Our Staff & Board

Donna is our Head Coach and the driving force behind Sunrise Vaulters. Donna began her
coaching career 30+ years ago training Figure skaters and Hockey players the mechanics of ice
skating at a high level. She has worked with children as young as 18 months up through adults.
Donna has a true love for horses and continues even today to fine tune her horsemanship skills
with Chris Cox. Donna began vaulting with Valley View Vaulters. Under Rick and Virginia
Hawthorne, she grew to love the sport and eventually became an assistant coach with VVV.
When Rick made the decision to retire, Donna started Sunrise Vaulters to continue to pursue
her love for vaulting and training athletes both young and old. She is a member of EVUSA, USEF
and is SafeSport certified.

Fred is responsible for the behind the scenes aspects of Sunrise Vaulters. He too has a true love
for horses and has worked with Chris Cox to make himself a better horseman. Fred’s business
experience drives the club to grow while still maintaining the best experience for our members.
Fred handles all of the logistics and is instrumental in the care of our horses and in keeping all
of our equipment in shape. He is a member of EVUSA.

As a basket ball player and coach in Paris, Blandine spent over a decade training young athletes. She is a vital member of the team, coaching strength training, leading the summer camp program and lunging during practices.  She attended the EVUSA Symposium on the lunging track in 2023 to hone her horsemanship and will return to the symposium in 2024 as a vaulter.

A performing artist and competitive vaulter, Carolyn’s coaching focuses on performance, musicality and creating harmony with the horse.  She assists with our adaptive vaulters, and co-coaches our beginner programs.   She regularly attends EVUSA Clinics and Symposiums to increase her training as a coach and vaulter.  Safe Sport trained and a member of the EVUSA and USEF.

Steve Sullivan has been a vaulter, coach, clinician, and judge during his career.  A Gold Medal vaulter with honors, he  placed third in pas de deux at the 1980 World Cup competition in Paris, France. He was a co-coach with Rick Hawthorne and member of the exhibition team at the 1984 Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles before retiring from competition.