From Phil Muller, US Sailing’s Youth Performance Manager:
We’ve just wrapped a four-day women’s 49erFX camp in Miami led by Paris Henken and Rosie Chapman. The vision behind the camp is to expand our programming for women in high performance sailing. It’s a core value of the organization and we at US Sailing are grateful to Mary Lattimore for her generous donation to start this fire.
Our Olympic Development and Youth Performance Programs are collaborating on several camps this summer. This FX Camp precedes an ILCA 6 camp in New England next week. Both camps bring together world-class women and youth athletes for focused training.
For those who missed the sign up, there will be more. This first FX initiative represents Rosie’s leadership and what we can expect from her hand. A skilled tactician is decisive, and Rosie pulled this camp together after only 10 days on the job. It was a risk to do something so last minute, but there was a huge strategy behind it to create the impact that’s lasting.
“What I fundamentally believe in when it comes to building a successful program is retention and knowledge sharing,” said Chapman. “Which is why I asked Nikki [Barnes] and Paris [Henken] to join. Having Paris here working with this group of athletes, demonstrating her world class skills firsthand is eye opening for all of us. For me, my vision was female, outreach and knowledge sharing. It is certainly happening.”
Culture building is at the heart of what’s been happening these past few days. The 10 participating sailors have been sharing tips, trying different techniques, and learning from each other with youthful vibrancy. These athletes are instinctive mentors and working in this tight knit group is a seachange from camps like this in the past.
Paris has been leading the conversation in the classroom daily and constantly teaching technique. She’s been in the FX since its inception. Her knowledge share is making a big impact, while sailing with everyone at the camp. She brings her excitement, passion, and work ethic to each situation. Paris’ leadership and generous spirit is a gift.
“I’m so priviledged to be able to go out on the water and do this,” says Henken. “Girls these days are at a very good position to gain a lot of knowledge. When I entered the boat, I had some great mentors. All of these girls look up to usas sailors, and I think honestly, we have a duty to pass this knowledge on.”
Olympian Nikki Barnes joined us to share her experience from the top level. Her feedback from the camp is, “there’s a ton of different ladies here. Everyone came together for the love of sailing. No matter what the background, we came together because we wanted to learn. There are some points that I learned that I can apply to the 470 as well.”
“It’s going phenomenally, the culture is excellent, the structure is really working, bringing in the expertise [of Paris] and having Phil and I assist her has been great,” remarks Chapman. “We’ve already spotted
new people we didn’t know were out there. I am very impressed with the talent and hard work we are seeing, and looking forward to meeting more sailors as we grow and move forward.”
US Sailing has containers full of Olympic class equipment and expertise within our network to unlock. The proof is in the action. “And also, I should mention, literally everyone is having fun,” says Chapman. “Seeing people have fun, laughing, asking questions. I’m excited about the energy and what’s to come.”
For content from the camp click HERE
