Leif and Natalie

In April 2024, I was invited to give a motivational speech about kayak racing at a women's happy hour event in Seattle at the Rough and Tumble Pub organized by Megan Kelly and Anastasia Alder. I was invited to do this partially because of the blog I wrote in 2021 titled “ Motivations for competing in Whitewater Kayaking ”, and because I was currently coaching one of the organizers on an online race team with my husband, Leif.  I was honored and excited to be invited and speak of my journey because  (in the words of a mentor of mine, Abby McHale ) I truly believe that “ we must foster reverence for the courage of uninhibited expression in one another because when we show ourselves to one another, we realize we are not alone and that our experience is simply the experience of woman. And when a woman is in her power, fostering her sisterhood, it makes all woman feel safe. ”  The following speech is an uninhibited expression of the wisdoms I have learned from my experience ka...

An introspective based on 16 years of competition to help motivate more paddlers, especially women, to consider competition as a fun avenue for self-improvement to push their skills.  This blog is cross-posted on Kokatat's team blog titled: Motivations for competing in whitewater kayaking When I first started competing in 2005 it was fun because I had no expectations for myself with regards to results - I just did it for fun. Then, I spent many years competing in whitewater and feeling really stressed about it. I would enter competitions with high expectations and invariably be disappointed in the results. In 2019, I finally started having some fun competing again by being more intentional with my practice and more fully present with those who surround me. I am now able to experience the joys of focused improvement and share in the joys of others’ successes. And, results have followed. In this blog I use my own maturation as a competitor, as well as informal conversations with my f...