April 10 Update

Hello everyone,

I am finally back in my house!

After I left Nagano I spent one day in Tokyo, then went to Osaka to visit Family and friends. Osaka is a very fun city! and good food! well I think Japans food in general is the best! It was great talking to my cousins and seeing how many more relatives I have in Japan. I plan to leave from Osaka every year so I have a chance to get to know more of them! I did stay with Cagi San. He was a very good host and took me to many geat places to eat. Plus a great eye glasses shop. Great place!

I arrived home on the 6th, stayed the night in my house then went up to my home ski hill for 2 days of free skiing with my family. it was so much fun. Super long runs! You would not believe it! Nice and icey in the morning, you would all love it!

I have so much to do around my house. No rest for me!

More soon! Bye for now!

Doug

PS: The pictures are of my family in Osaka and some restaurants. More pictures next time!

April 1 Update

Hello Everyone!

Well, it is the last day of the coaching season here in Sugadaira! I am sad to be leaving but , of course excited to be going home to see my Family! I am very proud of every ones effort and it was seen in the looks on your faces and in your results! Nice job to all!

It is now packing up and cleaning time here at the hotel. Lots to do before I leave for Tokyo. I will unfortunately miss the team Rush meeting on Tuesday! Sorry ! I am off to Osaka to visit my family down there.

I am looking forward to the summer and doing a summer camp with the Accel junior racers! When I return home I will check to see where the best training will be!

Speaking of skiing I will be able to ski the last weekend of the year with My family at my home Ski hill Big White!!! I will take pictures and update my blog soon after!

Please keep that positive thinking going through out the summer and use it everyday !!!!

Bye for Now!

Doug

March 27 Update

Hi Everyone,

I can not believe this is the last wek of the season! It has flown by too fast. Well I am excited to return to Canada though. Makaiya has been in lessons at my home ski hill. I have heard she is doing wel, and having fun! I willl be able to ski with her after my return. I am looking forward to that!

The junior camp is underway. There are 5 here today. We are rtaining gates inthe morning and free skiing in the afternoon. We did the ssame yesterday. We skied on the mogul run and on the GS Champion course doing basic drills. The kids had fun on the mogul run but were scared at first. They improved quickly!

I am thrilled with everyones progression! It has been a stellar season for race results! Great Job! PLease keep on with your positive thinking and loving, happy feelings. The combination of both will produce gerat results in all areas of your lives! Expect only what you WANT in your life! Think of only what you WANT! Negative will bring negative. POSITIVE WILL BRING POSITIVE!

Have a great Day!

Oh, it has been cool during the evenings, so the snow has been ok.

Hope to see you soon!

Doug

March 18 update

Hello Everyone,

What a crazy stretch of weather! I am in Hakuba now and the race conditions here are like January. Lucky! The Tea clippers guys did not get any points in the race so they are a little disappointed. I believe they did learn some good lessons though that will help them for the future! Many of them did not do any free skiing before thier start. That is needed of course to get a feel for the snow and of course get into your personal tecnical zone. It is important before the ski warm up to warm your body up first. Warm up to ski , do not ski to warm up! We want the most out of our ski warm up. Of course before the race start do our mental imagery and image warm up, as well as doing a full body warm up agian! Of course our skis are tune perfectly to match the snow conditions. Prepare in as many areas as possible to give yourself the best chance to win!

I hope to see you at the Accel Cup race on the weekend .

Best Regards

Doug

March 8 Update

Hello my great freinds,

It was a great day of training! It has been cool the past few days and is suppose to stay this way for the next week. If you are planning to come this weekend make sure those edges are very sharp to get the most out of your training time!

See you soon!

Doug

March 7 Update

Hello Again,

I ahve been talking aout the mental side of sport and life lately. Please, of course we must be prepareed Physicaly. I good muscle warmup and and full body strech is always recommended before and after skiing! Warm and flexible body and mind!

Good luck ! Hmmmmmmm! No make your luck!

Doug

March 7 Update

Hello, Hello, Hello!

YYIIPPEEEEE!!!!!! It has cooled off here again in Sugadaira!! It even snowed a little. It was very icey today and will also be tomorrow. The guys from Totori arrived this afternoon. Good timing for the cool weather. I hope all of you are doing well! See you soon!

