– Alyssa

Hey Everyone!

This is my second athlete journal and I just wanted to review on the past year! This season has gone by so quickly, and I would like to take you through my experiences on and off snow.

My season started off well, as I had some successes early on in the year. My highlight being my double SL win at Norquay. I was elated and pleasantly surprised with my results and I felt that it gave me a lot of confidence to bring into the year. I was able to carry these results throughout December and came back to Edmonton for Christmas as a happy (but extremely tired) little lady. Right after the holidays Claire and I left for Collingwood, Ontario where we both had some awesome races. One of which being when we both qualified for the panelled slalom. We had the opportunity to race against girls who are dominating the NorAm circuit. Although Claire and I were eliminated in the first round, we had so much fun being apart of all the action!

When I came back from Ontario, I felt the best I had ever felt in my skiing career. I was putting out good results while still making gains at every race and training block I came out of. So what could go wrong?

It was mid-January when I started to feel pretty unwell. I had high fevers, chills and extreme tiredness, but I was still determined to try and ski the Lake Louise race series. I ended up staying in the hotel room for two days, and that’s when I felt a continuous sharp pain in my left side. My family and I drove back to Edmonton and that’s when I was diagnosed with mononucleosis. On top of all my symptoms, I had an inflamed liver and an enlarged spleen. These two factors prevented me from being able to ski, and I wasn’t going to be on snow until I was cleared. The illness progressed into my lymph nodes and throat, which caused major swelling all over my body. Another common symptom with mono is extreme fatigue that could last for months after the initial signs of illness. This is something my coaches and I feared would hinder my performance when I would return back to skiing. I was sick for a month and a half, and this was the biggest adversity I experienced the entire year. As I sat on the couch, I could feel my muscles slowly getting weaker and all the hard work I put in the summer had now diminished. Mentally, all I wanted to do was ski and it was unbearable to watch my team go to race after race without me. It reminded me of the things you take for granted until it’s gone. I have to admit, the month of February was an extremely difficult time for me (and not just because of the cold weather!)

When I got back to skiing, I was 10 pounds lighter but had an undying motivation to get back to skiing. I knew the month of March was jam-packed full of racing and I knew I had some major ground to make up. I only had about two weeks to prepare, and within that time I tried my best to get back to where I was at the start of the season.

The month of March had many downs, but consistent sparks of success. One good run here and there but just couldn’t put two together. After we came back from out East I was excited to race back in Alberta and hopefully have some good results on terrain that I felt comfortable on. I think that it was that mindset that set me up for Panorama Spring Series. I felt awesome on my GS skis, and even better on my SL skis. I was even able to sneak in a win on the first SL race. Finally! I felt back to where I was at the beginning of the season.

Now, what could go wrong right? Well, unfortunately, I sustained a tailbone injury the very next day, and it arguably ended my season. It was devastating for me, as I was so hopeful for the last couple races. But as I sit here and type this athlete journal with a sore butt, it reminds me of all the great moments I had. Yes, it wasn’t my best year, but everyone has “one of those seasons”. I realized I can’t dwell on the negatives, I need to look into the future and start planning for the positives. My coach Leslie told me that “ski racing is a grind, and you have to learn how to love the grind,” and this quote is something that stuck with me over these past couple months. Now it’s time to take a short break, finish school and get back to the grind 🙂

I would like to thank my sponsors Sporting Life, Western GMC Buick, Descente and Pro Sport Protection for all their support over this past year!

Cheers,

Tora Hoshizaki

In the least cliché way possible; that’s a wrap! This past weekend of racing at Nakiska concluded the FIS racing calendar in Alberta for the 2018-19 season. During this season we visited 4 countries, 6 states and provinces, 16 different ski resorts, raced 55 times, stood on the podium 77 times, flew and drove 1000s of kilometers and spent countless hours together. These hours included their fair share of ups and downs, laughs, frustrations, joys, nerves and the odd set of tears, both happy and sad. But in the end, as a team, we had a pretty awesome season. This was my first year with the team and I truly enjoyed working with all the staff and athletes at Alberta Alpine. The season saw a lot of personal bests and personal growth and created a lot of excitement for that the future holds. As mentioned in the most recent Alberta Ski Team Instagram post, there is a lot of depth in this group both in talent and in personality.  Everyone stood on the top step of a podium at least twice this season and contributed in their own way to making this one awesome group of athletes and I am very excited for next season.

