Shredding for Gold

Hello again, I hope you are finding your own adventures.

We were on schedule to release a new episode as promised on November 28th.

However, the user license on the screen reading software I use expired.

Thankfully, I am finally back online. Because I feel really bad about not bringing you Emily’s excellent podcast on schedule.

This episode is about the end of pre-race training and the beginning of training and competition.

You can hear how excited Emily is to take advantage of all the chemistry her and her team built up last year now that many of the Covid restrictions have been repealed and they can spend much more time on the mountains.

And she reminds us of the wonderful support she will be receiving from Torque Snowbords This year.

I look forward to the promised interview with the folks from Torque later this year.

But I want you to do me a favor. I want you to check out a few of Emily’s past episodes.

Because I’m noticing a new confidence to her voice on her podcast that wasn’t there even just a few episodes ago.

After she brings us up to date, she explains the importance of working with her team to establish their goals for the year.

Their biggest goal being to build upon experience from last year and come up with workable voice commands to help Emily be successful on the mountain.

I love hearing the excitement in her voice when she talks about finally finding something that works.

As a website developer and accessibility advisor I know that feeling of having a big breakthrough all too well.

I had a big smile on my face as I imagine you will.

Sadly, she couldn’t include audio of that in this episode.

This is because at least for now she doesn’t have a good way to properly describe them in a voice over.

She will be posting those videos on her social media accounts, so please be sure to follow her using the links at the bottom of this post.

And we will get the audios posted as soon as she figures out how to get them done.

Emily is so stoked by her discovery that she comes back to it.

I think her description is pretty solid, and I’m not a snowboarder at all.

It seems the breakthrough came because she was able to spend more time with her team on the snow.

That allows her to feel the shapes and sizes of the turns along with the commands they were working on.

As Emily says discovering thi turn language is not only big for her but a huge step forward for the sport of blind downhill snowboarding.

And as she reminded us in the beginning Emily’s goals are beyond just winning gold medals herself.

She talked about working on other types of turning.

Then she discusses the change in the podcast to biweekly.

Which I, as her producer, am very thankful for.

She mentions her gratitude for lots of new snow on the mountains.

And before closing she mentioned some of the types of guests you can expect in the near future.

We do want to hear from you about how we are doing with the show.

Are there questions your have, or are there subjects you want her to cover?

You can now also leave comments right here on the blog as well as leaving a rating or review on Apple.

You can follow Emily on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

I am so proud of Emily, and so excited for what the future holds for my amazing friend.

Guess I better start planning my trip to Italy in 2026 to be there when she steps down from the podium.

Until next time me, Emily, Isaac, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support.

Adventure Ahead!

Hello again friends, I hope your week is getting off to a great start.

Whether you have been following Emily’s progress for a while, or you are brand new to her podcast; you are going to love hearing about her journey towards winning Gold in the Paralympics for downhill snowboard racing.

This episode is the first of her second season.

And we are starting it off with a huge announcement.

Torque Snowboards

Has decided to fully fund Emily and her team!

You can hear the excitement and gratitude in her voice.

She talks about how expensive it has gotten to continue chasing her dream of winning gold in the Paralympics, and how those costs have gone up every year.

Listen as she describes all the things Torque is going to do for her and her team both on and off of the mountains.

I also love the little peak she gives you into the process of meeting the people from Torque and having them decide to sponsor her.

I’m very proud of having done my small part to help get the conversation started that lead to this huge event in the life of an athlete like my friend Emily.

As she said this is the kind of opportunity that every independent athlete is hoping for and working towards.

Be sure and follow her on social media to check out the previous posts about Torque.

That is also where you will be notified of future publicity events. Such as the big unboxing of new gear and clothes that Emily mentioned on the show.

I do have one question.

Hello again, As Emily’s producer we hope that you are all doing as well as possible given all the challenges the world is facing right now.

So, here we are with episode 18. It follows a summer break from Emily’s position as a para-educator assistant. It also follows some much needed time at home with her family.

First, I want to tell you that I am loving how Emily is playing around with the intro to her podcast.

The combination of the race start sounds and some strong rap music sounds really good.

