Author Archives: Todd

May 9th Mother's Day Practice

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Hi everybody

Good practice on a sunny Mother's Day.  Good weather – it has not rained on us yet!  The only thing we could wish for better is to have more paddlers in the boat!

We started the practice stretching and talking about goal setting with Dave Montrose.  Dave gave really good examples of how busy he was – and how he could reasonably spend energy on dragon boat paddling.  He emphasized what he could do to help the team, and what he was willing to commit, and what his personal goals were.

We saw that Dragon Zone was hosting the False Creek Racing Canoe Club dragon boat regatta, and we watched both a race and a race start with four boats each.

12 paddlers worked hard on Sunday, refined their techniques for the push/pull drill, and the 5-5-5 drill.  The really learned to use their whole paddle and to feel the resistance.  We did some “ladder” drills – emphasizing the 5th stroke at 90%, as well we did 50%, 70% and 90% ten stroke ladder drills. 

The latter half we focused on Race Starts and Race strategies with coach Bob Brinson.  The team responded well, and Bob Brinson said the team had a real good jump on the first stroke. We practiced race starts in the the starting gates for the dragon boat regatta, and Bob simulated some race starts as Dave learned more about steering in race situations.  Later we paddled the entire 400m regatta length emphasizing a strong start and strong finish. 

Please remember to measure your own abilities.  We have team members with a range of fitness and ability levels.  We want to be able to push everybody, but not push people over their thresholds.  At this point, we are now working on strength and endurance training phase – but we need to build this up gradually.  If you need to take a break during a drill – please do so.  Hopefully with improved strength and endurance training, you will need less and less breaks.  Our goal is that you will not need any breaks during a race in 4 weeks time for the Alcan Dragon Boat regatta on June 6th, and certainly not for Festival weekend on June 19 & 20th.

Please remember to post your goals as a comment on the Goals page.  Please do not post anything confidential or of a highly personal nature, as the web pages are accessible to anyone on the internet.  I will look into setting up a member's section.

Cheers, Todd 

“Dragon King” built the Terracotta Warriors – big discount for show!

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The First Emperor of China was also known as the “Dragon King.”  He unified China as a nation – emerging from the warring states period.    He linked the Great Wall of China and built it into a great Wonder of the World.  The 8th Wonder of the Ancient World – the Terracotta Warriors were built as his protecting army for his burial tomb.

See the Action-Musical at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.  Combining dance, Chinese Opera, singing and martial arts with a love story with a historical setting. www.terracottawarriors.com

20% discount and no service charge if you phone 699-8780 and use the password “Dragon Boats.” 

35% midweek if you phone Ticketmaster 604-280-3311 and use the password “Vancouver Sun Weekdays.” only available until May 20th – use other discounts May 21 – 30.

Coaching, Goal Setting and Questions of the Day

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Hello everybody,
 
It was great to have so many paddlers out on the boat on Sunday.  We can really feel the power potential in the boat – once we got our timing together.  I will continue moving people around in the boat – to give each person a sense of what it is like to paddle front and back, left and right.  I want you to find out where you feel you are most strong on.
 
Remember we are paddling Wednesday.  We meet at 6pm for warmup and on the boat at 6:30pm.  If you are going to be late please call me on my cell phone 604-240-7090 or Bob Brinson 604-341-3968.  We will bring extra life jackets and paddles and we can meet you at a convenient spot.  eg. Cambie St. Dock (under Cambie St. Bridge South side) at 6:45 Round House ferry dock at 7pm, Granville Island at 7:15pm.  But please don't be late…
 
For coaching – I believe in empowering the athlete.  We want to support you in your growth and discovery of this sport – rather than impose a rigid system on you.  Bob and I are taking all the things that we have liked about dragon boats and forgoing all the things that we have not liked – and are trying to roll them into this season's training.  Dave Montrose wanted to help introduce mental training components – so we are working this in too. 
 
