The Team Behind The Rex Project
As many cheesy sport metaphors go, there’s no “I” in “team”. So call us cheesy, but The Rex Project would not be where it is today nor could it be sustained as we move forward without this team.
To get even more cheesy (but still true) the people on this page only represent a small, small portion of the entire Rex Project team.
We will not and cannot end abuse in sports alone. Every person talking to their teammate, athlete, kid, parent, coach, trainer, or any other human (or dog) about abuse is a part of our team. Every person who’s liked an Instagram post is a part of our team. Every person who’s watched an Athlete Impact video or listened to our Athlete Impact podcast, or donated, or purchased a sticker, or requested a presentation, or learnt about the red flags for abuse is a part of our team.
All of this to say, no matter how small or big the action you take in support of safe sports for all, you’re a part of The Rex Project team and we are damn grateful for it.
So without further ado…
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Emma Tarbath (she/her)
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Emma started The Rex Project in response to her experience with emotional and sexual abuse from her coach while she was a collegiate cross country skier. Unaware of what athletic abuse looked like and with athletic department staff ignoring her teammates’ reports, the abuse went on for 6+ years.
With the help of therapists, Emma identified the abuse for what it was and in this process, she saw the huge gap in educating athletes on how to identify and respond to abuse in sports. Relying on the work ethic that earned her consistent top results on the RIMSA circuit, 5th at NCAAs, and qualification for the US’s U23 World Champs team, she set out to fill this gap and be the person she needed while the abuse was happening.
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Karelle Edwards-Perry (she/her)
BOARD MEMBER
Karelle is the co-owner and director of wellness and performance at Embrace Your Pace. She was one of the first people Emma told about The Rex Project and her initial support and belief in the idea, set the stage for The Rex Project to be where it is today. She brings invaluable insights that bridge both the athlete and mental health practitioner perspectives.
With her experience as a pro 100m hurdler, 5x Team Canada member, licensed mental health counselor associate, and mental health performance consultant, Karelle is uniquely positioned to help The Rex Project stay up to date on the challenges athletes face in accessing support resources and advocating for their own wellbeing.
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Sam Benzing (she/her)
BOARD MEMBER
Sam just finished her second year as an NCAA cross country ski coach and was awarded the Women’s Sports Foundation Tara VanDerveer Fund for the advancement of women in coaching. She attended graduate school in clinical counseling at the University of Minnesota Duluth and is completing a thesis focused on coach-athlete relationships and collegiate athlete well-being.
While a student at St. Scholastica Sam interned at The Tucker Center for Research on Women and Girls in Sport. Sam lends her extensive knowledge and passion for working at the intersection of mental health and high performance to help The Rex Project think through the various stakeholder perspectives in sport and to stay current with the up to date research around athletic abuse.
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Kara Goucher (she/her)
BOARD MEMBER
Kara is a mom, one of the most accomplished US distance runners in history, author, Oiselle Athlete-Advisor, and an NBC Sports commentator. She has taken her experience with abuse in sport and as one of the earliest whistleblowers around the doping violations at the now defunct Oregon Project and become a tenacious advocate for safe and doping-free sports for all.
Now with her son and nieces, Kara has an even greater understanding for the significance of educating athletes early on identifying and responding to athletic abuse. She is bringing her advocacy strength, awareness of the reporting landscape, and powerful empathy to help The Rex Project be the most effective in it’s education and empowerment work.
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Rex
NAMESAKE & INFLUENCER
Emma got Rex soon after graduating college, unaware at the time of what the next couple years had in store for her. To put it simply, Rex saved Emma’s life. When the desperation and hopelessness managed to outweigh everything else in her life, Rex was there.
It only felt fitting to name The Rex Project, The Rex Project as he is the reason Emma ever had the opportunity to create it.
Rex Fun Facts: He won’t steal your peanut butter toast, he’ll just lick the peanut butter off it. He’s a cattle dog (blue heeler + aussie), but only likes to herd big trucks & vans by biting their tires and exhaust pipes. It’s not effective, but he does it with enthusiasm. He will share his opinions with you. Are you on the phone? That’s the perfect time for you to hear them. Are you on Zoom for a meeting? Just keep yourself unmuted, Rex has opinions for your coworkers as well.
Our Standards of Practice
Transparency & Honesty.
A short conversation is better than no conversation. We will meet people where they are at & work together to talk about abuse in the way that works best for them.
Respect for all.
Be the Bigger Person. We will not fight fire with fire, but we will stand up for ourselves and hold our ground.
Amplify individuals’ voices. We will do our best to provide the platform for someone’s voice to be heard, rather than speak for them.
We are about education, not vindication. This will guide our Athlete Impact Statements as:
Athlete Impact Videos will feature relevant details such as location and/or where the person played at, but they will not say names of people involved unless already reported by the media.
The Athlete Impact Podcast will feature relevant details such as location, but they will not say the name of the organization where the abuse took place nor the names of people involved unless already reported by the media.
Non-anonymous Athlete Impact Written Statements will feature relevant details such as location, but they will not say the name of the organization where the abuse took place nor the names of people involved unless already reported by the media.
Anonymous Athlete Impact Written Statements will not name identifying details relevant to the abuse except for the sport the author participated in & the author’s pronouns.