She shares about how the end of the school year always brings on lots of craziness because the kids are experiencing the eagerness for the year to be over so they can go on vacation.

She pondered how this happens every year but is still a surprise.

She talked about how she also trained hard while working hard with her school kids.

And then Emily mentions about her vacation.

She shared about spending some of her time visiting relatives in Calgary that she hadn’t seen for a while. And then she gushes over her first visit to the Calgary Stamped.

Which as a Texan it pains me to admit that based on the number of days the Stamped is the biggest event of its kind in the world.

She apologized for being gone and promised y’all lots of great new podcast content soon.

She doesn’t have anything to apologize for as it was my fault that you didn’t receive more posts.

She recorded interviews on other people’s shows, and she sent me this audio about three weeks ago.

I’m so looking forward to being able to continue helping Emily grow her audience and get closer to those Paralympic Gold Medals.

Emily shared about the financial challenges of covering the ever increasing costs of training as an athlete.

She wanted to give thanks to the local companies and organizations who sponsored her in the early days.

Including her second home during the training season Boler Mountain.

She credits their support in the form of access to the mountain as being critical to her development as a snowboarder.

Another one of her early sponsors was the Purple Moose Sock Co.

They provided here with cool socks to try on. And warm socks are pretty important to winter sport athletes. They also provided Emily with compression socks which help an athlete recover from strenuous training more quickly.

Emily continues to wear their socks, and since she has known them; they started producing socks made exclusively in Canada.

And there was All Bout Cheese.

They provided financial support to Emily. According to their website they are they are London Ontario’s premier artisan cheese shop.

Emily teased the sponsor review again mentioning that this will be a game changer.

The sponsor will be providing snowboards, clothes, travel costs, and even help with her social media accounts.

Since she sent this recording to me, she has announced the name of the company and posted the photo shoot.

But I have decided not to review that here. Instead I will write a post very soon with all the details.

She then shared some of her future training plans. Including long board skateboarding, stand-up paddle boarding, solo kayaking, and more.

I love how she realizes that her fans might be concerned for her, so she mentioned the list of safety equipment she has purchased to allow her to train safely.

She has also promised us some more interviews very soon. I can’t wait because I always learn just as much as y’all do.

Me and Emily truly do want to hear from you. We want to hear your opinions and suggestions so we can make the show better.

You can follow Emily on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support.

Adventure Ahead!

Emily and I are so happy to share the latest happenings with you through the podcast.

The episode starts out with her new intro music which I love.

It reminds me of the start of ski races I’ve seen on TV during the Olympics and Paralympics.

I can just picture Emily flying down the hill with a big smile on her face headed towards that first gold medal.

Then she recaps the podcast and shares the teamstarfish.ca website.

Then about 7:00 minutes in she gets to the good stuff.

She explains how moving from Ontario to Vancouver brought her to the attention of Canadian Alpine Snowboarding.

She talks about how this has lead to new opportunities including training with coaches from Team Canada.

She then explained that these coaches didn’t join her right away due to the fact that Emily is working with a new team of guides of her own.

The Team Canada coach would join them after they had worked together fora few weeks.

Knowing the new coach was coming made Emily nervous, but she explains how that is a good thing.

As she tells the story you can feel the variety of emotions in her voice. Which shows just how much she wants to succeed.

She talks about having to have multiple game plans to deal with a variety of snow conditions and levels of visibility.

She shared about how having the additional coaches could look at their methods objectively and make suggestions if necessary.

The new race coach told Emily that he was really impressed with the way she rides down the mountain. And that obviously made her happy.

She talks about discovering the coach was local and how that would lead to more opportunities to learn.

And then she talked about how many opportunities for snowboarding, training, racing, etc in the Vancouver area.

Which is a validation of what she thought when deciding to move cross country in the first place.

She teased some big announcements. And just like Emily I can’t wait until we are able to share the great exciting news with you.

That’s it for today’s episode of SFG.

Me and Emily would really love to hear from you. Your comments or messages are how we make the show better.

We would also love it if you left a rating and review on the podcast.

You can connect with Emily through Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support.

Adventure Ahead!

