“Saint Mary’s welcomes Amber to our staff and we are excited to have her with us,” commented Clapp. “She is extremely knowledgeable and brings a tremendous amount of rowing experience to the our program.”

Van Heel comes to Saint Mary’s by way of the North Bay Rowing Club where she has served as the Head Coach of the juniors for the last year. As the head coach at North Bay she is responsible for promoting, coordinating, and teaching rowing to juniors aged 13-17. To go along with her coaching duties, she also performs a number of administrative duties to help maintain the program.

Van Heel’s collegiate coaching experience began in 1989 when she was the head coach for the Novice Women’s team at Boston College for two years. She extended her career at Boston College when she became the head coach of the men’s varsity team from 1991-92. Following a three-year stint at Berkeley High School and one-year campaigns at the Marin Rowing Association and the River City Rowing Club, she was the Assistant Coach of the men’s varsity team at UC Davis in 1999 and 2000.

A graduate of the University of Michigan in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Russian and East European Studies, van Heel was a four-year member of the Wolverine women’s rowing team. A team captain, van Heel competed on the heavyweight eight and lightweight four boats. Following her collegiate career, she competed for the Potomac Boat Club light weight eight in 1988. Following her one-year stint at Potomac, van Heel rowed on the lightweight four and eight teams at the Boston Rowing Center from 1989-94. Her last competitive rowing came in 1999 when she competed for the Marin Rowing Association in lightweight doubles while working out at the Olympic training center.