This is a long overdue first post in a series to come about my summer of 2009. In early May, I jumped at a awesome opportunity (albeit a long-shot) presented to me. My sister had spent a year prior training with the Team Canada Junior Dragonboat team, that is to compete at the World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic in August of this year. Prior to that, she competed with Team Canada at the last World Championships in Australia (2007). I learned that both the Junior (U17) and Under-23 (U23) national teams were training out of nearby Frenchman’s Bay in Pickering, ON – and that the final rosters had yet to be decided.

I’ve been involved in the sport since high school. I went to (the infamous) Sir Oliver Mowat S.S, which is known across Canada for its’ Dragonboat program (It seems that greater than half of the Team Canada Junior team came from this single high school). The school, and its current 6 boats of paddlers routinely places 1-2-3 or better at major festivals, setting record times. At the 2009 Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival (TIDBF), the school places 1-2-3-5-6 in the high school ‘A’ final, an absolutely astounding feat. Why are they so unstoppable? Likely largely due to the world class coaching they receive from Scott Madil, a teacher at the school, in combination with their intensive training starting in January and continuing all the way into summer vacation. More on Mowat at a later date.

After high school, I moved to Waterloo, ON to attend the University of Waterloo (UW) – a university certainly not known for its Dragonboat talent. For that matter – the university didn’t have an official team or club when I got there. Thanks to some dedicated paddlers (namely George Wang and Phillip Wang), things changed during my first year. George, a classmate of mine, came from another Toronto school with a large Dragonboat program (Earl Haig), and was also disappointed that he couldn’t continue paddling at UW. He founded the University of Waterloo Dragon Boat Club. Soon after, I got involved as the coach of the team we put together. In year one, we put together two boats (about 45 athletes) and paddled at one local festival. After that – things took off. This year we have over 70 athletes involved (three boats), and are paddling in three different festivals this summer. We’ve taken a group of (mostly) inexperienced paddlers with only a few months of practice, and are competing with established universities and clubs (times arond 2:11 at TIDBF).

Anyways, back to Team Canada: After learning that the final rosters had yet to be decided, I started going out to practices with the host club (Pickering Dragon Boat Club – PDBC). The Team Canada Junior and U23 teams are paddling out of PDBC. Following their May training camp/fitness testing, I was offered a spot on the team. We’re going to be representing Canada on the world stage in Prague, Czech Republic, come August. I’m going to try to give a few inside glimpses through these posts into the training and preparation as we prepare this Summer to face the world…

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