Hello again, We hope you have had a good weekend.

I am happy to tell you that Emily has a brand new episode of her show for you this week.

As a world-class Paralympic athlete sometimes her training or racing schedules will get in the way of the podcast.

We do our best to avoid that because we know you count on hearing about Emily’s continuing journey to that Gold Medal podium.

But sometimes it is just unavoidable. We appreciate your understanding.

This show is dedicated to her mom and all the other athletes moms in honor of Mother’s day.

She talks about the importance of her mom both in the beginning of her athlete’s journey and more so today.

She talks about how her mom discovered the problem with her vision even before the doctors did.

She shares about how her family, especially her mom, always told her that they would support her in going after her dreams.

You will hear her talk about playing basketball in elementary school.

She shares some great memories about her time on that team and the support she received from her parents especially her mom.

With the help of her mom she learned at an early age that with hard work and determination anything is possible.

She shares how that lesson is helping her today with her goal of getting blind snowboarding added to the Paralympics and becoming its first Gold Medal winner.

You can hear the love when she mentions how her mom and sister are supporting her efforts by raising money for her travel and training through the sale of home made crafts with the Team Starfish name on them.

You can find them at Facebook.com/teamstarfishcrafts

They have some usual items like kids sweaters, shawls, and a variety of hats.

But the coolest item, one I am truly jealous of, is a Emily mini me.

It is a blind snowboarder with snowboard and all. It does sound really cool. I am going to have to buy one for my desk.

Besides all the work her mom, sis, and their friends do to crochet items to sell in support of team Starfish, they also used to host chili or spaghetti dinners.

She is so grateful to continue to receive so much love and support from her mom even though they live thousands of miles apart now.

And she promised to have her mom on the podcast sometime soon. So you can learn from her mom’s experience raising a visually impaired child.

And maybe her mom will share a few enlightening or embarrassing stories about Emily?

Hello again; This week Emily is going to share more about the relationship between her and her coaches.

She talked about how critical a good relationship is and how much her and her team work on their communication.

She played the audio from a video of a recent practice session.

And she explains what all the terminology means that her and her coaches are using.

She also explained how they worked together to come up with words to communicate upcoming conditions and how Emily is supposed to respond.

The truth is that her guides are her eyes on the hills and mountains.

They have to communicate seamlessly to keep Emily safe and to allow her to perform at her best.

But all this work will hopefully pay off in those Paralympic gold medals Emily is chasing.

She has promised to interview her guide Isaac in the next episode of the show

So, stay tuned for that conversation next week.

Me and Emily truly do want to hear from you. We want to hear your opinions and suggestions so we can make the show better.

You can follow Emily on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support.

Adventure Ahead!

Hello again; Emily is a very happy woman these days with all the actual training she has been able to get in.

You heard it in last weeks episode. And it seeps into her words in this episode too.

She talks about the differences between hill shredding and mountain shredding.

I think it’s important to know that Emily moved from Ontario to Vancouver so she would have more opportunities to train on the types of courses and in the variety of conditions she would face in the Paralympics.

Me and Emily truly do want to hear from you. We want to hear your opinions and suggestions so we can make the show better.

You can follow Emily on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support. Adventure Ahead!

Hello again; We hope you had a great weekend.

This week Emily is excited to share her first week on actual snow in over two years.

You can hear the excitement in her voice as she describes that whole week.

She talks about being so excited that she started packing several days early.

She talks about reconnecting with an early sponsor from purplemoosesocks.ca

She talks about meeting her new team who would be responsible for her safety as she flies down the mountains.

So we want to welcome Isaac, Nicole, and James to the Team Starfish family.

She took us through her weekend including arrival, traveling to the hills, and meeting and practicing with her new team.

It’s interesting to me at least to realize that even though she is a highly skilled athlete that she began her first weekend in a while by starting on the smallest hill.

I also found it interesting to hear her discussion about the quality of the snow and how it can effect the rider.

She didn’t mention it here, but I know from being her friend that the lighter snows that she used to train on in Ontario actually helped her last week.

Shredding on less-than-perfect powder has made her a better racer.

Near the end she played some audio from her and her coaches working together.