Currently the team is on a bit of a break before we hit the slopes for a couple of spring camps at the end of April and beginning of May. During these camps we will be getting on snow in the mornings with the goal of getting high volume with some solid technical focus and ironing out some equipment set ups. The afternoons will involve some gym time and probably some mountain biking and other none skiing activities. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making this a great year: the volunteers and ROC at all the races, the parents, friends and family that put up with and support the crazy ups and downs and travel schedule of all the athletes and coaches, and the sponsors of the Alberta Ski Team, Western GMC, Descente, Sporting Life, Pro Sport Protection, Ski Big 3 and Nakiska for providing us with transportation, clothing, equipment, protection and training space. I hope everyone enjoys the warm spring weather and hopefully hot summer away from the cold and white landscape. See you all on the mountain bike trails soon!

Cheers,

Jonas

Hey everyone,

    As a long season comes to a close it’s important to look back on your year and learn from your failures and your successes. Through my reflection, I’ve decided this year for me was one of learning, and the steepest learning curve I faced was balance. Before every single race this year, Jonas, Darin or Leslie would radio up and tell me “you just need to be balanced over that outside ski and keep yourself grounded”. Being balanced and keeping my feet on the ground has not only been the key to my success in racing but also was a huge step forward I needed to take into every day of my life. Moving from New Brunswick to Alberta, at the ripe age of 16, to pursue my dream of being successful in skiing meant I would have to almost jump into adulthood head first, with no intentions of turning back. This year I had to learn to balance my last year of high school, my first year on a provincial ski team and on top of that learn to cook, clean, do rehab for lingering injuries and more. In balancing all of these things my life could get stressful but, with a tightly knit group of six athletes and three coaches that I consider to be my family, I had nine incredible people who always had my back with anything I needed. Whether it be someone like Angus to take care of me after I had my wisdom teeth taken out, Ashleigh’s shoulder to lean on when I was down or Drew, Tora or Claire to smile and laugh with through the some of the best times of our lives. I grew not only as an athlete but in every aspect of my life with the help of an incredible team that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

    This season started slow for me after surgery for a shattered clavicle and fractured humerus left me out for Mt. Hood and time in the gym. I felt behind and my lack of confidence caused me to struggle. Though the middle of my season wasn’t all bad, I was still missing my confidence. Just a few weeks ago I had a mental lowpoint in my career racing in Stoneham, Quebec. Darin told me that I had hit rock bottom, but also told me that I needed it to get back on top. I used my talk with Darin and my teammates successes to influence a change in my attitude. Again, somehow, this group of nine different personalities supported me to not only overcome my worst result but also become more confident because of it. After that turning point, I was able to fight with intensity and precision to finish my season strong. In my opinion, towards the end of the year was when everyone on the team finally figured out how to feed off of each other which allowed many of us to get career best results and turn some heads while doing it!

    This season was the best of my life for many reasons. It was my determination to succeed and the support of my teammates named Angus, Tora, Ashleigh, Claire, Andrew, Darin, Leslie and Jonas that allowed me to find balance on and off the ski hill that really takes the cake! Thank you everyone for making this year possible. I’d also like to thank Western GMC, Sporting Life, Descente, Pro Sport Protection for supporting the team along the way!

See you next year,
Caeden

Hi all:

Please read this important information from CSA. 

ATTACHMENT: 2019 Risk Management Update from CSA

Best Regards,

Vania

Vania Grandi | ALPINE CANADA ALPIN

President & CEO | Présidente et Chef de la Direction

So oddly enough it’s already March… and for myself and (I’d imagine) many of our athletes, I am starting to wonder where the last 4 months have gone? When I look back to what we’ve achieved as the AST its pretty remarkable, really. It’s been first and foremost, a steady stream of races since the end of November, with some massive highs and plunging lows. It’s been dreadfully cold for what feels like months, and can’t warm up fast enough! We’ve come together as a team and had some remarkable days together that may never be repeated. For instance, Ash, Claire and I had 2 of the best powder days of my entire existence down in Jackson. Where we had almost 3 ft of snow in 2 days. Seriously, unexplainable. Less than a week later I watched the sunset over Vancouver/ Pacific Ocean from the top of Grouse Mountain during a night training session. Only to be followed up by a Sunrise the very next morning. I asked a local, ‘how often do you get this?’ his response, ‘ohhhh like never’. It’s these moments that for me, I look back and say, ‘This is honestly the best. I can’t imagine a better way to live.’

As a coach, and if you know me personally, you know that I am a big believer in making the most of every opportunity and experience. I’m often the one to push an athlete farther than they think they are capable and in the next breath suggesting we go axe throwing ‘cause it looks like a neat experience’ HA! – it’s all about balance. I think it’s so easy for us in the ‘ski world’ to get wrapped up in results and scoring this, penalty that, but the athletes and humans we’re shaping is the most important part.

Don’t get me wrong now, I dedicate my whole life to right and left turns, blue and red gates, and lord knows I take it pretty seriously. But I think we all need reminders of why we’re here. I try to really find a balance between zooming in and zooming out on how I coach. Zoom in might refer to the specifics of a turn, alignment on a boot, or the success of a particular training session. Zoom out and you might see a season, ups and downs, tears of joy and those of devastation. Zoom out even more and we see a ski career as a whole. Career highs, injuries, memorable trips and unforgettable teammates – again, it’s all about balance.