If you have ideas please mention them to me.  For example, Adrienne Wong last year discovered the similarities between the dragon boat preparation and training to what she does as an actor for performance.  Over the years I have coached corporate teams applying principles of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, for a Church team I integrated Deepak Chopra, for competitive teams I integrated sports psychology techniques.  Bob Brinson has also coached many teams most notably he has been a pioneer coach with breast cancer and seniors teams.  The important thing about coaching is to find ways to relate to the athletes and ensure it is the right training level – eg. competitve, recreational or novice. 
 
Being playful is good – it opens us to new ideas – just like multiculturalism!!!
 
Having a Question for our stretch time serves 2 major purposes.  A) We get to interact and learn not only each other's names but also about each other – This helps develop team cohesion and team spirit as we start to look out for each other; B) It addresses a different topic for each practice that we can work on.  This keeps every practice from being boring and makes it more fun to coach.  My goals are to have fun coaching, and have a team that is fun to coach – These are some of the tools that I use to accomplish these goals.
 
Goal setting
The goal setting exercises organized by Dave are great both for the team and for personal use.   In our “Question of the Day” stretching session, we discovered that there are many people both from last year and new this year – who are here for fun. 
 
We have a few paddlers who want to win medals too.  For me, winning medals is lots of fun.  I miss it when I don't win the medals.  But it is much more important to be part of a team that still talks to each other and socializes together than it is to win medals at the risk of alienating people. 
 
This is accomplished by setting criteria for my coaching and for the team such as: Be inclusive; have fun; ensure people feel a part of the team; have a full roster of paddlers; expectations for team and individuals are being met; paddler development continues to improve.
 
Goals are made more easily accomplishable by breaking them down into elements that are more concrete.  As Dave explained – “Having Fun is a general statement” rather than a specific goal.  Having fun is accomplished by a) getting to know people on the team b) feeling a sense of accomplishment in paddle improvement c) trying new things by challenging oneself beyond your comfort zone d) attending social gatherings for the team eg. eating together after practices e) showing up to as many practices as possible f) making a commitment to look for positive outlooks instead of negative critical problems.
 
We will continue to take new paddlers to continue to build the team into a club of 2 teams. We will take out two boats if necessary – to fit everybody on.  But the registration per festival will be limited.
 
Comments
Please feel free to e-mail comments back to me – or to post them on www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com  Posting will eliminate people getting lots and lots of e-mails during the day.
 
Cheers, Todd

CBC explorASIAN Launch, Saturday May 1st at Central Library

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CBC explorASIAN Launch, Saturday May 1st

Look for CBC on location at the explorASIAN Trade Bazaar happening at the Vancouver Public Library and join us in the afternoon for special CBC explorASIAN Launch Events!

Be part of our audience for an explorASIAN Celebration featuring host Adrienne Wong, comedian Tetsuro Shigematsu, readings from the upcoming CBC Radio drama, A Fine Balance and much more.

Cap off your evening by joining Eleanor Wachtel, host of Writers & Company and a special on Asian writing in North America.

Event Schedule for Saturday May 1st
1:00 PM CBC Television presents explorZeD (45 min)

2:30 PM CBC Television presents Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story (50 min)

4:00 PM Doors open at 3:30 pm. CBC Radio One 690 presents a Studio One Live Broadcast featuring host Adrienne Wong, comedian Tetsuro Shigematsu and more.

7:00 PM Writers & Company Asian writers panel with Eleanor Wachtel.

TO ATTEND ONE OR ALL OF THESE CBC EVENTS, OR FOR MORE INFO, PLEASE CALL: 604-662-6611

ADMISSION IS FREE BUT SEATING IS LIMITED. THOSE INTERESTED MUST CONFIRM ATTENDANCE BY CALLING THE NUMBER ABOVE. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.

dragon boat practice schedule for May and June

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We are adding Wednesday evening practices for the team starting in May.  This will allow more paddler development and team cohesion building as well as more opportunities for carbohydrate re-loading after practices.