You can hear them calling out numbers which she explains.

It sounds like she had an amazing first weekend shredding those hills.

Me and Emily truly do want to hear from you. We want to hear your opinions and suggestions so we can make the show better.

You can follow Emily on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support. Take care now,

Hello again; This time Emily shares some of the emotional roller coaster that is being an athlete during Covid.

She not only talks about a recent minor setback, but how she handled it.

She shares techniques for dealing with your own struggles be they personal or professional.

And she is honest about her feelings concerning losing last year’s race season to Covid.

You will come away encouraged and inspired.

Just wish more people had the courage to share like Emily has.

Emily mentions having been a guest on several podcasts. And you can expect future posts about those inspiring and entertaining interviews in future posts.

But for now, here are the links.

We were both on Radio outlook with our friends Kerry and Kijewski.

Emily knew The Kijewskis from a past summer camp.

I met Kerry through her website and in person when we both spoke at an event called Disability Insights hosted by another friend Amy Bovaird.

She also appeared on I Can’t CU with David Goldstein and the Relaxed Dog Podcast. Where Darling was also the featured guest.

Me and Emily truly do want to want to hear from you. We want to hear your opinions and suggestions so we can make the show better.

You can follow Emily on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram.

You can also send her an email.

If you have questions about the network, please email me here.

We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry.

We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support.

Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support. Take care now,

Hello again;

This time Emily shares with you about the frustration of last year’s lost season.

And her excitement for the upcoming race season.

She also talks about how she spent some of her time off during the holidays.

I got hungry just listening to her.

This time Emily is sharing about the types of activities she goes through to prepare for the race season. She has also been rehabilitating a wrist injury. And this year was going to be especially strenuous anyway due to her not being able to get out on the hills last year at all due to Covid.

This time Emily tells us more about her wonderful partner and guide dog Darling. She gives us a history lesson, and tells us a lot about the training and selection methods. She explains what they are capable of and dispell myths about guide dogs. I don’t know about you, but as a dog lover myself I’d love to hear more about Darling. I’d love a funny story or two. Be sure to let Emily know if you agree with me. And we do want to hear your questions and suggestions. And please rate, review, and share the show with your friends. You can on Face Book at  https://www.facebook.com/blindboarder2007 Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/starfishrd2018  or Instagram at https://instagram.com/starfishrd2paralympics  You can also send her an email at trepanieremily@yahoo.com    If you have questions about the network, please email me at justask@theblindblogger.net  We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry. We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support. https://www.blubrry.com Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support. Take care now, 

This time Emily tells us more about her wonderful partner and guide dog Darling. She gives us a history lesson, and tells us a lot about the training and selection methods. She explains what they are capable of and dispell myths about guide dogs. I don’t know about you, but as a dog lover myself I’d love to hear more about Darling. I’d love a funny story or two. Be sure to let Emily know if you agree with me. And we do want to hear your questions and suggestions. And please rate, review, and share the show with your friends. You can on Face Book at  https://www.facebook.com/blindboarder2007 Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/starfishrd2018  or Instagram at https://instagram.com/starfishrd2paralympics  You can also send her an email at trepanieremily@yahoo.com    If you have questions about the network, please email me at justask@theblindblogger.net  We want to thank our generous sponsors at Blubrry. We couldn’t do this without their financial and technical support. https://www.blubrry.com Until next time me, Emily, and Darling want to thank you for your continued support. Take care now, 

This time Emily is sharing what I’m calling the guide dog song. It’s an original composition. I love how the lyrics tell you so much about guide dogs, emily’s dog Darling, and their relationship. Next week, we will have episode 009 where Emily will tell you so much more about guide dogs, their history, their training, etc. Please do check out her past shows. And it would help us out a lot if you would leave a rating or review and share with your friends. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for Emily; you can write her at trepanieremily@yahoo.com If you have questions about the network, then you can email me at justask@theblindblogger.net Once again we have to thank our wonderful sponsors at https://www.blubrry for all their help. Please stay safe out there. Thanks a lot from Me, Emily, and Darling,