Doug

March 5 Update

Hello everyone,

Ok, It was very windy and it did rain slightly! We did do very good training on the flats though. I set a very straight course and we did crouching training. It was great! All guests had very good improvements. I would like to do it maybe in the afternoons on the weekend when the snow condition is bad. See you all soon. Good Luck with your races this up coming weekend if you have one! Think positive and feel happy!

Best Regards

Doug

March 5 Update

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend! It was a very warm but positive weekend here at Sugadaira! I know I may repeat the same point to some of you many times. I want you to know that point what ever it is , is vital for your next step. If you are having trouble in doing a movement, it maybe because you are holding on to an old image of how to do the turn. We are all creaters of habit and for some it is very hard to do something new. This is why it is important to see all new movements in our minds first. See what movement you want and also feel what that movement would feel like. If you are scared to do the movement see yourself confident. Play that movie in your mind over and over! You have the power to change quickly if you choose to. The movies we play in our minds are future reality!!

We have thousands of thoughts everyday! Those thoughts make us feel a certain feeling. Control what you are thinking! When we are feeling happy, confident, secure, fearless, you will create a positive future! In and outside of ski racing! Lets move forward positively! I see us all
happy, creative , and winning!

Bye for now!

Doug

Feb, 28 Update

Winter has returned!!!!!!!!!!

It was a cold, windy, snowy day today! We skied only in the morning! 4 hours straight. Both SL and GS!

There has been guests here all week. 6 or more! it is great training during the week. If we have good weather that is!

I have heard of more wins at ski races and I am very proud of all of you for your efforts. Of course for everyone that is is in the pursuit of your personal best!! That is what we are striving for! See our goals and do the work and play to make it happen! Keep up the goal setting and vission!

Bye for now!

Doug

Feb, 22 Update

Hello from Sugadaira!

I just returned from Hakuba. It was an exciting race for the Tea clipper racers! We had mixed results. But the results came because of certain reasons. More Technical training? More Strength Training! All factors come after our goal setting and how we look at our selves! Set goals in all areas of your preparation. Then, see yourself strong, flexible, agile, a winner! It is vital you feel great about yourself! See yourself at what level you choose but set a level or goal you want! My wish for all of you is that you all confident, strong, friendly, positive, team oriented, uplifting, happy, individuals. Ski racing has taught me so much about not only sport but on how to be confident and self creative. And how important team work is. And so much more! Life is great!

The following is a picture of the winning team in points at Iwatake. For those of you that want to win. See yourself on that podium!

See you soon.

Doug

Feb, 14 Update

Hello Everyone,

I finally got my Blog account fixed up!

It has been raining here today! We were unable to ttrain because of wind too!

I was able to do a few things I have been too busy to do so it was a productive day!

Last weekend was another good one. Good race results and good training in hard conditions. It was challenging! I was sorry to see that we had some injuries. I wish you all the best!

I see the most important thing we need to keep on is how we all see ourselves. How we think about ourselves. What things do we say to ourselves in our thoughts? How do those thoughts make us feel? If the thought we are having do not make you feel good they are not productive thoughts. These thoughts and feelings are what makes the world we live in. Keep seeing and feeling the best for yourselves.

Of course we must prepare in all of the other areas. Have good skis , good tune up, Sharp smooth edges. Good boots good boot tune up and canting. The proper wax. Strong techneque. Strong bodies. able to choose a fast line in any course. And so one. If we do set high goals see great things for our selvesthat is the key for all of the other areas to fall into place.

I appreciate all of your efforts, and all of you coming to ski with us at Accel Ski System!!!! Ski Racing is such a great sport and the people involved in it are all so fun ! Keep up the Great Work.

Enjoy my pictures from Canada!

More soon!

Doug

Feb,14 Update

Hi Every one,

I have had problems with my blog. Just Testing to see if it is working!

Bye for now

Doug

Jan,25 ,Update

Hello Everyone,

Hmmm... Another sunny great day of training in Sugadaira! We trained GS on #3 and #7 in the afternoon. Great for the guys here. The course on #7 was a speed set and it was a good learning experience for all. All racers were over turning and times were slower. I believe all got the lesson.

I also skied today and found a huge difference in turn shape and feel from one day to the next! It was because I changed my cant on my ski. When I did not have enough it was impossible to get enough edge angle at the beginning of the turn and caused my timing to be late. My line dropped and my time was about 1 second slower to the correct canted ski!!!!!! Another reason was the tune up of the ski. I corrected the cant of the ski and tuned it to base bevel of 1 degree and 85 degrees on the side. It was much better today and the time was cose to the same as the other ski. Also the cant of one ski maker is different to the cant needed on another ski maker!!!! Really!!!! One ski needed more than the other!