Sunday afternoons are getting hectic with parking challenges so we need to be real focussed, as Slam City Jam Skate Board Festival opens next weekend at BC Place and Cirque du Soleil opens as well.

There are 3 Sunday practices that will change to 12 noon meeting times – as our practices for 3 Sundays will change to Dragon Zone at the Ferry Dock beside the Science World.  These are mandatory practices for the Alcan Festival, designed to ensure that new and inexperienced teams are familiar with marshalling, loading/unloading procedures for the Festival in order to prevent accidents and time delays.  We will meet at 12 noon and be on the boat by or before 1pm. These are the latest available times – other than Sunday mornings or on Saturdays.

Ideally, this simulates the chaos and order of race day – so these mandatory practice days provide the perfect training for Race Day conditions.  Please arrive early as we will start practice one hour prior to getting on the water.  This one hour will be spent doing race visualization, stretching and cardio warm-up, as well as discussing race strategies.  We believe that the best preparation ensures that nobody gets lost, disoriented, forgets anything or doesn't have any fun… 🙂

Practice times and places for May and June

Sunday May 2, 1pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Wednesday May 5, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Sunday May 9, 1pm: Mother's Day Plaza of Nations Marina

Wednesday May 12, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Sunday May 16, 12 pm – Dragon Zone – Science World

Wednesday May 19, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Sunday May 23, 1 pm: Victoria Day Long Weekend – Plaza of Nations Marina (optional?)

Wednesday May 26, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Sunday May 30, 12 pm – Dragon Zone – Science World

Wednesday June 2, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Sunday May 6, 12 pm – Alcan Dragon Boat Festival Race Regatta Dragon Zone – Science World – details to be announced.  This is really good race practice: 2 or 3 races in quick turnaround from 12 to 3pm.

Wednesday June 9, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina

Sunday June 13, 12 pm – Dragon Zone – Science World

Wednesday June 16, 6pm – Plaza of Nations Marina  FINAL PRACTICE

June 19 and 20, Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – race times to be announced.  2 races on Sat + 2 races on Sunday.  Please book off all of Sat and Sun for racing, and personal enjoyment time.  Big Party on Saturday night on Festival Site (not Sunday anymore).

More racing throughout the Summer – We will continue on Wednesday and Sunday practices for now.  Possible races include: July 17th in Kent WA (Seattle), July 24 Richmond, July 30/Aug 1 Portland OR, August 14/15 Victoria, Sept 4 Vancouver Taiwanese Boats, Sept 19/20 Kelowna.

 

Sunday practice review + water safety and more!

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Hi everybody,

Good practice on Sunday afternoon. We had 17 people on the boat – our most yet! Several people were away on committments, and we are still waiting for several others to make their committments. But the roster is shaping up with 12 returning paddlers + 5 new experienced paddlers + 7 rookies, Two Coaches + Assistant Coach/Manager!!!

New manager/assistant coach Dave Montrose commented that this year's team has a great “TEAM attitude” – he said that this team spontaneously helps each other on and off the boat and that it is a rare thing to see… People also really paid attention to commands on the boat and were focussed. This is usually something we see on teams just getting ready for racing – But with 6 first time paddlers in the boat – it was very good.

We are still in our technique training phase – especially with many neophyte paddlers just being introduced to the sport.  Emphasis on timing and body position.  This is ideal for experienced paddlers to improve on their technique.  Remember lean outside the boat, keep a straight arm, and rotate on your butt cheek  – instead of pulling with your biceps.  Next week we will introduce some exercises for advanced paddlers.

Big emphasis on Water Safety.  Dave Montrose came straight from the ADBF technical steering clinic.  It is very important that everybody knows the on -water commands, and responds to whatever command is asked of them.  We had left fronts and right backs draw while right fronts and left backs paddled forward – Great stuff!

