest fan).  Thanks guys for hanging out in the cold.  I can’t forget about Joanne Wright, she was our snowboard mom when I was starting all this and it was great to see her again.

Of course none of the people who make my life less stressful, my sponsors Sony of Canada, Scott, Anakie, Iyashi Bedrock Spa, iFound, and Allian.  I am the luckiest person because I get to live my dream every day.

I could never forget about all the hard work my coach puts into me as well.  His dedication and commitment has been paramount to my season results.  So a huge thanks to Roberto Marifa and Focus Elite Training. 

Now I am excited to get some time again to train, and I have taken more things into account this time.  I know what I need to work on in the pipe and out of the pipe to help spring me in front of the competition.  Training season here I come!!

  

http://www.ktathletics.com/ 

Last Leg of Contest Season

I left the US Open at Stratton Vermont last week with a feeling of needing more.  It was a strange contest in the sense that they ran close to a thousand runs in the pipe the day of my qualifying.  For the first time they ran both men’s pre-qualifiers and qualifiers in the same day, including women’s qualifiers, heat of 70 men and ladies for two runs.  Strange.  This translated to the women’s second run as a write off, with some of the women even choosing not to take a run because of the condition of the course.  The organizers then decided not to let the men ride their second run that late afternoon because of the dangerous condition of the pipe and let them ride the next morning…I just wish we had the same luxury. 

So, I had to finish my contest there with an unsatisfactory finish and turn to just having fun with my family instead.  I was ok with it because I had a great time, renting skis and skiing with my Mom and Dad.  My latest video blog is about this, check it out here. It was a lot of fun to make. 

Now it was time for me to focus on the new task at hand.  Canadian Nationals, also known as the Snow Crown event.  I made some appointments in Toronto to see my witch doctor and to get into Iyashi, my two favourite places to get fixed and unwind.

My witch doctor I can’t give details on her identity, but I will say she is the best and has worked with many famous Canadian athletes.  I always feel like a can of worms going to see her since there’s always something wrong with almost every sector of my body.  Still, it’s great to keep things in check and get my hips and spine realigned, my ankle scaring broken down, etc, etc.  She’s not really a witch, but I call her that because I instantly feel changes after seeing her and that is hard to accomplish with normal physios. 

I was sure to get into Iyashi for a relaxing, almost meditative time.  Not only was the heat good on that cold rainy day, but so was getting things in order in my mind.  I was happy to hear just how much rock bathing was catching on in Toronto; I think people would like it if they tried it, it’s a great way to quiet down in the hustle of a city.

I flew to Toronto to Calgary the next day and was greeted with bizarre weather.  In one day it hailed, was sunny and warm, then very windy, and finally snow finished it off.  Typical Calgary weather in the spring! I met up with friends and made plans to go see John Carter at the Imax.  It was the best movie I have seen in a long time; very inspiring for the next day of training. 

That day was today.  I had a decent day of pipe riding.  Some real pipe legends have come out for this event, including Olympian Crispin Lipscomb.  It was really fun to get back in the pipe with my old friend.  Brad Martin and Bahamian rider Kory Wright were also out boosting airs.  No one got crazy, just had fun, in fact I think I did more ticks today they did.  I laded my run a few times after warming up to the new pipe.

I really want to do my best in this contest.  We lost a day of training; tomorrow’s training was cancelled due to warm weather coming in.  I have scheduled a virtual session with Sport Excel so to me I will be riding the best private pipe.  I have the need to get more out of this contest, especially after the unsatisfied feeling the US Open left in me.  I am hungry for the podium and am doing my best to get myself there.  Friday will be a great day, a great contest!       

Back to Katie's Website Here http://www.ktathletics.com/

Mammoth to Stratton

 When I awoke on Saturday morning I could see the sun was cresting over the peak of the mountains, there was no wind, and I just had a feeling it was going to be a great day.  I made my breakfast as usual, eggs, toast, avocado, tomatoes and a superfood smoothe, visualized some and stretched.  I was ready for game time.

The pipe looked great, dressed with all its fences, banners and blue dye lines, with a perfect shape to it.  I was really in the ‘zone’ dropping in for practice.  I only needed three runs to get comfortable and ready to be judged.  I had two smooth runs which landed me in eighth place.  Roberto didn’t say anything to me, but I was relieved when I heard “Katie Tsuyuki made it to finals” after my last run.  I was pumped but I knew there was more to come. 

A couple of the other Canadians, Harrison Gray and Sarah Conrad

The whole day passed before the women went, and although in final’s practice my board was fast, when we finally dropped in for our one practice run after men’s finals, I could feel my board sticking to the right wall.  The sun had been baking that wall all day! I had a feeling this wasn’t good. 