This time Emily is sharing what I’m calling the guide dog song. It’s an original composition. I love how the lyrics tell you so much about guide dogs, emily’s dog Darling, and their relationship. Next week, we will have episode 009 where Emily will tell you so much more about guide dogs, their history, their training, etc. Please do check out her past shows. And it would help us out a lot if you would leave a rating or review and share with your friends. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for Emily; you can write her at trepanieremily@yahoo.com If you have questions about the network, then you can email me at justask@theblindblogger.net Once again we have to thank our wonderful sponsors at https://www.blubrry for all their help. Please stay safe out there. Thanks a lot from Me, Emily, and Darling,

This time Emily sits down with another of her hill coaches John Killough. One thing that producing her podcast is teaching me is that it takes so many different people to train an olympic quality athlete. I’m also struck by how normal Emily’s childhood was. It’s also cool learning about Emily as a kid. I was surprised to hear about how John learned to understand how to guide a blind snowboarder down the hill. I love how he credits Emily with helping him to think more creatively and be more open to asking for help. And you can hear the pride he has in Emily both for her past accomplishments and for the goals Emily still has in front of her. Below please find some of the links mentioned. Boler Mountain https://www.bolermountain.com London Track 3 program https://www.londontrack3.ca CADS https://www.cads.ski Just like with snowboarding me and Emily are still learning a lot about being podcasters. So, we would love any suggestions you have that will make the show better. You can find Emily at https://m.facebook.com/teamstarfishroadtoparalympics https://twitter.com/starfishrd2018 or https://instagram.com/starfishrd2paralympics And you can email her at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca If you have questions about the network, wish to sponsor us, or would like to start your own podcast; then please reach out to me at justask@theblindblogger.net And me Emily and yes even Darling want y’all to know how much we appreciate our support from the team at https://www.blubrry.com We couldn’t keep doing this without their financial and technical support. Thanks to everyone including you for listening. Please don’t forget to rate, review, and share. Take care now,

This time Emily sits down with another of her hill coaches John Killough. One thing that producing her podcast is teaching me is that it takes so many different people to train an olympic quality athlete. I’m also struck by how normal Emily’s childhood was. It’s also cool learning about Emily as a kid. I was surprised to hear about how John learned to understand how to guide a blind snowboarder down the hill. I love how he credits Emily with helping him to think more creatively and be more open to asking for help. And you can hear the pride he has in Emily both for her past accomplishments and for the goals Emily still has in front of her. Below please find some of the links mentioned. Boler Mountain https://www.bolermountain.com London Track 3 program https://www.londontrack3.ca CADS https://www.cads.ski Just like with snowboarding me and Emily are still learning a lot about being podcasters. So, we would love any suggestions you have that will make the show better. You can find Emily at https://m.facebook.com/teamstarfishroadtoparalympics https://twitter.com/starfishrd2018 or https://instagram.com/starfishrd2paralympics And you can email her at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca If you have questions about the network, wish to sponsor us, or would like to start your own podcast; then please reach out to me at justask@theblindblogger.net And me Emily and yes even Darling want y’all to know how much we appreciate our support from the team at https://www.blubrry.com We couldn’t keep doing this without their financial and technical support. Thanks to everyone including you for listening. Please don’t forget to rate, review, and share. Take care now,

This time Emily sits down with one of her early hill coaches Issac Rigby. I love how he, his brother, and so many other Canadians seem to have a desire to volunteer their time and talents to help others. Emily’s team of coaches, mentors, and fellow athletes rivals my own collection of people who have been and continue to be part of my story. I also love how Issac talked about how working with Emily and other athletes with varied needs has made him a better coach and even a better communicator. Emily and Issac mentioned using the Sno wing as part of their training. Here are a couple of links where you can learn more about it. https://youtu.be/mxMDzpTSs9I this is a video of it in action

https://patient-innovation.com/post/1712

https://www.disabledwintersport.com.au/programs-services/equipment London And Track 3 is the organization that offers ski and snowboard instruction to people with disabilities in Canada. https://www.londontrack3.ca We hope you are enjoying these conversations. If you are, please rate, review, and share them. And Emily would love to hear from you. She wants this to be the best show possible, and would appreciate your questions, comments, or guest suggestions. You can email her at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca If you have questions about the WYE Network, or perhaps you would like some help starting your own show; then please reach out to me at justask@theblindblogger.net We want to once again thank our generous sponsors at https://www.blubrry.com for their continued financial and technical support. And I want to thank Emily for having the courage to put her trust in me on this adventure. Me, Emily and Darling wish y’all all the best,