We went through some drills to ensure what to do in case of a boating accident – even though we personally have never had one on False Creek.  But we did have a collision in Portland last year when a boat with an inexperienced steersperson cut across our bow and stopped right in front of us!  We hit it midships, after doing our best to stop our boat – while the other boat sat in stunned silence watching us coming toward them.

PRACTICE DATES:

We will begin Wednesday practices starting May 5th, 6pm – 6:30 on the water. There will be 6 Wednesday evenings prior to Alcan Dragon Boat Festival June 19/20. And we will continue Wednesdays throughout the summer.

Sundays – We will now start training sessions at 1pm. Please be on time – arrive 15 to 10 minutes earlier. The 1 to 1:30pm time is for race strategies and coaching + stretching and warm-up – This becomes crucial as we progress. We want to be on the boat at 1:30 with life jackets on and paddles in hand.

I will arrive early at 12:30 for anybody wanting extra coaching and handing in their cheques etc. New paddlers should start arriving at 12:30, so we can do some extra one-on-one coaching and some dryland exercises to help offset your learning curve. By Race Prep time – we will be meeting 1 hour prior to getting on the boat – this is for race strategies and warm ups.

MONIES NEEDED!

Please bring in your cheques… This is needed to order team t-shirts (synthetic quick-dry) and to register for future races.  We were able to register the $1950 for the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival early registration due to monies raised for the fundraiser dinner in January.  It is time to put that money back in the bank so we have a reserve to pre-pay registrations for more races.

May 1st – Symphony Social at the Orpheum with VSO/VYSO

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SOCIAL OPPORTUNITY:

throughout the season we will plan social opportunities – movies, parties – or to attend performances involving our artistic paddler team mates.

May 1st, Orpheum Theatre.

Our paddler Deb Martin (and my girlfriend), manages the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. The senior orchestra is performing with the Vancouver Symphony this Saturday at 8pm. The VYSO senior orchestra will join the VSO on stage for Holst: The Planets.

Call me ASAP if you would like group rate tickets, and to sit together.

Prices include GST and service charges: A $38.75, B $33.75, C $26.00, D $22.75. Student prices are $3 to $4 less. This is discounted from A $45.75, B $39.75, C $30.75, D $26.75. I think we are going for C – in the balcony – but choose your own seats if you want to be closer or in the orchestra.

http://www.vancouversymphony.ca/Concertpage.cfm?CFCONCERTCODE=03MUS4

Planets, Spheres, and RhapsodiesÂ…

Bramwell Tovey – Conductor

Strauss: Waltz Music of the Spheres

O`Leary: CBC Commission / World Premiere

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43*

Holst: The Planets

Veera devi Khare : “A Touch of Opera, A Touch of India”

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Imagine opera mixed with hip hop and traditional chants from India + Broadway showtunes.  Add in contemporary ballet from The Source Dance Co. and Shiamak's Indo Jazz Dance Movement  This is the musical theatre vision of Veera Devi Khare… and it is exciting!

Khare has created a culture-bending show that presents her love of singing many different style + the opera that she loves while recognizing the Indian origins that influenced Bizet's Carmen & Les Pecheurs de Perles + Lakme by Delibes, Gondinet & Gille. With a recent Masters Degree in Opera from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, she presented the World Premiere of “A Touch of Opera, A Touch of India at Capilano College Theatre, April 20 & 23. 

With many costume changes between fine Indian costumes, and Opera gowns, Khare's show weaves between the familiar (West Side Story's “Somewhere” and “The Prayer” made famous by Celine Dion and Andrea Bochelli), the sophisticated (arias from Carmen, Lakme), the sacred (Hindu prayers + one of her own), and the exotic (Fire, Water, Earth & Air – a trippy hip hop tune + The Source Dance Co. & Shiamak's Indo Jazz Dance Movement.

