Youth Program Manager & Head Coach

Helen entered the rowing world in 2003 at Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center where she competed as a junior athlete for five years. Her time on Lake Washington continued when she attended the University of Washington, competing for the Huskies from 2008 until 2012. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, Helen continued with UW to earn her Masters in Education in the Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership Program. Helen spent that year as an assistant coach with Seattle University's inaugural varsity women's rowing team.

Helen left Seattle to continue serving in the collegiate coaching ranks at the University of Dayton and Michigan State University. In 2016, she decided to return to Seattle and began as the head coach of the Mt. Baker varsity women. In 2017 Helen added the position of Director of Rowing at Mt. Baker, serving as the first in that position.

When she is not at the boathouse, Helen enjoys spending time with friends in the great PNW outdoors, experimenting in the kitchen, and playing with her dog Finn.

Programs Coordinator & PYR Registrar

Born and raised in El Salvador, Karla started rowing in 2012. By 2014 she had made the Salvadoran National team and participated in events such as PanAmerican games, World Cups and the Latin Olympic qualifier for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

While getting her Bachelors Degree in Marketing, she continued as part of the national team, supplemented by coaching new members and kids/new members through learn to row classes.

Karla moved to the USA in 2019 to continue her rowing career while starting her professional career.

Her work experience has been in customer service and marketing, and she is bilingual in Spanish and English.

Her biggest achievement was winning a bronze medal in the quad at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games. 

In her free time Karla likes to spend time with her family, have a good cup of “cafecito con pan dulce” and visit new places in Seattle.

Director of Operations

As the Director of Operations, Padraic is responsible for the safe, sustainable and successful operation of the Pocock Rowing Center and Renton Rowing Center. Padraic began rowing as a youth in Point Pleasant, NJ. After rowing at Saint Mary's College of California, he joined the Seattle rowing community as a sculler.

Padraic has competed and coached in youth, collegiate, elite and masters programs. As the Executive Director of the Everett Rowing Association, his focus on culture and communication led significant growth in membership, youth programming and fundraising results. Padraic's experience in the construction industry and at Pocock Racing Shells brings a strategic background to our infrastructure and project management needs.

Outside of the boathouse, Padraic enjoys hiking, biking, woodworking and cooking.

Equipment Manager

Parker began rowing in 2012 for the middle school program at the Everett Rowing Association. He has been in love with the sport ever since. After rowing through high school, Parker attended UC San Diego in 2018, where he rowed as a freshman. He then attended the University of Washington from 2019 to 2023, where he graduated with an Earth and Space Sciences degree specializing in Physics. During his time at UW, Parker spent almost three years as a youth rowing coach for novice athletes at Mount Baker Rowing Club and Everett Rowing Association.

After working in the Geotechnical field post-graduation, he is excited to bring his organizational, problem-solving, and technical skills back to the world of rowing through the George Pocock Rowing Foundation.

Outside of the boathouse, Parker enjoys hiking and backpacking through the PNW wilderness as well as cheering for the Seattle Seahawks

Lead Coach U17

James Nelson, originally from Austin Texas began his rowing journey in 2006 at Austin Rowing Center.

After Graduating from Franklin and Marshall, where he rowed 4 years, James took his rowing to the international stage competing in the 2018 World Rowing Championships where he placed 10th in the lightweight quad, and 7th in the lightweight pair at the following years World Rowing Championships. While training, he began coaching youth programs in Austin. His training and coaching led him to Santa Barbara where he began training for the Tokyo Olympics all while still fostering his passion for coaching. After a 4th place finish at the Olympic Trials James stepped away from training and began pursuing coaching full time. He accepted the position as Assistant Coach for Seattle Preps rowing team.

Now he brings his expertise, leadership and passion for the sport and youth development as a Lead Coach for Pocock.

When he is not on the water James enjoys olympic weight lifting, cycling, and spending time with his cat, Charlie.

Summer Coach - Learn to Row

Lead Coach Middle School

Hannah started rowing in the Philadelphia area in 2010 and rowed throughout high school and for four years at Wellesley College. She began coaching youth squads in 2017 at Chicago Training Center, with an emphasis on sports-based youth development and making rowing a more accessible opportunity for students across Chicago.

Hannah also works as a Speech-Language Pathologist and is a PhD student in Speech & Hearing Sciences at UW. When she’s not thinking about language development and making up new words, she enjoys cooking, biking, and finding ways to annoy her cats.

Summer Coach - Exp. High School

U19 Assistant Coach

Bri first coached at PYR back in 2022, where she instructed Learn-to-Row, Middle School, and High School athletes. She began her rowing career at Holy Names Academy, racing predominantly as a lightweight rower until her senior year of high school.

She has competed at both the regional and national championship level, taking home hardware from races such as Youth Nationals and Windermere Cup. Bri continued to row Division 1 in college at Cornell University and the University of Washington, before returning to the PYR Coaching Staff in Spring 2025. She is currently completing her degree at UW in Psychology, with a minor in Writing.

