The Family Picture

Hi again,

The picture in the last blog is a picture from a few years ago. The men of the Ito Family. My Dad, brother Rick, Rick's son Takoda, and me!

Hi From Canada

Hello Everyone,

I am guessing many of you are surprised to hear I had to leave Japan! Me Too! I had to return home to spend precious time with my father. He died On March 15th with myself my brother and our wives by his side. He had been fighting an aggressive stomach cancer. He surprised many by how long he fought it! I am very proud of him! How he cared for me, taught me valuable lessons of life, played with me, and loved me! He is my hero for many reasons!

Thank you all for your kind understanding! I wish you all finish the season strong! I am very proud of your efforts this season. Always do your own personal best and you will always be a winner!

Bye for now!

Doug

Spring skiing / Making pizza

Hi guys!

It was a good spring skiing day today. Hard snow, and cloudy for most of the morning. Perfect! The group skied great today, which made it even better.

Today we made pizza at dinner. Or I should say Yuu made pizza. it was his first time this year. It was good!

Bye for now

Doug

Happy Girls day!

Happy Girls Day!

Us Men are so lucky that we have beautiful , Kind , Loving Girls all around us! Thanks for being here!

Doug

Good morning March, 3, 2010

Good morning Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well!

For the last week or so it has been spring conditions. Very warm with rain, and hot sunny days. The snow has reduced alot. It is suppose to cool down. I hope so. It feels like the end of March right now.

I hope you have all enjoyed the season so far1 I have!

I have been going to the gym after coaching. Yes, weight training. It was hard to motivate myself to start. I do feel very good now that I have made a routine. More energy and I just feel stronger and more confident. For all of you my hope is that you can all arrange your time to do some strength training. It will help not only your ski racing performance, but your overall life performance. Of course it will be uncomfortable at first. Anything that is worth while takes extra effort! I hope you all can start. I know you will all feel great about yourselves if you do it!

Have a good day!

Doug

Sunny days in Sugadaira

Hello All,

Monday training was great today! Sunny and warm. The snow was still very icy. I was able to take a few runs with the guests today. We worked on being stable through all phases of the turn with our upper body, and looking ahead. It was difficult for some,but saw very positive results for others.

This season is flying bye. I cannot believe it is almost March. Just a hand full of weekends left. I look forward to finishing the season off strong!

Oh, I will keep you informed to when we have next seasons test skis.

Bye for now.

Doug

Test skis!

Hello!

It was a good day today. There was a Rossignol test today at Omatsu Yama. We were able to take 2 pairs of skis to Tsubakuro. Next years skis are very good! Fast edge catch and solid under the foot. Very stable. I am very excited to use them more. They were very fun!

It is cool again here and it snowed a little last night. Conditions look good for the weekend. Looking forward to seeing you all!

Bye for now.

Doug

Hello Powerfull ski racers

Hello All!

It has been warm here in Sugadaira. The snow conditions most likely will turn to ice! That means smaller ruts! That also means your skis need to be sharp. Be prepared! Always warm up and stretch your body, have your boots tight, skis sharp and waxed, and have a positive attitude about yourself. When it comes to looking at your results. Look and compare only with yourself. No need to compare your self with your friends. You can not control what they do, you can only control what you do.

Good luck in your races and focus on skiing at your personal best. I believe in all of you!

See you soon.

Doug

Great Start to the season!

Hello Every One!

It has been very busy! I love it though! It has been nice to see most of you maintaining good basic skills from last year! So far many have been pushing very hard for more improvement. It is very fulfilling for me to see your desire to improve!

Accel racers have not only been improving on their skills but also in Great race results! Congratulations to all that have reached new personal bests in Races! I am very proud of all of you! Lets keep pushing the limits!

See you soon!

Doug

Hello all ski racers

Hi Guys!

Conditions are getting better here all the time. We are getting natural snow and it is cool enough that they have been making too. Looks better than last year now.

Just some tips when you arrive here to start your training. Before we start skiing on the hill, please make sure you warm up and stretch your body out! Have your skis tuned to match the condition of the snow. ( hard, compact snow). Your attitude is positive , and expect to perform at your personal best! Lets take advantage of the time we do have on the snow.

