Coach Rhonda

Coach Rhonda

Owner, CEO of Rhonda Schilawski Fitness LLC

Raised on a farm outside Ottawa, Canada, Rhonda grew up leading a very active and healthy lifestyle.  Rhonda developed toughness and strength in her childhood where bailing hay to feed the animals in the summers, bringing in wood to heat the house in the winters, and wrestling with her 6 siblings was the norm. A track and cross country scholarship brought Rhonda south to The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM), where she majored in Exercise Science and was a stand-out NCAA Division I track and cross country athlete. After college Rhonda went on to earn a M.S. in Exercise Science and then to work in the fitness industry in roles ranging from personal trainer to fitness and aquatics center director to high school track and cross country coach. She and her husband, Sutton, have lived in Wilmington since 2008, and have come to love the vibrant, tight-knit fitness community in their adopted home town.  

After becoming a mother in 2012, Rhonda was moved to begin her own fitness and coaching company.  Victress Coaching was born out of Rhonda’s passion for empowering women and girls to achieve their true potential. Whether her clients are high school freshmen tackling their first 5ks or seasoned competitors striving for a new PR, Rhonda’s challenging plans and workouts test her clients both physically and mentally to dig deep and push beyond their comfort zone.  Raised to believe that she could do anything she set her mind to, Rhonda applies that same philosophy to her coaching.  Positive self-talk, mental toughness and confidence building exercises and training play a big part in Rhonda’s coaching.  Rhonda believes that every victory, big or small, should be celebrated, and that good fitness is not an end in itself, but a means to mental, physical, and emotional empowerment.

When Coach Rhonda is not running around town with her friends she enjoys: 

• Cruising the intracoastal and spending time at the beach with her husband Sutton and their two daughters, Brinley (7) and Emory (4)

• Food, she loves food!  She delights in sampling new types of cuisine and tries not to order the same thing on the menu at her favorite restaurants.  In addition to appreciating the local restaurants, she likes to cook healthy and delicious meals for her family, which her children most likely won’t eat.

• Traveling to Canada to spend time with her large family, where gatherings usually include some type of crazy competition or challenge-which she must win!