Does anyone know where I can find some basic dragon boating drills and tips to offer to some people new to the game?

Canadian Tire. Get the steel/wood brill bits, the masonary ones aren't good for Dragon Boats.

HTH.

I would also recommend a cordless drill. Otherwise you have to bring your boat to where the outlet is.

I can make to you to make to your friends is that they should get a coach.

I am not being flip or sarcastic. Unless they get someone who has a bit of experience who can take a look at them and decide what they should be doing based on what he/she sees then you/they have a 99% chance of working on the wrong stuff.

It's like me asking someone how to fix my golf swing without them ever having seen me take a swing. What drills should I do?

There are all kinds of drills that can be done from pyramids, intervals, speed work, distance work, anaerobic, aerobic, lactic acid, etc, etc, etc... Any can be used, and many more, but knowing what intensity for what duration and which technical drills to work on can only be decided by working with the crew.

There is no 20 steps to good dragon boating that can be stepped through by any new crew. A running club, your local Golds gym, and a bank team would all probably have quite different programs set out for them.

So seriously, I would try and get an experienced coach, if you can't afford one full time then get one for a practice or two with the upfront expectation that you are looking for them to do an evaluation and provide some guidance on what you should be working on in subsequent practices.

If you just have a team with mostly beginners, you can probably get by without an experienced coach. Just throw them all in a boat and have some fun. At the very least...make sure they are all more-a-less in sync and don't clash paddles (too often).

Some people take this sport a little too serously.

But I guess I just figured that it would be more fun with a little structured learning.

I am not advocating 3 a week practices with a premier coach, but rather at least one or two with any level should help ensure a higher overall "fun level".

PS. Some people assume everyone takes things to seriously.

The manual on the site below is a great start.

http://paddlecalgary.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/False-Creek-DB-Manual.pdf

Ron D

My favourite drill is to break the stroke down into 3 or 4 parts and work on each separately, then put them back together. It's often hard to work on more than one thing at once, so focus one part and one idea at time. For example:

Catch - work on the first part of the stroke, the catch. Whatever it is you do, try to have the whole team do the same thing. You're still doing a full stroke, you just let quality of the rest of the stroke slide a little as you work on the catch.

Pull phase/middle - work on the pulling phase of the stroke. Let catch and exit get a little soft and sloppy as they work on getting a good pull with the body.

Exit - again, whatever it is your team does with the exit get everyone doing it the same way. Catch and pull phase are just set ups to a good exit.

Recovery - the space between exit and the next catch, get everyone to recover at the same speed in the same way.

Once you've worked on all the parts put them together for a complete stroke.

I'm sorry but I would figure that a team of mostly inexperienced people would greatly benefit with a coach...any crew for that matter.JMHO

I honestly think any new team would have more FUN with a little structured learning.

My first time trying dragonboat we didn't have a real coach. The rec team was ran by a few paddlers with about 3-4 of paddling experience. They taught us the basics like the stroke, looking up, keeping in sync, and the voice commands. And for a beginner team that had no expectations...it was good enough and we even managed to have a great time that summer.

Considering that the person who started this thread was looking for drills, I don't know why you would answer them with a "why bother, who needs coaches?" response. And I agree with X, some people have more fun when they have a little bit of structure and actually learn something.

And as I like to say, it's always more fun when you win. You increase your chances of that when you actually learn how to paddle.

I've heard that there are people in Toronto who actually make their living coaching dragon boat!

Yes, the person was looking for drills. Team organisers can still run drills without hiring a coach.

Rather than reply with "just get a coach", which is probably obvious to the initial poster and not what they looking for, how about actually suggesting some useful drills for beginners.

If I posted a message somewhere asking for tips on how to do an oil change, I probably would not want to get answers like "take it to the dealer".

probably another coach looking for a job. What's the longest tenure of any coach?

probably another dick causing shit. what's the longest tenure of a dragon boat forum and rankings team member?

That's actually a really good question. Blake's been with the Imps for years and Jim's been with mayfair for years. Who else is in the running?

Your best bet depends on where you are. Assuming you are in the GTA there are many options. There are many coaches who would gladly give you a couple of pointers, just not on this forum.
If you are in the GTA, let me know and I can try to hook you up with someone who'll come out and give you some tips.
If you are not in the GTA, same thing applies (just a little more difficult)
Most of the guys are more than happy to help a new team.
Goodl luck

Derek

Does Jim & Blake get compensated through all those years?

It seems to me average tenure is about 2-3 years.

Wha about Lob Chang, he is coaching Pirhanas for 5 years

Den Steve Brackburn for Shogun and Steve Leung for Tempist

Steve - Tempest ....uh no ??

Steve Blackburn did not coach the Shogun. Rather he acquired (Dominic) or hired (Kevin) people to coach his team. However, he is quick to claim that it was his coaching.

He 'retired' a couple of years ago to spend more time with his young family, but Chris DeGraauw (sp?) coached BMO First Dragons for about 10 years -- including 4 years in the medals on the Island, 2 years in HK, Rome, England. He took a bunch of mid-athletic (to be complementary) bankers, built a core, and trained them to win the races that mattered. Yeah, he pissed off a lot of people along the way, but not many of those he coached.

Coaching Tenure Rankings - does not include 2005

1. Chris Degrauw (BMO)- 10 years
2. Blake Hara (IMPS) - 7 years
3. Rob Chang (Piranhas) - 6 years
4. Dave Huck (Ruckus) - 4 years

theres way more. keep adding.

donald is my favorite coach cuz he's hot