I will continue to look for your Canting needs in your skiing to make you a stronger skier!

And please make sure your boots are buckled down very tight. Around the top 2 buckles and the second one around the top of your foot. It needs to feel overly tight to the point of discomfort! Release the buckles before you ride the lift. If not your feet will loose all circulation. That is how tight they should be.

See you soon!

Doug

Jan,24, Update

Hello Everyone,

Sorry, it has been a long time since my last Blog! I am so happy to say it has been very busy here at Sugadaira! No days off so far this season! Great! I am so happy that many of you are training so hard and improving so much!

I have my airline tickets to go back to Canada for a few days! Chrissy, Tajanna and Makaiya are excited about it too! It is a nice break half way through the season. Can you believe it is half way through already!

Last weekends line training was a grand success! We will do the same this weekend! The brushes are gerat markers for where to ski our line. Sometimes you can try a straighter line sometimes higher and compare times. The markers are a great base point. They are also gerat for setting a goal for where to do our balance shift and where to start our pressure. Keep up the great effort!

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Doug

Jan, 15 Update

Hello Everyone,

It was a great weekend with sone great training runs and great race results! Great Job everyone! I see great things to come for us all! Keep focused on what you want and see it and feel it as much as possible!

Last night went to a fire festival. It was fun and interesting for me. Also had some free Sake that went striaght to my head.

I look forward to seeing all soon!

Best Regards

Doug

January 11 Update

Hello Everyone,

This weekends race is coming up! All of you that are competing I wish you the best! I hope all of you see yourselves doing well! The one thing You must do to win is see your victory, or see you 10th place finish. Before it happens! See the result, see how you will ski the line of the course, see your stacked, balanced position! See and feel what it will be like when you see the time board and your name and time is in the first place position, or 10th or what ever you choose. Thinking and feeling that is what seperates the you from doing your best! You will get what you think and feel that is true!! So do your best to control your thoughts!!!!!!!!!!! PLease!!

I believe in all of you!

Have a fun Weekend!

Doug

January 11 Update

January 10 Update

Hello Everyone,

Well, that was a busy New Years season! I am very happy to see so many of you! I feel it was a great camp and saw all racers make positive steps forward! Much better stacking, and balance. I will continue to push you towards a good, basic, powerfull, balance postion.

I also hope you all have written goals of what you want this season. For technique, race results fun, what ever you dare to write down think about and feel! See it , feel it and it will come! You are all poewerfull individuals!

I hope to see you again!

I believe in all of you!

Bye for now!

Doug

January 1 Update

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

I hope all of you hada fun and happy new years celabration! we did up here in Sugadaira!

We still do not have alot of natural snow but it has been cool enough that it can be made . They are preparing the #7 run. They made alot of snow on it last night! I hope it will be ready soon! We will keep you posted.

I am happy to see many peolpe improving in thier basic stance and Balance. It will pay off in the near future for those of you that are doing so!

I hope that many of you are seeing great results for your futures. I believe in you guys! All you have to do is see what you want to achieve, believe it will come to be and feel what it would be like to have the result come!! Happiness, Excitment, powerfull! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Bye for now!

Doug

Dec, 26 Update

Hello everyone!

Merry Christmas! I know it is late!

It has been raining all day here but it was still a good day of training for all! Some doing free ski some pole trainng. Although there is not alot of snow and pole training is limited it is a great chance to work on our basic position and balance! It is a blessing maybe we can not train poles. More basic skiing!

Next year I hoipe more come to the Sun Peaks camp to work on our basics though. We can hopefully get a better base for the season and start pole training ealier!

Bye for now! I hope to se you soon!

Doug

Dec,10 Update

Hello!

Another day in paridise. It was a great here. The snow was hard and the sky Blue. The guys that were skiing today had a super day! Everyone had a strong basic stacked position and had a good balance shift between turns. I believe we are all going to reach new levels that will excite us all!

Think of it! Feel it! It will come to be! No doubt!

I look for ward to seeing you again!

Doug

Dec 18 update

Hello!

Good news! it finally snowed here!! About 10 cm or so. It is very nice to see everything White!

This past weekend was a good training session. Great job guys! Even though it was so crowded you focused very well!

I hope the mental training talk will help you perform better! We hope to do more talks on the topic in the future! I believe it will lift you all to a new level!

