Leisure and Cultural Services Department - Community Sports Club BulletinLeisure and Cultural Services Department
New Stars
Dragon Boat • Hong Kong Crazy Dragon Boat Club
Overcoming difficulties and training persistently
The Hong Kong Crazy Dragon Boat Club (HKCDBC) was established on 1 July 2012 and currently has over 40 members aged between 17-50 years old. The founder initially created the club and started dragon boat training to lose weight, but everyone fell in love with dragon boat racing because of the harmonious interaction the members had and all the things they could learn outside of books, such as teamwork.
Dragon boat training is very rigourous and members must have a sense of belonging to be able to persevere and strive to participate in the training. There are about 10 to 20 paddlers on one dragon boat, so one of the difficulties of dragon boat training is to balance the individual abilities of each member while also ensuring the whole team is united. “One dragon, one heart” is the spirit that our team pursues. Another difficulty is that some members are more self-centred and think they are great just because they have more experience. Besides, most of our team members are the only child, so they are not accustomed to accommodating and cooperating with others. That being said, they have learned to care for others through the guidance of our coaches. When we promote dragon boat racing to youths, we often stress that this sport emphasizes individual training and team spirit.
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Ms CHAN Siu Lan (right) and Mr CHEUNG Ka Lok (left), the President and Instructor & the committee member of HKCDBC respectively |
Expanding horizons and receiving honours
In May 2013, the Crazy Dragon Boat Racing team took part in the Stanley dragon boat racing warm-up competition, only discovering on the day that dragon boat racing had become an international event participated in by people of various cultures and nationalities. Our team participates in a number of competitions each year and we entered 15 competitions last year, some of which are overseas competitions in Japan and Korea. We even won three awards in the competition held in Korea! The thing is, our Club doesn’t need our members to win awards – we just want our young members to expand their horizons by participating in international competitions. Since overseas competitions are at their own expense and most of our members are students, they need sponsors to subsidize part of their costs so they can take part in competitions.
Our dragon boat teams always make proper preparations whenever there is a competition. First and foremost, we will ensure the number of participants and have our coaches, setting a training programme. In addition, our members must also pay attention to their diet. Our coaches often remind our members to eat foods rich in carbohydrates before a race and to cut down on the amount of exercise they do during the few days prior to a race. The mental fitness of our members is also equally important. At the end of the day, we are all amateurs so it can’t be helped if some newcomers suffer from insomnia due to their nerves. When this happens, their team members will provide counseling and mutual support for each other.
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The teammates of HKCDBC |
Help from the community Support from family
When our members take part in a dragon boat race, their families will call to ask about the competition and the results. This makes our members feel that their families care about the competition and it gives them support and energy. Some parents are worried that the dragon boat training will affect the studies of our members. When this happens, our coaches will explain to them that if their children enjoy dragon boating, they should be given the chance to participate in it, but they should also be encouraged to study hard at the same time. If it is discovered that our members don’t pay attention to their studies, then they should not be allowed to take part in the training. Our dragon boat members all say that the sport has helped them alleviate stress from their work and studies, so they hope more people can take part in it and enjoy the fun of dragon boating.
Dragon boating is a less popular team sport. The HKCDBC joined the Community Sports Club Project and is a community sports club. The Club hopes to promote dragon boat activities in the community through this project, so as to raise public awareness and participation in this sport.
