About Us

How this all got started…

Wendy and Eric Gillett were leaders of our many volunteers and passionate rowers that founded Casitas Rowing in 2008, and they have built up an organization that now provides rowing to over 5000 people every year throughout our community between our annual programs, summer camps, and our partnership with the local schools.

Casitas Rowing is a 501c3 non-profit organization run with positive and effective oversight through our seven member board of directors. The board over the years has been comprised of business owners, ecologists, doctors, district attorneys, business executives, economists, and more.

Our mission…

Casitas Rowing is an educational program with ongoing community instruction and training of juniors and adults in the art of rowing. Our purpose is to promote a lifetime appreciation of fitness, recreation, environmental awareness of issues surrounding Lake Casitas, and in particular, positive and wholesome development of our county’s youth.

Inclusion is how we unleash the power of diversity. We strive to foster belonging and empowerment; our principles guide how we build our teams, cultivate leaders and create community.

what makes us special…

> Career coaching staff that are experienced, professional and genuinely care

> A place for everyone, beginner / advanced / competitive / recreational

> Financial aid available for youth families demonstrating need

> A place for sports to be fun, and be a lifelong endeavor

> Professional but casual culture

> An amazingly beautiful lake, clean drinking water reservoir 

> Team focus on providing a positive and light environment

> Where driven and striving athletes can excel 

> Elite / Olympic quality equipment for training and racing

> An expectation of personal accountability

What rowers and parents say…

Dont take our word for it… here is a link to a compilation of testimonials we have received over the years:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tgsQeP5EugAImQWo2x-V-Teu6-GONjSEmdPkP3YbQLA/edit?usp=sharing

Some things that make casitas rowing …amazing…

> 6 times in the last 12 years, we have had High School crews make the medal stand at the State / regional championships.

> 4 times Casitas Rowing High school team has been to national championships with both mens and women’s crews, consistently ranking in the top 20 in the nation.

> As long as kids show a “can-do attitude”, where they are willing to do the work without complaining or making excuses, and attend the practices and be positive team players, we dont make cuts. We understand kids come from unique and diverse backgrounds, and as long as they are willing to throw themselves into this, we will support them.

> Our adult team is a place people can come and enjoy outdoor fitness without getting burned out, and all while being around great people having fun and making great friends. Our masters team athletes have medaled at the world championships 8 times, and 12 times have won gold at the state championships level. They row well and just really have a great time doing it. We have people that have been rowing for 2 months, all the way up to rowing decades of experience having rowed with some of the best universities in the country.

> Our rowing equipment is Olympic level quality. We have over $500,000 worth of racing shells, oars, and training equipment. We buy boats that have a history of staying fast and lasting 15-20 years. The club has standardized on Resolute Racing Shells for our bigger boats, and, Empacher for our smaller sculling boats. These two companies have international reputations within the industry as being premier racing and training shells with the ability to last for decades. 

This is a philosophy throughout our organization, that we are investing not only in equipment for the long term, but also in people. We hope to have members that stay for a lifetime. Certainly, staff do sometimes move on to other adventures, but we go into each new employee and new member relationship treating them like family, with the hope that they will be with us for decades. 

There is just too much to do, and we cant do this on our own. This passion project started small but has grown and we just need help from people in our community to keep this going strong. Everyone has a skill or resource that can contribute to getting us to that next level… will you send us an email and just start the conversation about how we can partner up and work together? Our goal is to continue changing lives and offering people a positive track toward confidence, passion, and lifelong physical health!

Wendy’s email is: wendy@casitasrowing.org.