I hope to see you all soon!

Best Regards

Doug

Dec, 15 Update

Hi !

I am just getting ready to pick Ono SAn up from Ueda Station. It was a very warm day today! 3 guests skied today ! Yes, still working on the basics. Improvements are coming at a staedy rate though. It is going to be a great year for you guys ! I know It!

See you soon!

Doug

Dec,, 14 Update

Hi again,

Check out the new gate wrenches for Ono San and the people on run #7. It should be a much esier process to set the courses.

Bye for now.

Doug

Hi agin,

Dec, 14 Update

Hello everyone,

Well this weeks training has been great for the people that have been here! There is only man made snow but the run that is open is very good. Plus during the week there are not so many people!

I feel the results of doing our basic training, making a strong stacked position and a strong balance shift when we recenter our hips is going to shot your race results throught the roof. That along with a trust in our techniche and a strong belief in your selves. This is going to be the best year ever for our race results and we are going to have fun doing it! Keep thinking positive thoughts and feel it too! I believe in all of you!!!!!!!!!!

More later!

Doug

Dec, 12 Update

Hello !

It was a great day of training. The snow is hard and icy. Those of you that may want ski tune up please send your skis to the hotel and e-mail Miho to let her know that they have been sent for tune up.

So far I have had all guests work on Yes, the basics! Good stance , recentering of the hips, at the same time of the recentering a strong balance shift from one ski over to the new outside ski. This seasons theme is basics , basics , basics!

See you soon!

Doug

Dec,10 Update

Hi Everyone,

Today was a preparation day.

Prepared the GS poles for the season.

Oh, did I tell you I have 2 new gate wrenches for #7 training. You remeber last year those yellow wrenches that did not fit the bases properly. Well, I got a friend of mine to make 2 new ones. All is ready now all we need is more snow.

Also did some tune up. If you need your skis done please send them to me soon with information of how you want them tuned and when you need them.

Bye for now.

DOug

Dec, 9 Update

Hi Everyone,

It was the first day of skiing at Omatsuyama. It is all man Made snow but the run that was open was very good.

I am very happy with the progression of the skiers that skied! Great Job Guys!

We are working on the basics. Hip width stance wieght shifting from foot to foot, moving up and over the skis with our hips and moving with rythme. We have been using a balloon between our knees to make the adjustment easier for stance and balance.

One focus point that will be at the fore front of the season is goal setting and how we think and image what we are doing. We will talk about it throughtout the camps this year.

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Lets make this year the best one ever!

All the Best!

Doug

More pictures

More pictures

More Pictures

Dec,#3 Update

Hi Everyone,

What a great week! We finished the camp off with 2 and a half days of pole training drills! Everyone made incredible gains in thier basic postion and turn timing!

The food was very good! My dad did the cooking and did a great job, I even help cook too! We had a few different disges that worked out nicely.

I hope that more of you can make it next year! It is thee place to work on basic position.

Enjoy the pictures!

See you soon!

Doug

Nov, 28 Update

Hello Everyone,

BRRRRRRRR!!!! We are half way through our camp at Sun Peaks and it has been very cold! Today was minus 30!!!!

On a good note, there is lots of snow, the runs are very long and very wide, the condo we are staying in is very comfortable and new, the meals from my Dad Yummy and the guests are having a great time.

I must admit these are the best conditions for early season skiing I have ever seen! I am very excited about this new site and feel it is the best ealry season training available. We have been using I run called 5 mile. It is called that because, well its 5 miles long. The slope is medium and to flat the whole way and has been incredible for Basic training. All guests have hit new levels in their skiing skill.

We have been working on keeping a strong natural stance, hip to shoulder width, recentering our hips between each turn, Shifting our balace from side to side while doing the hip recentering, rolling both ankles inside the next turn, keeping our upper bodies in a athletic position forward, shoulders level. Yes, the basics! Another Key point is the Goal setting and image training they are doing. Seeing in thier minds what they want ot do and positive self talk. That is going to be focused more on this season!

I am not able to attach pictures now. I will send them later.

I wish you all the Best and I am looking forward to seeing you all again.

Bye for now!

Doug

Nov, 19 update

Hello everyone,

One more till the Sun Peaks camp. The conditions look good and I have heard that the Austrian World Cup team is up there training. I am looking forward to see those of you whom are coming!

I am doing my last kitchen install of the year today and tomorrow. Then I will prepare the rest of the week for the camp.