This time Emily sits down with one of her early hill coaches Issac Rigby. I love how he, his brother, and so many other Canadians seem to have a desire to volunteer their time and talents to help others. Emily’s team of coaches, mentors, and fellow athletes rivals my own collection of people who have been and continue to be part of my story. I also love how Issac talked about how working with Emily and other athletes with varied needs has made him a better coach and even a better communicator. Emily and Issac mentioned using the Sno wing as part of their training. Here are a couple of links where you can learn more about it. https://youtu.be/mxMDzpTSs9I this is a video of it in action

https://patient-innovation.com/post/1712

https://www.disabledwintersport.com.au/programs-services/equipment London And Track 3 is the organization that offers ski and snowboard instruction to people with disabilities in Canada. https://www.londontrack3.ca We hope you are enjoying these conversations. If you are, please rate, review, and share them. And Emily would love to hear from you. She wants this to be the best show possible, and would appreciate your questions, comments, or guest suggestions. You can email her at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca If you have questions about the WYE Network, or perhaps you would like some help starting your own show; then please reach out to me at justask@theblindblogger.net We want to once again thank our generous sponsors at https://www.blubrry.com for their continued financial and technical support. And I want to thank Emily for having the courage to put her trust in me on this adventure. Me, Emily and Darling wish y’all all the best,

Emily recounts the various methods that were used to teach her how to snowboard. She also talks about the adaptations they made along the way. She does a great job of explaining the progression from being lead by a tether to being instructed over a radio headset. I also loves how she applies simple options like her reflective vests and bear bells. And as always she shows gratitude to the people and companies who have helped her along the way. Like RUSEEN Reflective Appeal, https://www.ruseen.com UCLear helmet headsets, https://www.ucleardigital.com and and her favorite snowboard company. https://www.burton.com/ca/en/home And we both want to thank the great people at https://www.blubrry.com for their continued financial and technical support. Please rate & review the episode, and share the podcast with your friends. Please email Emily with any questions or suggestions to trepanieremily@yahoo.ca If you have questions about the WYE Network, or if you yourself would like some help launching your own podcast; then please email me at justask@theblindblogger.net We truly appreciate your support. Thanks so much from Max, Emily, and Darling

Emily recounts the various methods that were used to teach her how to snowboard. She also talks about the adaptations they made along the way. She does a great job of explaining the progression from being lead by a tether to being instructed over a radio headset. I also loves how she applies simple options like her reflective vests and bear bells. And as always she shows gratitude to the people and companies who have helped her along the way. Like RUSEEN Reflective Appeal, https://www.ruseen.com UCLear helmet headsets, https://www.ucleardigital.com and and her favorite snowboard company. https://www.burton.com/ca/en/home And we both want to thank the great people at https://www.blubrry.com for their continued financial and technical support. Please rate & review the episode, and share the podcast with your friends. Please email Emily with any questions or suggestions to trepanieremily@yahoo.ca If you have questions about the WYE Network, or if you yourself would like some help launching your own podcast; then please email me at justask@theblindblogger.net We truly appreciate your support. Thanks so much from Max, Emily, and Darling

