Join us as we get to know Samantha Campbell, founder of Deep Relief. Deep Relief is a sponsor of Paddle Imua 2013.

In addition to being a stellar athlete herself, Samantha and Deep Relief provide athletic training, massage, and pain relief to professional athletes and others throughout Maui. She’s also the Personal Training Director at Upcountry Fitness. She enjoys an assortment of water sports, ski and snowboard, Ultimate Frisbee, hiking, and Pilates

1. What about outdoor sports (or paddling in specific) excites you?
I really enjoy being in the water and pushing my body to reach new levels.  Paddle events are a great excuse to train hard and keep from getting complacent.

2. How does connecting with the ocean have therapeutic or healing effects on you? Do you feel it is important for other people to create and nuture this connection? Why?
I really use the ocean and my water sports to distribute energy–doing bodywork, you get exposed to lots of people’s “stuff” and I go nuts if I can’t get in the water every day.  It’s also a neutral space for people from all walks to come together and find common ground–everyone can find something to do on the water.

I’ve had some of my best feelings being in the water, swimming at Hookipa dodging turtles and vana and kiting with Manta Rays and doing SUP on glassy days where you feel like you are in your own personal aquarium.  It makes everything else feel so small, just being lucky to live here and get to do this every day.

3. How does the work that you do (through your business/career) contribute to healthy families/communities?
My business, Deep Relief, works with people who have injuries or chronic pain to help resolve their issues, and learn self-treatment and exercises to keep themselves functioning optimally.  We work a lot with whole families–kids with headaches, who have had surgery, or just beat themselves up playing.  We are also a great resource for parents who aren’t sure if their child needs to go to the doctor, take a rest from a sport, or just come in and learn how to warm-up and stretch properly to support their activities.

4. Why do you choose to support an organization like Imua Family Services?
I had done some outreach massage at Camp Imua for the kids, volunteers, and parents.  I’ve always felt that movement and bodywork are under-used resources that can really help kids that are struggling with school, making friends, or keeping their bodies healthy.  When Maile approached me to help with a paddle race to raise money for Camp, it just made so much sense to get the paddling community involved helping kids who would so benefit from the thing that we already love to do.

5. Tell us a story about how a child has impacted or changed your life for the better.
When I was at University, there was a class in our college (Health and Human Performance) where a bunch of kids with special needs would come down and do activities with college students learning to work with this population.  I wasn’t in the class, but was asked to volunteer for pool day since I had been a lifeguard and there were SO MANY kids coming to play in the pool.  The pool was packed with kids, the teachers were on deck, and  they paired some of the high-needs kids 1-on-1 with students so they could get in the water safely.  I’m not sure what kind of diagnosis the child I was working with had, but he used a wheelchair and communicated by keyboard.  I got him in the pool and got him blowing bubbles and eventually floating on the his back, throwing the ball, and cruising around the pool.  We played until he got too cold and then came out and communicated a bit with his keyboard.  The really cool thing I found out after, is that his condition made his muscles really hypertonic and his joints were constantly pulling into flexion (like curling up in a ball). By getting him floating on his back, he was able to relax into extension and let the tight muscles stretch and open up.  It was absolutely the best thing he could have done, and he really trusted and relaxed straight away, better than most kids on their first try floating.

You can follow Deep Relief on Twitter @deepreliefmaui and visit their website/blog here: www.deepreliefmaui.com

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The “Supporter Spotlight” series is coordinated for Paddle Imua by internet marketing consultant Sara Tekula. Stay tuned for more moments with some of Paddle Imua’s shining stars, who do so much for our community and are helping make this event possible again this year. Return to our blog for more. You can follow Paddle Imua on Facebook or on Twitter for more updates.