Katie Tsuyuki - The Whole Story

Katie Tsuyuki comes from a stable, loving family. Her parents have been married for thirty three years and have been running a successful family business together for thirty years of the fifty-seven years the business has been operating. Gary Tsuyuki, her father, is a second generation Japanese Canadian and her mother, Cheryl, comes from a French Canadian background giving their family a unique style and outlook. Her parents are competitive in dragon boating, and both her brother and sister-in-law were National Wakeboarding Champions several times respectively. Katie’s older brother, Dave, and her sister-in-law Tiffany, have recently made her an aunt. This family model has had enormous influence in making Katie the goal oriented, energetic and positive person she is.

Katie shares their love of sport and has participated in numerous competitive activities. She has experience in both traditional and extreme sports. For eight years Katie swam competitively with the Pickering Swim Club, after which she joined the Pickering Aerials Gymnastic Club for two. During the summers Katie was entered in wakeboarding events and in 2001 she was the Junior National Champion. The structure and discipline from her experiences in more conventional sports, as well as the freedom and creativity of the less conventional sports that Katie has engaged in, have combined to make her a well rounded athlete.

Rosseau Lake College, a boarding school oriented towards the outdoors, was Katie’s home for five years. She was a highly decorated student both academically and athletically. Here her appreciation for the environment and natural world, accompanied by a true enjoyment of outdoor activity bloomed. It was also where she learned independence, self-reliance and gained a sense of competence which has helped give Katie the confidence to know she can achieve her goals. Katie’s snowboarding interest started at Rosseau, and her first freestyle competition was as a representative of her school. This was where Katie found the discipline she loved, halfpipe snowboarding.

In 2003 Katie began to compete in halfpipe events in Ontario. Being serious about the goals she had set, Katie realized she needed to relocate in order to surround herself with a higher level of competition against more skilled athletes. British Columbia could provide not only that, but also the terrain that would help to propel Katie to the next level. She has made herself at home in Squamish, participating in community Canada Day events, and attending local activities such as the Squamish Days Logging Festival. Katie has worked coaching intermediate to advanced snowboarders through Whistler Pro-Ride and Glacier Summer Snowboard Camp.

By 2005 Katie was a part of the B.C. Provincial team, working under Coach Andrew George, and in 2006 was British Columbia’s Provincial Champion, as well as the Canadian National Champion. In the summer of 2006 Katie achieved National Team status. Katie stayed with the Canadian team up to and through the 2010 Olympics where she was an alternate for team Canada and a forerunner in the Olympic Women’s Halfpipe event at Cypress Mountain in Vancouver, BC.  After the 2010 Olympics she started being coached by Focus Elite’s owner and head coach Roberto Marfia. Katie now competes in World Cups, and five to six star TTR events like the Winter Dew Tour Series and the Burton Global Open Series.  

When she is not training on the snow, she continues to work towards her goals through cross-training sports such as spring board diving, trampoline, wakesurfing, and skateboarding. Her weight training and conditioning programs are written by Athletic Training Professionals from Toronto, Canada.

Katie’s forethought and ambitious nature have resulted in her setting both short and long term career goals. Current goals include competing at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia and to place in the top five. She has also targeted a World Cup Crystal Globe, which is awarded to the athlete who leads the tour for the season. Once her athletic goals are achieved, Katie would like to become a triple threat elite snowboarding coach with her collection of snowboarding, health and fitness accreditations.   Her beliefs in loyalty, both personally and professionally, authenticity, strong work ethic and dedication to self and sport will make all of these goals a reality.