|
News from the Coach's Launch...
Meet RVR's New Staff!
Karla Landis
Karla Landis joins Rainier Valley Rowing as Program Director with more than 5-years of
collegiate coaching experience and an aptitude for community
development within the sport of rowing. Most recently reflected through
her work with Lakeside Education and Enrichment Program, Karla
understands the power of rowing to serve as a means for young people to
embrace teamwork and build new friendships while enhancing individual
ability and self-confidence. Karla is eager to strengthen rowing in the
Northwest through outreach programs specifically created to broaden
community access to Seattle lakes and water-sports. Karla is a former
rower (‘98-‘02) and coach (’03-’09) from Western Washington University.
Hello RVR Supporters!
I'd like to take a moment and share with you a little bit about where I have been and where WE are going with Rainier Valley Rowing.
I have spent the last ten years living in Bellingham, WA where I attended undergraduate and graduate school in the Exercise Science program at Western Washington University. As a student-athlete, rowing helped pay my way through college and has continued to be a huge part of my life as a coach and now as RVR Program Director. Many of us realize that rowing is an incredible sport but my long-term love of the sport extends further than the act of rowing itself. Rowing provides a healthy avenue for building new relationships thereby strengthening entire communities through water-based recreation. Athletes learn trust, goal-setting, accountability, and confidence--skills to last a lifetime. The visual appeal of rowing is universal yet it is often the inability to swim or the high costs of equipment and coaching that limit community involvement. RVR exists as a means of removing these barriers and expanding new opportunities participation.
RVR is coming into its second year of programming and the future is looking bright! We hope to enroll 20 participants for the 2009-2010 season, all of whom will learn how to swim, row, and work together on and off the water. In partnership with Pocock Rowing Center and Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center, I thank you for your past and future support.
Sincerely,
Karla Landis
Carla Bezold  
Carla Bezold is excited to join Rainier Valley Rowing full-time as an
Americorps VISTA after a terrific experience working with the advisory
board in the program's first season. She spent the last year as a
member of Apple Corps (a program of Soild Ground) helping
elementary-aged children in Seattle learn about nutrition, cooking,
gardening, and physical activity. Prior to that she was a
student-athlete and then a coach with the University of Michigan
Women's Rowing team. Carla has also coached high school-aged and
masters rowers and is enjoying teaching indoor cycling classes in
Seattle. She's looking forward to a great year with RVR on and off the
water!
"Rowing is an amazing sport that gives athletes an opportunity to
challenge themselves, redefine their physical and mental limits, and
work closely with a team for a common goal. I'm excited to support RVR
in making these opportunities accessible for a wider segment of
Seattle's high school population and to support the RVR athletes as
they take on the challenge of learning a new sport."
~Carla Bezold
|
