PRESENTER PROFILE:

Presenter:  Jennie LaMothe and Nathan Depenbrock
Presentation:  Team River Runner- Health and Healing through Whitewater Boating
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Team River Runner (TRR) gives military veterans and their family members an opportunity to find health, healing, and new challenges through whitewater boating and other paddling sports. The benefits of TRR have as much to do with social support, finding emotional strength, and re-creating personal identity as they do with athletic activity. Wounded service members have endured many months of surgeries, physical therapy, prosthetic fittings, and other life adjustments. Against this backdrop, those who are able welcome a chance to pick up a new challenge and get out of the daily routine of a hospital for a day. All are attracted to whitewater kayaking because it offers an exciting way to recover their health, strength, and connection with nature. TRR accomplishes its goals through a step-by-step approach in which paddlers begin learning to control a whitewater kayak in a pool, and then move to quiet open water and where available, open ocean and rivers where they gain additional experience and skills. Once they have mastered the basics, they are then able to go on TRR organized trips to progressively more challenging venues. TRR has Local Chapters across the country. There are now TWO in Kentucky- Lexington and Northern KY/ Cincinnati. Find out more about our programs and how YOU can start a chapter in your town!

Jen LaMothe is the founder and chapter coordinator of the Northern KY/ Cincinnati chapter of Team River Runner and is a kayaker and faculty member at Northern KY University. Nathan Depenbrock is the founder and chapter director of Lexington Team River Runner, the owner of Canoe Kentucky, and is an avid whitewater boater. (lead presenter)

www.teamriverrunner.org