When she’s not on the water, Bri loves to run on the Burke Gilman and explore Seattle with her friends.

Summer Coach - Exp. High School

Leon started rowing in 2011 at Berkeley High School and continued rowing at Orange Coast College. He began coaching for his High School team in 2019 and -- through the pandemic -- took on the boys' head coach position, which he continues to hold to this day.

Leon has been the head coach of the UC Berkeley Lightweight rowing team since January of this year. He has a strong passion for coaching and improving the environment of his athletes which extends to shell and oar repair as well as launch motor service.

During the rare instance of a day off, Leon likes to get out into nature and have long walks and talks with friends and family.

Summer Coach - Exp. High School

Chris rowed throughout high school at Pocock and continues to row for Williams College where he is studying computer science. He has been coaching at Pocock for the past two summers. Outside of crew, Chris enjoys cross country skiing, cycling, and hiking in the Pacific Northwest.

Summer Coach - Exp. Middle School

Max rowed all four years of high school for Pocock, and continues to row at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies business and Spanish. Outside of rowing, she enjoys hiking, playing violin, cooking, and spending time with her family

Summer Coach - Exp. Middle School

Alexis has spent half her life rowing and coaching in California. She looks forward to spending the summer in Seattle and experiencing the vibrant rowing culture here.

Summer Coach - Exp. Middle School

Will is from Seattle and started rowing with a Pocock learn to row camp during spring in 6th grade. He continued rowing with Pocock through middle school and high school moving up through the LTR, u17, and u19 programs.

He competed for Pocock at regional and national races, earning medals at NW Youth Regionals, Youth Nationals, and Windermere Cup. 

Currently Will is rowing for the University of Victoria and pursuing a degree in Kinesiology. Outside of rowing he enjoys being outdoors and cycling. 

Summer Coach - Learn to Row

Kellen is an incoming sophomore on The George Washington University Men’s rowing team in D.C. He is majoring in Political Science with hopes of attending law school.

Kellen learned to row in 2020 and spent 3 years on the PYR U19 program where he competed at regionals and nationals. His favorite boat class to row is the 4x!

Summer Coach - Learn to Row

Carmel is an incoming junior on the Women's rowing team at UW. She is majoring in biochemistry with the hopes of going to dental school. A fun fact is that she learned how to row at Pocock when she was in middle school during one of the summer learn to row camps!

Youth Coach

Rob has been a full time trainer and strength coach for the past 13 years. Inspired by his collegiate rowing coach he earned a B.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland. Early on in his training career a severe lower back injury forced Rob to reevaluate his own training regimen. He quickly began incorporating injury prevention and rehabilitative concepts into his strength workouts. Rob believes strength training helps maximizes performance and increases longevity in the sport.

When Rob is not at Pocock he enjoys running, skiing, traveling, and cooking.

U19 Assistant Coach

Jonah grew up in Seattle and started rowing in 7th grade for Lake Union Crew Juniors before moving to Seattle Rowing Center where he continued rowing from 8th grade through his graduation from Roosevelt High school in 2018. He went on to Row Division-1 at George Washington University and then the University of San Diego. After graduating from USD with his Bachelors in Child Psychology, he moved on to row for the San Diego Rowing Club’s High Performance Team.  In the summer of 2023 Jonah relocated to Europe to train with an international boat at the Danish national training center and compete across Northern Europe to ultimately compete at the Henley Royal Regatta. 

Later that year, he moved back home to Seattle and joined the coaching staff at PYR. In addition to coaching PYR he also coaches the Adult Women’s Competitive Team as well as the Ancient Mariners Rowing Club. When he’s not coaching, he is in the mountains Skiing, spending time outdoors and training!

U17 Assistant Coach

Corrado began coxing crews at Mt. Baker in January 2016. They raced five seasons as ayouth athlete and for two seasons at Santa Clara University for the men’s team.

As an upperclassman Corrado decided to instead pursue an education in music with a concentration in jazz performance full-time. Corrado was also involved in the local scene, working in college radio as well as live sound.

Corrado began coaching in 2022 at Mt. Baker and started at Pocock during 2023, then again postgrad from summer 2024 onwards as an assistant. Corrado has experience working with athletes of all ages, builds, and ability within all boat classes.

Middle School Assistant Coach

Hilde started her rowing career in high school at Mount Baker Rowing and shortly thereafter qualified the first pair to go to nationals, placing fifth overall. This trajectory continued into competing for four years at a Division 1 level at the University of San Diego, where she again helped the team get some of their first gold medals. Hilde started coaching masters and youth programs at MBC in 2018, and started coaching the youth programs at PYR in 2022.

Her love of athletics is not limited to rowing, as her other interests have led her into the thru-hiking world, spending months on end backpacking across hundreds of miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, Colorado Trail, and other long distance trails.

Hilde is also a local scuba dive instructor and naturalist, helping with environmental education and conservation.

Middle School Assistant Coach