Did you miss it? You can watch this online discussion, and many others, on the club’s youtube channel HERE.
From industry campaigns, to special events and creation of community clubs, join us to discuss select strategies currently being used to diversify paddlesports. You’ll learn more about the barriers that limit access to the outdoors in general and paddlesports in particular, and gain insights on individual actions you can take to help make the sport more welcoming and accessible to all. Special guests include Adam Edwards and Antoinette Lee Toscano.
Participants at the Diversify Whitewater event on the Sandy River (Photo credit: Ernest Jones)
In 2021, Adam Edwards, along with Carla Danley, Jim Good, and numerous sponsors, hosted the first Diversify Whitewater event in the Pacific Northwest. You can view scenes from the day and learn more about it via this event video. Adam has since written an article summarizing some of his current thoughts on the barriers that limit access to the outdoors, including paddlesports, called Four Easy Ways to Build a More Accessible Outdoors. A longtime advocate of making outdoor recreation welcoming and accessible to all, in 2020 Adam hosted, with Faith Briggs, NRS’s Just Add Water campaign and shares his insights on paddling as a legacy sport in this Let’s Go Kayaking video.
Pictured above: Adam Edwards and Antoinette Lee Toscano (photo credit: Matthew James Berrafato)
Antoinette Lee Toscano, along with Lily Durkee, founded Diversify Whitewater in 2020 and has since gone on to create the American Adventure Sport Club, which endeavors to provide free adventure sports training, mentorship, adventures, and more for all Americans, centering on the most vulnerable. Antoinette is also the creator of Whitewater TV and a multicultural, multi-sport outdoorswoman on a mission to bring more people into the outdoors. She has been a contributing writer to many publications including Paddling Magazine, works with top tier outdoor brands like Kokatat and Badfish SUP, and is a transformational public speaker with a passion for helping people living with health challenges and those diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and Post Traumatic Stress.