Currently, I’m sitting in a motel room in Stowe Vermont having a good ‘ol think about the season so far. We are entering what is arguably the biggest push of our season on half full tanks of gas. We are beginning close to 5 weeks straight of racing/traveling for our athletes and coaches. Where there will evidently be more highs and lows, success and failure, tears of joy and those of devastation. The biggest challenge for us as coaches in the next few weeks is to ‘read the play’. Know when to push and know when to let off. In one sense, you want to push athletes all the time, but sometimes all they need is a good cry and hug. – it’s all about balance

So before I zoom back in for tomorrow’s NorAm, I recently had a chat with an athlete trying to process their enjoyment for the sport. We concluded together, that to race well (for the most part), an athlete needs to be in a state of happiness. However, happiness is usually determined by racing well. It is a classic, chicken or the egg scenario.

I’m very much looking forward to the next few weeks. Our schedule is as follows: we reunite as a team in Mont Edouard – northern Quebec for National Champs. Following this is an Eastern spring series, a plane ride, then western spring series, and finally a Nakiska series. I’m looking forward to seeing evidence of our athlete’s progress this season both on and off snow. There will likely be a great deal of learning and growth in a variety of formats. As coaches we support our athletes through the ups and downs, the happy and sad tears. We often feel it all with them. We just need to remind ourselves that…

 ….this is good. This is balance.

Hello all! It has been a busy and cold one recently. Ever since the new year kicked around, I have found myself racing non stop, which comes with a lot of ups and downs. In early January, Tora and I met Leslie out in Collingwood where we had a week of NORAM racing. Tora and I both had our glory moments, our grappling moments, as well as our eye opening moments. Once those were over, Leslie and I dropped Tora off at the airport as she needed to go back to studying the books, before we took a road trip to Quebec where I raced another week. As I slowly got over a sickness I was battling, results started to show.

After a frigid, wonderful week in Quebec we jumped on a plane to go back west. I got home early morning of the 16th, and raced Lake Louise from the 17th-20th. All I can say is that, yes being busy is draining, but when you’re doing what you love you never want to stop being on that ‘go go go’ program.

(Photo by: Mikey Stevenson Photography)

Before leaving to Jackson, Wyoming for another NORAM week on February 1st, we had 10 days for some training and down time at home. Unfortunately, during this time, Tora caught a bug so she couldn’t join Ashleigh, Leslie, and I down in Jackson. Down in the states, we had an amazing slalom training day and a few of the best powder days of our lives before racing got started. I was going into those NORAM races coming off one of my best days of slalom training, and I couldn’t have been more hungry to charge. However, when racing came around it was a completely different story. When I couldn’t perform as I wanted, I was frustrated. For some they strived and boogied, but for myself, I struggled that week. Despite not achieving what I hoped down in Jackson, AST walked away with some things to be proud of; one being that Ashleigh tied for 1st on a GS NORAM run which resulted in her best score ever (woohoo!!).

Shortly after we got home we headed to the west coast for the classic grouse and whistler races, where we earned a lot of hardware as a team, overcame some fears, and ingested probably way to many Chic Pea cinnamon buns (mmh). I picked up not only my first win of the season but my first GS win since u12, so I came home on a high note.

When we got home, I finally had some time off after a hectic but enjoyable 7 weeks of racing. We began skiing again at the beginning of this week at Nakiska, where we were lucky enough to train and watch some of our upcoming Albertan stars in the Canada Winter Games. It should also be mentioned that it was also super nice to have Tora back on the slopes with us after a tough sickness that kept her in bed for 4 weeks.

In the upcoming months, the team will split ways again, going in three different directions with some to vail, some to red, and some to NORAM finals, before being back as a team in northern Quebec for Canadian National Championships! Afterwards we go to Eastern Spring Series and then Western Spring Series before our final race at Nakiska to finish the 2018/2019 season…. Where did the season go???? Seems like it went by in a flash.

Also shoutout to Rob McCloskey, who has been working non-stop to help Alberta Alpine reach full potential. This includes applying for the Parks Foundation Calgary Grant, on behalf of AASA & 14 other Calgary-based member ski clubs, that awarded us with $150,000 and some Flames tickets to help us reach our goals. (Please go check out to see what they do:  https://www.parksfdn.com ). And too Gavin Preziosi, who has been in the forefront of putting on an awesome three days of racing at Nakiska Ski Resort for the Red Deer 2019 Canada Winter Games where U16 racers go head to head. Team Alberta had many podium results in all 3 disciplines.