This time Emily takes inspiration from two Canadian holidays to give thanks for the many amazing coaches who have been part of her journey and who continue to help her chase her dream of paralympic gold. First, Canada hosts a coaches appreciation week the third week of September to encourage athletes of all ages and abilities to show their gratitude to the impact their coaches have had on their lives. And then last week Canada celebrated it's thanksgiving holiday. I've always been impressed with how quickly Emily is to show gratitude to everyone who comes into her life and has an effect on her. While listening to all the names and their various fields of expertise, I was reminded just how much work goes into developing a serious athlete like Emily. She also talked about this being the anniversary of her joining the Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports Blue Streak race team. https://vass.ca/race-program She talks about last year and how they managed with Covid restrictions. She shares her hopes and aspirations for the upcoming season. And I can't wait to hear of her future adventures. I appreciate the opportunity to help Emily share her story. I do hope you will rate, review, and share this episode with your friends and family. Please do follow Emily on Face Book http://facebook.com/teamstarfishroadtoparalympics and Twitter https://twitter.com/starfishrd2018 And feel free to email Emily with questions or suggestions at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca I hope you will also join us in the What's Your Excuse? group on Face book at https://facebook.com/groups/TheBlindBlogger And if you have any questions about the podcast network, please email me at justask@theblindblogger.net Finally, as Emily so eloquently put it, we couldn't do this without the technical support and financial assistance from the wonderful people at Blubrry. http://blubrry.com Until next time thanks from Me, Emily and Darling. As well as from her friends, family, and wonderful coaches,

This time Emily takes inspiration from two Canadian holidays to give thanks for the many amazing coaches who have been part of her journey and who continue to help her chase her dream of paralympic gold. First, Canada hosts a coaches appreciation week the third week of September to encourage athletes of all ages and abilities to show their gratitude to the impact their coaches have had on their lives. And then last week Canada celebrated it’s thanksgiving holiday. I’ve always been impressed with how quickly Emily is to show gratitude to everyone who comes into her life and has an effect on her. While listening to all the names and their various fields of expertise, I was reminded just how much work goes into developing a serious athlete like Emily. She also talked about this being the anniversary of her joining the Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports Blue Streak race team. https://vass.ca/race-program She talks about last year and how they managed with Covid restrictions. She shares her hopes and aspirations for the upcoming season. And I can’t wait to hear of her future adventures. I appreciate the opportunity to help Emily share her story. I do hope you will rate, review, and share this episode with your friends and family. Please do follow Emily on Face Book http://facebook.com/teamstarfishroadtoparalympics and Twitter https://twitter.com/starfishrd2018 And feel free to email Emily with questions or suggestions at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca I hope you will also join us in the What’s Your Excuse? group on Face book at https://facebook.com/groups/TheBlindBlogger And if you have any questions about the podcast network, please email me at justask@theblindblogger.net Finally, as Emily so eloquently put it, we couldn’t do this without the technical support and financial assistance from the wonderful people at Blubrry. http://blubrry.com Until next time thanks from Me, Emily and Darling. As well as from her friends, family, and wonderful coaches,

This time Emily sits down with her first gym trainer Paul Tavaras. Paul is currently studying at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy https://www.canadianosteopathy.ca He explained that he is transitioning from fitness training to physical therapy. Specializing in FST, Fascia Stretch Treatment. https://stretchtowin.com I noticed how Paul mentioned Emily's goal of winning paralympic gold several times. By implication that tells me that having success with personal fitness goals requires being very clear on what we want. They discussed some of their favorite exercises or equipment and why. I think I could get into these medicine ball slams. Sounds like fun? They discussed the challenges and rewards of Paul coaching athletes with a disability and coaching Emily in particular. I especially appreciate his thoughts on how coaches and teachers are meant to learn from their clients or students. And be sure to pay attention for the simple accommodations they came up with. We got to see a little of Emily's playful side when he talks about seeing her in a play put on by a group called Out of Sight Theatre Productions located in London Ontario. https://www.facebook.com/oostheatre We do hope you will rate, review, and share this episode. And please follow her at https://facebook.com/teamstarfishroadtoparalympics and https://www.twitter.com/starfishrd2018 h You can also write her at trepanieremily@yahoo.ca I invite you to join us in the What's Your Excuse Face Book group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheBlindBlogger And if you have questions for me about the network or Emily's show, please send them to justask@theblindblogger.net Finally, we want to say thanks to our sponsor Blubrry who are providing both technical expertise and financial support to the network. Thanks guys, https://www.blubrry.com Hope y'all enjoy it, Max, Emily and Darling