I did go out with my dad for our last golf game of the year. It was nice out ! I played bad! my dad beat me and I had to buy him a beer. Next year!

Bye for now.

Doug

Nov, 2 Update

Hello.

We had a little snow in Kelowna so Makaiya went the first ski of the season!

Bye for now

Doug

Oct, 30, update

Hi!

The weather here has certainly cooled down. We woke up this past Sunday and found snow in the hills and temperatured have sure dipped down. -8 tonight in Kelowna.

This past weekend we all worked on raking leaves in our yard!

Bye for now.

Doug

DVD video camera

I hope this will help us give you all better service!

October 24 update

Hi Everyone,

Things here are still very busy with installing!

The weather is cooling down.

I bought a new DVD video camera it should be good during meetings and for recording to your lap tops!

Bye for now.

Doug

Oct, 6 update

Hello,

Well, the days are sunny in town, but in the hills SNOW! Last night it rained in town and snow in the hills!! I did play golf because CHrissy and Makaiya went to Red Deer Alberta to spend Thanks giving with her sister. Tajanna and I stayed in Kelowna because of work. I did play golf in the afternoon after I mowed the lawn and built a Cabinet for my moms house. The front 9 I shot 45 but the back 9, 37. Wish I could play consistantly both 9's.

I get to play Golf again on our holiday Monday. Chrissy is coming home that day! Back to work on Tuesday.

The Sunpeaks camp is falling into place nicely with our beautifull Condo to stay in and the ability to dao brush short and gate training ealry in the camp. Hope to see many of you there.

Bye for now.

Doug

Hello Every one,

Well Cagi San left for Osaka on Saturday morning. We all had a great time. As I wrote before he did help me do a kitchen. He is such a good worker. We did play alot of golf too.

It has been snowing in the hills but it has not been staying. It is actually suppose to be very warm this week. Mid 20's.

I played football for my brothers team today. It was fun but I pulled my groin muscle. It is a little soar now. I guess I should have done more streching.

Bye for now.

Doug

September 20 Update,

Hello,

It has been a great start to the week. My kitchen copany had no kitchens to install so Cagi and I were able to play golf both days. We are having a very good time.

Tomorrow we have a kitchen to do. Cagi will help me install it. We will take some pictures for you to see. We will get up at 6 am and start work by 7am . He wants to help me work. Sounds crazy doesn't it! I will let you know how it goes.

Bye for now

Doug

Sept,17 Update

Hello Everyone!

I have exciting news.

Cagi San of the Tea Clipper ski team is staying with us here in Kelowna. He arrived this past Saturday and is here for a week. He is comming to work with me tomorrow. hopefully we will golf in the late afternoon.

Tonight we had a great burger dinner! Very yummy!

More soon.

Doug

September 13 Update

Hi,

I hope you are all doing great! My family and I are . Work has been too busy which is good.

Makaiya and Tajanna have started school. They were both excited to go! Nice.

Chrissy is doing well too. Helping me sometimes and of course keeping our home clean. ( Which is full time job in itself)

The weather has changed here and is cooling off and raining. A nice change. It has been a great summer for sun.The Fall camp is falling into place. I have found a beautifull place to stay, with a hot tub and big kitchen for Chrissy. It is very new and will be comfortable for all. Not a hotel. A private condo. Yes, it has a conection in the TV for video cords!! It is 5 minutes walk from the village, close for shopping or sight seeing. I have been trying to contact the man in charge of early season training. I want to do some pole training everyday. I want to work on basic position as well as many other skills that are needed for fast skiing. I want to set courses on the flats and test position and how tucking vs.. standing upright is different line , pressure and so on. It will be a great camp. Best Ever! I also will set up goals for each person. I know many of you have plenty of potentail. We need to set targets for you though.

Hope to see you guys in Canada. You will fly from Vancouver to Kamloops. It is around a 45 minute drive from Kamloops to Sun Peaks.

Bye for now.

Doug

September 4 Update

Hello everyone,

Chrissy and I went up to Sun Peaks. The new location for our Fall camp. It looks like a mini whistler! Very nice. Great place for training . Thats why the Austrians are training there! I am excited for this chance for all of you. I want us to focus more on Goal setting in many areas. This will help us move forward faster. I know this will be the best season ever for the Accel racers!! I believe in all of you! I hope to see some of you at the Camp at Sun Peaks! Enjoy the pictures.

Best Regards

Doug