Tempe Junior Crew coaches are an elite group for an Arizona juniors rowing team. Our coaches have life-long passions for rowing and have competed and coached on multiple competitive levels.
Lesleh Anderson Wright, Program Director / Head Coach
Coach Wright has been involved in rowing for 48 years in one form or another. She is a former Canadian National Team coxswain and a 1984 Olympian. She has coached at Ridley College in Canada, the St Catharines Rowing Club, ZLAC Rowing Club and had the privilege to coach the coxswains for Oxford University in the UK as they embarked on the transition to the Thames from 2012-2016. She is the Athletic Director for Chinook Performance Racing, a high-performance team she co-founded in 2014.Chinook is a masters team comprised of former elite and college athletes from all over the world that have won the US Masters Nationals Overall Points trophy consistently since 2015. Lesleh has been coaching the youth athletes at Tempe Junior Crew since 2020. In addition, she owns and manages her private rowing business, SteeringUwright LLC. In June and July of 2021, she will be the Head Coach at US Rowing’s, Northwest Girls Olympic Development Camp where TJC’s own Campbell Leid and Elle Rosenfeld are invited participants this summer of 2021.
Kristine Malcolm, Coach
Coach Malcolm began her serious pursuit of athletics in high school and college playing volleyball, basketball and track. After college she dabbled in 4-WO(man) beach volleyball in Southern California. Fast forward – she began rowing when her youngest son was 6 months oldin 2002 – in the desert of Tempe, AZ – and hasn’t looked back. While always rowing with her small home club – early on she sought additional opportunities to improve her skills and race at larger national and international regattas. She has coached a masters program and was the head rowing coach of Arizona State University. ”I love the mental and physical aspects of rowing – working to find the rhythm with like-minded athletes is a gratifying challenge. I have come to appreciate that each chapter is a little different and, though it’s not a success-only journey, embracing the continuous learning is the reward.
Evan Merkel, Coach
Campbell Leid, Coach
Campbell Leid began rowing in the fall of 2018 with Mile High Rowing Club in Denver, Colorado. With a background in competitive swimming, she had a natural feel for the water and loved rowing from day one. Following her family’s relocation to Phoenix she finished her high school rowing career with Tempe Junior Crew with first-place finishes in the 1x and 2x at Central Youths in the Spring of 2021. Campbell was invited to USRowing’s High-Performance camp following graduation and was recruited to row collegiately at the Division 1 level. Medical obstacles prevented Campbell from being able to physically participate but she transitioned from a shell to a coaching launch in October of 2021, and uncovered a passion she didn’t even knew she had: coaching! She recently completed an internship at Craftsbury Outdoor center and has had an opportunity to shadow many different coaches with various backgrounds. Just as they inspired her, Campbell hopes to play a role in inspiring the next generation of talented rowers. Aside from her coaching duties, Campbell is currently a student at Arizona State University pursuing Marketing and Sports Business.