During “Fire, Water, Earth & Air”, Veera appears on stage, as if she is a four-armed Shiva.  The trance beat music fills the auditorium, as a low-voice rap speaks it's truth.  Khare joins in the rap, and a dancer in traditional Indian costume steps out from behind her – and they join in dance moves, as Khare sings.  Very contemporary. Very traditional.  Very exciting.

Did I mention the dancers?  Contemporary dancers peform to her musical interludes, and act as segues from scene to scene while Khare makes her costume changes.  Everything flows seamlessly barring a few minor production glitches in the first day's performance, including a fire alarm just before the 2nd half.  By the final night – production flowed smoothly. To close the first half, the dancers from the Shumaik Dance school launced into a bangra style disco hip hop piece that got the audience whooping and hollering.  Sort of a 21st C version of disco belly dancing – very exotic to Western eyes and experience.

Khare save her best stuff for last.  She presented Western opera within the context of recognizing their Indian inspiriations, Bizet's Pearl Fishers and Delibes's Lakme were both set in 19th C India.  The duet from Lakme, “Sous le Dome Epais” is most familiar to people as the music used in the British Airways commercial.  Carmen's Habanera is performed with castenets (rarely done on stage), acknowledging the Indian roots of the gypsies who travelled throughout Spain and Europe.

This is an ambitious work for somebody just starting her singing career.  Khare is virtually unknown in Vancouver – but yet calls this city her home, as she splits time between Vancouver and New York.

see www.atouchofopera.com

 

Races we would like to enter for the Summer 2004

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The following are dragon boat races happening in BC, Washington, Oregon, Alberta, Sasketchewan and Manitoba.

Last year Gung Haggis raced in ADBF, Kent WA, Portland OR, Victoria BC and Vancouver Taiwanese dragon boat races.  Our coaching team has also raced in past years at ADBF regatta, FCRCC regatta, FC Women's regatta, Seattle DBF, Richmond DBf and in San Francisco + others.

The plan is to enter the races that are in bold – as long as we have enough people to enter a team.  Road trips are the most fun, and the team dinner parties and side trips such as Oregon Beaches, Okanagan wineries, Napa Valley wineries, are… too much fun

The trips outside Vancouver are only possible with a dedicated group of paddlers – or a larger group of paddlers to draw from.  Ideally if we have two teams for Vancouver – then people can pick and choose which races to enter throughout the summer.  The other option is to borrow paddlers from other teams or join up with other teams.  For Victoria last year, we joined up with Dieselfish from San Francisco.

Cheers, Todd

May 9 False Creek Racing Canoe Club Regatta

May 15 Lotus Barnet Dragon Boat Regatta www.lotussports.ca

May 22 False Creek WomenÂ’s Regatta

June 5-6 ADBF Regatta www.adbf.com

June 12-13 Saskatoon Summer Festival

June 19-20 Alcan Dragon Boat Festival (Vancouver) www.adbf.com

June 25-27 Lethbridge Rotary Dragon Boat Festival

July 3-4 Saskatoon Dragon Boat Festival

July 9-11 Nanaimo DBF www.nanaimodragonboat.com

July 16-17 Kent Cornucopia Dragon Boat Races www.kcdays.com

July 24 Richmond Dragon Boat Festival www.f2000p.org/richmond/festival/

July 31-Aug 1 Calgary DBF www.calgarydragonboat.com

July 31-Aug 1 Portland 6-16

Aug 7 Vancouver Island Dragon Boat Championship www.f2000p.org/funfest/

Aug 14-15 Edmonton DBF

Aug 14-15 Victoria DBF www.victoriadragonboat.com

Aug 15-16 LPA “Hot Daze” Regatta (Lethbridge)

Aug 27-29 Regina DBF

Sep 4-5 Taiwanese Dragon Boat (Vancouver) www.dragonboatassociation.ca

Sep 11 Penticton DBF http://prcc.bc.ca/dragonboat/

Sep 17-19 Kelowna DBF www.kelownadragonboatfestival.com

Sep 25-26 Northern California DB Championships (SF)