My high school gave our team lots of support and got us to wildwood and that was great; however, according to our phys ed department at Northern Cl. in Sarnia "because their are no other high school teams in Ont and their is no offsa db", we do not count as a sport and we are only recognized as a club its a load of crap! We are not allowed to ask members for participation fee's...because we are not a sport, we are not awarded athletic points or consideration .... so our athletes are not allowed to count db as a sport on scholarships applications and school awards! It is very disappointing. I know that there are other high school crews out there and I know that more and more start up all the time so was anyone else given this non-offsa bs? If you were I think we should join up, charge down to the offsa, and demand recognition!

I am not sure if you can take advantage of the fact that high school students must put in 40 hours of community service before they are allowed to graduate. Since many of the dragon boat events are run by service clubs to help raise funds for community projects, then play the game with your school and get yourself credit for your sweat and toil.

From what I have seen in the past few years from whinning teachers, I would leave them out of this and try and grab a sponsor who would benefit from having a bunch of high school students represent them (Pizza joint, ice cream shop, music store, etc )

Sell yourself as the role models that you are in the community and the fact that you are representing Sarnia in such a positive way.

It is going to take years. It doesn't matter how legitimate your sport is.

For those of you that don't know

OFSAA = Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Assocation

OFSAA is a huge bureaucracy, and it takes them awhile to get things done. Girls Wrestling took years and years to obtain recognition.

The first step to getting a sport recognized is when the sport becomes an OFSAA Festival event- which is not the same as a full-fledged OFSAA sport. After a few years (however the folks at OFSAA do this, I am totally unaware of the process) and I guess increased participation, a sport may receive official OFSAA sport status.

This takes years...and only if the popularity of the sport increases. So it won't happen while you're still in high school, unfortunately, I highly highly highly doubt that, but teams around the province have to band together and get serious about DB.

It's not going to happen for some time. And it is an expensive sport. With school budgets going the way they are.....


You can fill in the blanks.

But I wish you high schoolers the best of luck in the joke that they like to call a school system now. Try not to let them screw you up the ass with their cheap excuse of a curriculum.

HOWEVER...the message posted before me is true. Keep representing yourselves well, getting out in the community, etc. getting noticed.

I've been scrounging for money from the University of Toronto (for the Piranhas) but have been running into walls as well.

We get some funding, but that's as a club and after ALOT of begging and asking.

well, there is no ofsa db, but there are high school teams in Ontario. There is even a High School Cup regatta held in Pickering with only High School teams participating. It is not a 'real' sport however, so you might be out of luck...

well, there is no ofsa db, but there are high school teams in Ontario. There is even a High School Cup regatta held in Pickering with only High School teams participating. It is not a 'real' sport however, so you might be out of luck...

I saw your message on the forum... there is a
high school cup in Pickering? Do you have any info.
on it? We were interested in setting something like that up here in Stratford, but if it's already in place, we could just spread the word to the area schools. Thanks.

teenybop,
AFAIK the schools participating in the High School Cup
were Dunburton (sp?), Anderson, Mowat, and few others.
It was held a week before the Pickering regatta, organized by West Rouge Canoe Club. That is all I know. Maybe try contacting West Rouge Canoe Club?

- Mowat (Scarborough)
- Anderson Collegiate
- Cedarbrae C.I. (Scarborough)
- Pine Ridge Secondary
- Dunbarton
- L'Amoreaux C.I. (Scarborough)
- Mary Ward Secondary (Scarborough)

I think Pickering High also has a team.

You should talk with the Rotary Club, Bert Clifford and Kevin McCann are good ones to talk to as per setting up a high school Challenge together. I'm assuming you are with the Mitchell HS as NWSS , Central and St.Mikes haven't really got on the DB kick yet.
Another person to talk to is Ken Gene , I know the club is looking at going to a higher performance level and are looking at opening up the club to all crews in the area. A lot of Changes are happening within the Club and you will be seeing more cross training boats becoming available to club members.
Good luck and keep paddling!

also there is a high school division at wildwood, but if your from mitchell you know that and we raced you there is there is little to no point to this post i guess, im sorry all i had a split shift at work today and i missed practice because of it!

thanks for the replies everyone

We may start a St. Mike's Stratford team, don't know yet. But that Pickering race sounds cool. Good luck Red October.

if you do decide to try and get a team together, I am sure that I could provide you with steering and at least one of my teammates would help out with coaching.
e-mail me anytime if you need help.

YA!

St Robert CHS - has 2 teams (Richmond hill)
St Augustine CHS - has 1 team (Markham)
bayview SS has a team i think (Richmond hill)
not sure about others - why not take a look at the Island results and look for all the high school teams that participated

PDBC runs the Ontario High School Championships the day after the Pickering Challenge in Early June

www.pdbc.ca

The TIDBRF also has a Junior Division for mostly High School Teams

www.dragonboats.com

For the first time I was helping a friend with a high school team in the summer. Overall they didn't seem to focused or serious about dragonboating, except when we had mock races with the teachers.

They seemed more serious when we raced at the Island. Only then did they realize that if they put more effort into the practices, they could have done much better.

What surprised me was after we had packed up to leave after the final race, 3 of the students came up to me and 2 of teachers. They really enjoyed the day of competition but were disappointed that it was over and they were moving on into University after the summer.

I pointed out that if they really wanted to stay with the sport, they could probably find a team in university.

I wish I had the chance to do this in high school

And what you can do after you graduate is still paddle for your university team even though you are no longer eligible. Thereby showing how pathetic you are by trying to win a division that doesn't mean much through cheating.

all the high school teams are in the GTA area, there are two really good teams, Pine Ridge, and Mowat both have national dragon boat atheltes on their teams