No matter how much brushing I did to my board there was just no wax left in the base and white patches were showing though.  Oh no!! I had no choice but to roll with it.  I threw my run as best as I could, but it just looked off balanced, with one side of the pipe having more amplitude than the other.  I was unable to better my placing.  Still at the end of my runs I pulled up my goggles, smiled for the camera, and waved to the crowed.  Can’t let them know about my disappointment…I wanted to be the best sports woman I could be! 

As soon as I could leave the bottom of the pipe I had to make a break to where I was staying to get things in order before leaving.  It was already three-thirty and my flight out of Reno, a three hour drive away, was at eight-twenty.  I had to take a very quick shower, pack, and gas up and I was on the road an hour later.  I was traveling to the US Open.   

I just made it into Reno with enough time to check my bags; it was going to be a long night ahead of me. I flew from Reno to San Francisco then a red eye to Newark on to Albany and finally a two hour drive to Stratton.  Twenty hours of travel…it’s almost less to New Zealand!  Not to mention when I got off the flight to Newark it was by birthday! For the day I did have a great Thai lunch with my friends and a celebratory martini. 

When I arrived in Stratton, still my Birthday, I spent the day and night sending Birthday wish thank yous to everyone who sent me a message.  I thought it was a good time to ask for them to ‘like’ my fresh Athlete Page on Facebook, it took me hours to send a hundred and thirty messages, and then some, to everyone, but I felt great after.  By the way, thanks to everyone who liked my page <3  

Today was the only day of practice for the US Open and I was so tired from all the travel and work the day before.  When I arrived at practice I felt as thought I was in another world.  I decided, after I couldn’t do my run, that I would go home and nap during the break.  This was a great idea because I came back charging with half full batteries instead of empty! I landed my run a bunch of times then headed home to get some rest and more work done.  Tomorrow I have qualifiers and have to perform.  So lots of rest tonight, good food, and then it’s back to wearing my game face.  This in one of my favourite contests, so I am excited for it!

http://www.ktathletics.com/

    

No Matter the Weather

When I turned up at practice on Monday morning I was ready for anything; thank goodness because of the 80km wind gusts and sometimes white squall conditions were unfavourable.  Practice started late because the pipe maintenance people had to deal with the six inches of snow in the bottom and when the course did open we had to ride in the gusty cross winds. 

Many athletes left training with only a few runs under them but our crew, Lauren Shanahan, Coach Roberto Marfia, and myself, stayed until the end.  I had heard a storm was coming in and I wanted to get a good feel for the pipe.  The pipe its self had a beautiful shape…it was just the stubborn weather that was adverse.   

I awoke Tuesday morning to sun out my window but still there was that pesky wind.  I had a bad feeling about practice.  Sure enough the message came down the line that practice was cancelled for both snowboarders and skiers.  This was going to be the last day of practice before qualifiers.  A bit annoying but I was okay with this, I had Bob Palmer that evening, so I was going to ride in my mind anyway. 

This extra time gave me the opportunity to get some much needed work done.  I started my athlete page on Facebook and sent the word out to my FB friends.  I updated my website with news and some pictures.  In addition to all of that I set up a meeting with the Make-A-Wish foundation to see if I could be a part of their Rope for Hope event.  In this event 90 participants who raise the most money repel from a 30 storey building in the heart of downtown Toronto.

When Roberto came back from the riders meeting that night it was said that if the skier qualifiers were cancelled on Wednesday then the formatting would be changed to a one run qualifier including both skiers and snowboards, opposed to the separate days for skiers and snowboarders who get two runs each.  Again this was all good because I have Palmer in my corner.   

My meeting with Bob Palmer was great.  We went through some preparation exercises that will give me the edge on my competitors.  To me I had a great day in the pipe, working my passes and running through new tricks I want to land.  I ended the meeting in a state of readiness. 

That night I went to bed listening to the howling of the wind outside my window and even was woken up by it in the middle of the night.  I had a feeling that the skier qualifiers would be pushed back and the alternative format would be implied. 

Sure enough today, the now 160km winds cancelled the skier qualifiers and there was no practice for anyone.  Here is a picture taken with my Sony NEX-5 with a fisheye lens.

Once again I am left to snowboarding in my head where it is always sunny and with a perfect pipe.  To me, I have already performed my run about twenty times and practiced a bunch of drills. 

Tomorrow it should be sunny out, go figure.  I might only have one run, but I am ready for that run and will make it count!      

http://www.ktathletics.com/