This past week Rossignol had a business meeting and ski test in Sugadaira. They stayed at Zonntaggu. The event went well. Skis and boots have change for next year. The skis feel very good. The boots also look good. Did not get to try them though.

I am looking forward to seeing you!

Doug

O U Maru ski JO?

Hi Everyone,

Our was first weekend of skiing was at a new ski area for me. Around 40 minutes from Sugadaira. The run that was open was short and flat. We were able to do great basic training though.

During the week we skied at the same ski area but we were lucky enough that they opened the top ski lift too. The top has medium terrain. It was nice and compact too.

We are skiing at Omatsu Yama today. I will let you know what it is like.

Bye for now.

Doug

Hello Japan

Hello Everyone,

It is very exciting to be back in Japan. Not a lot of snow yet but we did do some great basic training on a flat slope. The exciting point is that all the racers that came skied very solid! We worked on balance changing initial edging from the ankle and steering with the shin muscle, and pole planting.

I am looking forward to seeing more of you!

Bye for now.

Doug

New Pictures

Last day at Sun Peaks

Hi all! What a great day here! Sunny Blue sky, Hard snow, long runs. Nice! We trained during the morning. In the afternoon we free skied on all the different runs. There are Three different mountains here. We skied on all of them. Long runs, it was amazing.

Enjoy the pictures

US thanks giving

It's US thanks Giving today, so our dinner was turkey, mash potatoes, vegetables and stuffing. Lemon pie for desert.

It was warm today. Snow was melting. It rained yesterday. Tonight is suppose to be cold, so it should be nice and icy.

We have definitely put in a lot of km skiing here. Otani San and his daughter, Haruka have improved in basic movements! Yes, only 2 came this year so it was like a private camp. it was great for them!

See you soon

Doug

Sun Peaks Camp

Hello All,

Well, this season the snow here is amazing. Lots of it. Many different chair lifts are open so we are able to ski on Different slopes. We started off skiing on the flats. Doing proper balance changes, initial edging from ankles and shins, staying stacked over our feet, upper body forward, upper body down the fall line on deep turns, and steep slopes, and tuck turns.

The number of skiers here is small so it has been a very private camp.

Chrissy and Makaiya are here. Makaiya has been helping Chrissy cook. Of course she has her home work to do. She skied with me a little today.

Bye for now

Doug

The Austrain Women were training GS today !

Chrissy's new GS flags

Hello,

Another year another stack of new GS flags. Chrissy made another seasons supply. They look great!

The Canada camp starts in a few days. Lots of snow this year. I have heard most of Sun Peaks is open. We are going to start off on the flats doing many long runs, repeating basic movements. As the week progresses we will then move to medium then steep slopes. I a really looking forward to it. Working on each persons pre race plan is also on the schedule.

Bye for now.

Doug

Christmas Ginger bread house

Yes, Christmas is in the air in the Ito House. Since I leave at the beginning of December we try to do some fun Christmas activity's. Last night we built a Ginger bread house. We all pitched in to build it. The best part is eating it for me. Some family's just leave it standing to look at. Not me! i ate some this morning! Hee hee!

See you soon.

Doug

First snow of the year in Kelowna!

Yes the first snow fall in Kelowna!

It was cold last night and it snowed in the early morning. When we drove Makaiya to school the roads were very slippery. Many people do not have winter tires and we saw a few accidents.

I have receently tuned my new Rossignol ski boots. There is more room around the toe area, but very narrow around the mid foot. I had to do a lot of punching, and grinding in the mid foot area. They are ready to go! I am looking forward skiing and coaching up at Sun Peaks!

Bye for now.

Doug

Beer Fridge

Hello again,

So in the last pictures our fridge was full of beer. That is not our normal fridge, just so you know! That is our extra one down stairs. We do have food in our normal one up stairs!

It is very cool in Kelowna. Sun Peaks has lots of snow and the camp looks like it will be great! Not many people are booked but we will have great long runs working the basics.

Bye for now.

Doug