Coaches

Executive Director & Head Coach

Gavin Jaeger-Freeborn
Gavin is from Calgary Alberta where he has been paddling for over 16 years. Gavin has competed and coached at a variety of levels. He has national medals in the U17, U19, Junior, and Senior categories for both singles and team boats. Gavin also represented Canada at Junior worlds in 2015 for both C2 and C4. His love for paddling led him to coaching in 2015. He has acted as a coach at both the Calgary Canoe Club as well as the Mic Mac Amateur Aquatics Club. He also acted as a technical coach for the Alberta Womens Canoe to prepare for Canada Summer Games in 2016. Outside of paddling Gavin is also taking Software
Engineering at the University of Victoria.

Regatta Ready Coach

Maeve McManus
Maeve was born and raised in the Yukon where she spent most of her summer’s enjoying the outdoors. She attended elementary school at École Émilie Tremblay and high school at Académie Parhélie, F.H. Collins and Wood Street School. Since she was younger, Maeve did lots of river paddling in the Yukon with her dad. After having Daniel Girouard as a teacher at Académie Parhélie in grade 8, she was introduced to sprint canoeing. As she was busy most summers and winters, she never found the time to train until the summer of 2017, when she competed in the Canada Summer Games. Maeve spent her final year of high school dancing and teaching at Leaping Feats and dryland training with Flatwater North. Last summer she coached Canoe Kids for Flatwater North and was one of the first yukoners to attend the Canoe Kayak Sprint Paddling National Championships. Since the end of the 2018 paddling season, Maeve has been traveling and working in Europe and New Zealand. She is excited to be back to share her love for paddling with the kids!

Julianne Girouard
Julianne grew up with the love of paddling in her blood. With her dad being a paddler in his teens, she grew up surrounded by the love of paddling. She started sprint kayaking at the age of eleven and participated at the Western Canada Summer Games in 2015 that same year. Throughout the years, Julianne has had the great opportunity to participate at several regattas and major competitions all over Canada such as the Western Canada Summer Games in 2015 and in 2019, the Canada Summer Games in 2017 and the Canoe Kayak Nationals in 2019. Julianne is fluent in both French and English with her education being at and École Émilie Tremblay. She is currently attending the French high school and has done a wood street program in the past. She is super happy to be coaching kids with her knowledge in her sport and is hopeful that other kids will love it just as much as she does. When Julianne is not training, she loves spending time with friends and family and fun outdoor activities.

Canoe Kids Coaches

Mary Londero
Mary is a fun loving counselor who have been has been coaching canoeing and kayaking for two years. She loves all aspect of the outdoors including cross country skiing, hiking, and camping. She is looking forward to spending the summers outdoors and enjoying the Yukon.

Sofia Bond
Sofia Bond spent her childhood in the great outdoors of the Yukon, She grew up enjoying a variety of outdoor sports including cross country skiing, running, canoeing and paddle boarding with her family. She attended École-Émilie Tremblay for elementary school and F.H. Collins and Wood Street for High School. She enjoys sharing her passion for outdoor adventures with everyone, including kids of all ages. She is so excited to meet everyone this summer and is looking forward to coaching!

Ben Machtans
Ben was born in Yellowknife, NWT where he learned to canoe with his family. He moved to the Yukon when he was 9 and was immediately immersed in the Canoe kids Camp. He even paddled in Ba Be National Park in Vietnam. Ben is now entering Grade 12 at F.H. Collins Secondary. When he is not in school, he is spending most of his time snowboarding and competing at national and international snowboard competitions. Ben now wants to bring that joy he felt as a kid canoeing to others.

Covid Coaches

Bruce Porter
Bruce has been part of the paddling community for several years. He began in the CanoeKids program and has advanced through the levels and now races in out of territory competitions. He attended the Western Canada Summer Games in 2019 as a kayaker. Bruce attends F.H. Collins and Wood Street School, he is going into grade 10. He enjoys being outdoors and exploring the Yukon and beyond. Bruce also competes in the sport of biathlon which keeps him busy when the lake is frozen! Bruce is excited to work at the club this summer and share his enthusiasm and knowledge of paddle sports.

Rogan Parry
Rogan started paddling as part of the Canoe Kids program 5 years ago and from there has developed a love for sprint kayaking. He has spent all his previous summer days at the lake training. Over the years, he has been fortunate to compete at the Canada Summer Games 2017, the Western Canada Summer Games 2019 and the Canoe Kayak Canada 2019 Nationals. Rogan is fully bilingual from attending elementary at École Émilie Tremblay, and currently attends high school at FH Collins and Wood Street School. He is excited to be able to help deliver programs at the club and to pass on his knowledge and his passion for the sport. When Rogan is not on the water, he can be found doing range of sports including mountain biking, alpine skiing, and hockey.