Emily sits down with her hill coach Ethan Rigby. Ethan is a college student who has been volunteering his time to teach the visually impaired and others with disabilities how to snowboard. He is part of an organization called Canadian Adaptive Snow Sports. You can find them at https://www.cads.ski Their goal is To give people living with disabilities the opportunity to eliminate barriers that have prevented them from experiencing the Joy and Freedom of Snow sports. I think it:s cool that part of Ethan:s motivation for teaching snowboarding is because he himself lives with ADHD and said he stutters some. He talked about developing trust between the coach and trainee. He shared his thoughts prior to working with Emily. They shared some favorite memories. And they discussed potential future adventures. You can really feel his passion for the work. Not only when talking about Emily, but in speaking of a new student he has been working with. They touched upon the difficulties of getting on and off of a ski lift when disabled. And I hope to get a better explanation of that in the future. I loved his honesty especially when asked about his training out of season. I think you will be educated, entertained, and inspired by their conversation. At the beginning of this episode Emily teases her adventure as part of a weekend long paddle board and yoga adventure. To show our appreciation her stand-up Dpaddleboard and yoga coach's name is Drew Climie. His website can be found at https://www.drewclimie.com And the company that hosted her experience is called Bowen Island Sea Kayaking. You can find them at https://www.bowenislandkayaking.com Emily also mentioned wanting to hear from you her loyal listeners. Please send your comments, questions, or guest suggestions to trepanieremily@yahoo.ca We would also love it if you would rate, review, and share this episode. If you have questions about the WYE Podcast Network, then please reach out to me at justask@theblindblogger.net Thanks for your support, Max, emily, and Darling,

In this episode Emily sits down with her friend Linzy NG who got her into skiing and then into snowboarding.

Both are visually impaired although Linzy has far more vision.

To me it was like listening to two girlfriends talking about old times.

In Canada kids grow up ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, and playing hockey.

And this is a reminder that they and their parents saw nothing unusual about the idea of their girls wanting to go flying down the mountain.

Hope you enjoy the Bunny and the Starfish sharing experiences from their days together.

I also hope you will check out https://www.track3.org

Ontario Track 3 Ski Association is a volunteer powered charity enabling kids and youth with disabilities to discover their confidence, develop their talents and achieve their physical potential through the freedom of snow sports. 

If you are enjoying these interviews, then please remember to rate, review, and share.

Me and Emily would love it if you would visit the sites of a couple of people who have helped us get this far.

https://www.blubrry.com

The fine people who are providing the hosting for her podcast and the WYE Network. Along with technical support.

And my good friends Alex and Alecia Sanfilippo who came up with this crazy idea in the first place.

You can check out their service at https://podmatch.com

If you have any questions about Shredding For Gold or the WYE Network, feel free to email me at justask@theblindblogger.net

Thanks, Maxwell, Emily, and Darling

In this episode Emily sits down with one of her earliest coaches on her journey to chase paralympic gold. 

They talk about what it was like when they first started working together. 

And she got him to talk about what he was thinking and feeling prior to training his first blind client. 

They talk about a lot of important aspects to training. 

Whether that is for screaming downhill on a snowboard or wanting to be the best version of yourself. 

You can find out more about Coach steve by visiting https://www.mcraemovement.com 

We also encourage you to check out his feed on https://www.instagram.com/mcrae_movement 

Or connect with him on Linked In at https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-mcrae-0384b923

We also hope you will visit our sponsors at https://www.blubrry.com They have provided invaluable emotional & technical support. And as Emily's producer and host of the WYE Network I would love it if you would check out my website at https:www.theblindblogger.net or the home base of the network at https://www.wyexcuse.com Who knows maybe we will see your show on it sometime soon. Thanks for your support, Maxwell 

Shredding for Gold, hosted by Team Starfish, star athlete, Emily Trepanier, will chronicle her adventures as she works toward the dream of chasing gold in downhill snowboard racing at the Winter Paralympics. Along the way you will meet her supportive friends and family as well as her intrepid guide dog partner Darling. You will meet other amazing adaptive snowboard competitors from around the world. You will learn from her team of coaches. You will also get to follow along on her other adventures on ice, snow, and wa ter. Be careful, because like Emily you just might find yourself saying Adventure on!