KL Bar Dragon Boat Team Aims to Make Waves

The Young Lawyers Committee and the Social, Arts and Culture Committee had jointly organised an introductory dragon boat workshop on 18 June 2011 and there have been further dragon boat sessions since then. There has been a very enthusiastic response to the dragon boat sessions, all held at the Putrajaya Maritime Centre, with a team now being formed to compete at a competition in October.

Dragon boating can trace its origins back to more than a thousand years. Very Asian in origin, drawing from Chinese legends as well as Asian fishermen, dragon boating is now a global sport with more than 50 million dragon boaters worldwide. Its distinctive features are the brightly coloured dragon heads attached to the front of the boats along with long scales and a tail. With a drummer seated in front of the boat, the beating of the drum signifies the dragon’s heart beat as the dragon boat races across the water.

At the introductory workshop for the paddlers, a boat of 18 complete newcomers jumped straight into the history, the culture as well as all the technique behind dragon boating. The introductory words given to the newcomers were “We are not rowers. We are paddlers.” With that, the newcomers were went through a fun but intensive crash course into how to paddle a dragon boat.

Being a team sport, the essential element of dragon boating is being able to channel teamwork into achieving perfect synchronisation.

So various drills are carried out (often with groans of pain by the paddlers) emphasising how every single paddler must work as a team. Every paddler must watch out for their team mates, trusting in their team mates and not letting anyone down. Any clash of paddles, any mis-timing, a stop in paddling due to tiredness; all of this would cause one’s boat to slow down.

With the introductory workshop laying down the foundation for the paddlers, regular training sessions have now been implemented. The fledgling KL Bar dragon boat team will now be holding regular Sunday training sessions, from 9am – 12.30pm, at the Putrajaya Maritime Centre. The goal will be to train and then compete at the Malaysia International Dragon Boat Festival held in Putrajaya on 20 – 23 October 2011 (link: http://www.putrajayadragonboat.com/index2 )

We would like to invite anyone who is interested to join in for these training sessions. They cost RM20 per session (to cover the dragon boat rental along with the life vests) and it will offer a fantastic work-out, a lot of fun, coupled with team-building. Do e-mail Melissa if you are interested in trying it out.

Let me finish with this Ode to Dragon Boaters:

My muscles they ache,

My skin is all baked,

My butt cheek is bruised,

My bones been abused,

But I must be insane,

Cause despite all the sprains,

The blisters and the pain,

I still want to paddle again!”

- A Dragon Boat Paddler

Click here to view the photos.

Report and Photos by Lee Shih. Edited by the Publications Committee