Anyways, goodbye for now! Enjoy the snow while it lasts (can’t believe it is already March) Lets pray for some warmer weather !!!!!

Cheers,

Claire

Hey everyone!! Welcome to my second Athlete journal as a part of the team.

Over the last couple weeks the team split up with the boys going to Kimberley Mountain Resort,  to race the Dreadnaught speed series and a night slalom. The girls headed down south of the border to Snow King, Jackson, to ski in some NorAm teck races, with the exception of Tora who has been recovering from illness.

The girls success came, with Ashleigh, scoring a career-best FIS result in GS and finishing in 17th . Then, Claire backing it up the following day with a 16th place finish. The girls were able to come home with some NorAm top 20s,  in a very strong field of racers. It also, snowed like crazy while they were down there, and the girls got some serious powder turns, in the legendary Tetons.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”4″ display=”basic_thumbnail”]Meanwhile, the boys also had some great success,  with Andrew and myself both taking our very first fis wins! Mine was in the Night Slalom and Andrew’s in the Super G. Caeden brought home some hardware, third in the Night slalom, third in a Super G and a plethora of U-19 Medals of all colors. This was our biggest medal haul so far this season,  with 2 gold 4 silver and 3 bronze. We gained valuable experience and miles on our Super G and Downhill skis!

Up next for the Team, we have a couple slalom races in Grouse and some GS and Super G races in Whistler. It has been an excellent couple of weeks.  I look forward to having the full team back together for these upcoming races!

I would also like to Thank our sponsors for helping us out along the way it wouldn’t be possible without you guys! So thank you Sporting Life Canada, Western GMC Buick, Ortema/pro sport protection, Descente international, and Ski Big 3!

Thanks everyone.

  – Angus

After a hectic Nov/Dec racing schedule the Alberta Ski Team has been enjoying some high quality local training and racing in January.  The first couple weeks saw the majority of the ski team training locally at Nakiska, C.O.P., Lake Louise and Norquay.  We are so blessed here in Alberta to have so many high quality training venues and I would like to take the time to acknowledge the support of our local club coaches, program directors and ski area managers.  The Alberta Ski Team has taken the initiative to vary it’s training locations and to try and work with local FIS teams as much as possible and these clubs and ski areas have been great in accommodating that.

The racing season has been a mixture of successes and setbacks, as is normal in any sport endeavor.  As athletes and coaches we all want to perform our best at every opportunity, but in reality our plans don’t always go accordingly.  For the second year in a row Ashleigh Alexander sustained an injury early in the year.  Ashleigh took some time off over the Christmas break to recover, then slowly and methodically trained to get back to a confident level of skiing to be race ready.  This culminated with back to back victories at Lake Louise in the GS races last week.

After another 5 day training block the Alberta Ski Team is looking forward to the next series of races in Western North America.  These races will be a good mid season prep before travelling east for the National Championships, our largest event of the season.  I look forward to seeing our committed athletes achieve their potential in these series.  From Leslie, Jonas and I, as well as all the AST athletes I would like to thank you for your encouragement and support and please feel free to stop and say hello on the hill and even jump in for a lap on our course!

Darin McBeath

Alberta Alpine is dedicated to providing Alberta’s racing families the best environment for our athletes from U4 to FIS.

Over the years, Alberta Alpine’s professional management team and board of directors has produced a series of policies that represent the best practices in the sports industry.
 
Please take the time to refer to these policies and familiarize you and your athlete with the policies designed to ensure a safe and fun environment for your athlete and family.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Alberta Alpine or a member of the Board.

LINK TO AASA POLICIES

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone had a great time with your loved ones during the Christmas holidays and are now recovering from all the turkey dinners and festivities.  As we approach the New Year, our girl’s team will be heading out east to compete at NorAms. Unfortunately, I will not be joining them due to a crash in Panorama that left me with a concussion and a partially separated shoulder. I have been cleared of my concussion and am slowly getting back to 100% with my shoulder.  I want to say thank you to all my coaches (Darin, Leslie & Jonas), Rob McCloskey, Gavin Preziosi and the Gray family for being such a huge support and helping me while I was in Panorama following my injury. I also want to mention my teammate Claire Timmermann, who amongst all the craziness of racing, was a true teammate by taking care of me for the first few days after my crash and pulling out her first NorAm Junior podium on her 18^th birthday! Super proud of her!

I hope you all have a great New Year and I hope to see you guys on the slopes! I also wanted to thank our sponsors, Western GMC, Sporting life, and Bruce Legree with Descente for the continuous support! I would also like to thank my personal sponsors Bliz and Rossignol for keeping me safe, helping me ski fast and making sure I always look good!

– Ashleigh

Upcoming AST Women’s Races:

• Jan 2-3 @ Georgian Peaks (2x GS)
• Jan 4-5 @ Osler Bluff (2x SL)