Heather’s athletic destiny began one recess when all the handballs were checked out. Not one to be easily thwarted she borrowed a basketball instead. After several misses six-year-old Heather discovered the tantalizing sound of a well-tossed ball dropping through a silky net. Swish! From then on, if it looked like a fun way to get dirty, Heather did it: basketball, volleyball, Vietnamese jump rope, football, tennis, kung fu, ice skating and more.

It wasn’t until high school that athletics started to feel like work. Camaraderie was replaced by intense competition, and the siren song of the “swish” was drowned out by pressure and constant scrutiny from both outside and inside of herself. “High school revealed the dark underbelly of sports to me,” she says. Why, she thought, should playing on a team make you feel less connected to other people instead of more?

Her experience as a collegiate women’s basketball player brought more of the same. So it’s no surprise that after graduating from U.C. Riverside with a B.A. in history and a newly reconstructed right knee, Heather decided to take a break from team sports. Following this hiatus she returned to help pioneer professional women’s football. While playing tight-end with the diverse women of the Quake was a more positive team experience, she still wanted something more.

When she joined an Outrigger canoe club, she got it. “Paddling itself is intense,” Heather explains, “but laid back at the same time. Your team paddles for hours through total exhaustion, but then you dig really deep and find energy to party afterwards”. Through outrigger Heather experienced the powerful energy that a good team generates. She learned that personal athletic development and team success are not mutually exclusive and that Jello shots are never a good idea. Heather has continued to explore the bright, upper belly of health and fitness as a CSCS-certified fitness coach and writer. She is known as creative and fun trainer and her workouts are like a good lover, unpredictable, challenging and inevitably sweaty.

Heather divides her training time between the Embaradero YMCA, Golden Gate Park (where she leads bootcamps for Koi Fitness) and anywhere else that duty calls. Though a recent knee surgery has slowed her down a bit; she is now focusing on fitness writing and discovering exciting low-impact ways to express her inner energy demons. Right now that includes lots of swimming, cycling and lifting heavy objects for fun. She rests at her day job as a Project Manager at a downtown construction company.