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Article written by Kel Watt and published as a tribute to Jon Taylor:

Jon Taylor

13th October 1952 – 17th December 2008

The problem with trying to recognise the remarkable and extraordinary contribution of Jon Taylor when he was in the room, was that he was a man who prided himself on his ordinariness and his achievements as being too humble to deserve much fanfare. His passing away from illness, and his final farewell in December, has given the Australian and international dragon boating community an opportunity to finally speak freely and without interruption about the tremendous debt we owe Jon, and about the tenacity and vision of a man
which has moulded our sport and community.

Jon Taylor spent most of the last two decades as a central figure in NSW and Australian dragon boating. When he stepped aside as President at the AusDBF April 2008 AGM, he left an organisation that had grown a sport from being obscure and novel, into one that oversaw a successful, vibrant sporting community all paddlers were proud to be part of. His final act as President was to announce the awarding of AusDBF’s first life memberships to three people who had been in the trenches with Jon for many difficult and testing years, as they rebuilt and rejuvenated the sport – AusDBF’s first President Trevor Huggard, Ray Leung from Sydney, and Les Williams from Canberra. A couple of days later as the 2008 Australian dragon boat championships came to a close, I recognised how hard it would be to fill his shoes, but that – thankfully – his work and efforts meant the Federation’s and sport’s future was one of endless positive possibilities. To acknowledge that, the new AusDBF board’s first official action was to be the awarding of life membership to Jon. The crowd cheered and applauded (lasting that little bit too long for Jon’s liking) and then anyone who had known Jon nodded their heads in agreement that it was a well-deserved honour.

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Timing Box
This is the first 3 rows, which includes your lead stroker. They all should be locked in to a desired pace and set the overall pace of the boat.

Engine Room
This is the middle of the boat. The paddlers here must have the determination and endurance to continue to apply the pressure up front.

Terminators
These are the last 3 rows of the DB, these rows must have strong front end grips to keep the pressure on the fast water passing by. (Water towards the back of the boat is very fast from all of the paddlers in front of you. It is very easy to paddle back here so it is very important that you push yourself to apply the pressure at all times.

Front end grip
This is when you’re over the head hand pushes forward. This applies pressure to the water against the paddle.

4-keys to your stroke

1. The Catch: When your paddle enters the water. (exhale breathing begins)
2. Compression: when your legs, abs, back pull you in a sitting up position
causing the paddle to be pulled toward your hip. (exhale finishes)
3. Exit: This is when you exit the paddle out of the water. (inhale begins)
4. Recovery: When you turn the waist bringing your paddle forward to begina new stroke finishing with the catch of new water. (exhale ends)

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Around two thousand years ago in China there lived a man named Qua Yuan, a patriotic poet. Qua was one of the king’s advisors however his ideas were believed to be radical. He was often criticised by his fellow jealous advisors and the king was finally convinced by these jealous men to exile Qua out of the kingdom.

After many years Qua Yuan learned about a planned invasion of his kingdom and his love for his country and his distress in knowing that it would be destroyed led him to commit suicide. Once his followers heard that he planned to drown himself in the local river, they raced down to it in an attempt to save him. His followers formed groups and jumped into boats. Banging loudly on drums and splashing their paddles around in order to deter the fish from eating his corpse, they searched up and down the river but never found him.

Thus, a sport emerged where a boat full of men raced to the sounds of drums in order to keep the beat. Every year on the date of his death, a race is held in this same river to commemorate Qua Yuan’s death.

Dragon boating is one of the fastest growing water sports in the world. It’s easy to participate in, requiring minimal resources and skills. It is truly a team sport and includes teams at all levels of competition. On the water, dragon boating is a widely colourful and loud sport.

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The biggest challenge of dragon boat racing is managing synchrony. To do that, teams that spend more time practicing on water tend to have an advantage.

Some teams that emphasize stroke rate might put their strongest members in the front to set the stroke rate for the team. Others that emphasize the mechanical science of propulsion put their strongest members in the back to deal with water resistance. There are also those who theorize on the centre of gravity of the boat and the best lineup to lower the centre of gravity. Whatever the lineup, there is a rationale for it. Yet, basic execution, including flawless strokes and synchrony, is the most important part of competitive dragon boating.

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An interesting article that is important for all aspects of your life, not only Dragon Boating.

The brain, like every other part of our body, ages as we do. Clinical neuropsychologist Nicola Gates recommends five top tips to keep you at your mental best.

1. Eat nutritious food. For optimum cognitive function your brain requires a diet high in nutrients, protein and essential vitamins and minerals. All brain functions, such as concentration, information processing speed, new learning capacity and cognitive tolerance become reduced when your diet is chronically nutritionally poor. Some nutrients, such as antioxidants and omega-3s, can increase your brain’s health.

2. Get active. Exercise improves cognitive function and may actually encourage the growth of new brain cells, while aerobic exercise may have a positive impact on executive functioning in older people.

3. Good mental health helps ensure good brain health. Stress, depression, anxiety and other psychological problems influence your brain’s ability to function. Prolonged exposure to stress harms your brain as the sympathetic nervous system is overactive and the amounts of hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol become excessive and begin to interfere with your brain’s ability to function.

4. Stay connected with friends and family. A sense of fulfillment and meaning helps maintain cognitive, mental and physical health, and is gained through having an engaged and active life with other people. Join a club or society, become a volunteer, arrange regular get-togethers with friends, get to know your neighbours or play a sport. Get out there, meet people and have fun.

5. Keep your brain active. Cognitive functions, such as problem solving and memory and information processing, may decline as you age. This can worsen if your brain is understimulated. Keep it active by learning a new language or a new word every day, or by playing games such as chess or mahjong.

Nicola Gates is in private practice and is currently undertaking a PhD in dementia intervention. She also contributes to the development of exercises and research for the HeadStrong Cognitive Fitness Centre, an in2life partner. Visit www.headstrong.com.au or call Nicola on 02 9969 3301.

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Goal setting is a powerful tool used to help us achieve a result. This is applicable to any part of your life and I’m going to be discussing this specifically for Dragonboating.

One issue that I see happen time and time again from any paddler and even myself is staying focused and motivated in this sport. When you first start, it’s easy to learn so many new techniques and improving the quality of your paddling. Though, there reaches a point when you start to plateau and this is the time when we need to boost our motivation and set new goals. Whether you have just started or have been paddling for years understanding how goal setting can work for you will not only get you motivated, it will take you to another level of paddling.

I use the S.M.A.R.T approach when it comes to setting goals for Dragonboating. It is a simple principle to follow and can help you take your paddling to another level if you apply it properly.

The S.M.A.R.T. principle

1. Set Specific Goals. Research shows that specific goals are the most motivating. For example, a specific goal is to reduce your 200m water time trial time by 30 seconds within 6 months. Many people just say they want to get faster. This goal is far too general to really motivate you in your training.
2. Set Measurable Goals. Simply saying that you want to get faster is not enough detail. You need to be able to chart and document progress toward your goal. One way to measure your progress is to document your performance at set intervals. In the above example you may want to record your 200m water time trial performance every 2 months so you have a good measurement to work on.
3. Set Adjustable Goals. This means your goals are flexible enough to accommodate unexpected challenges without becoming obsolete. An injury may force you to modify your goal. If your goal is to compete at the Dragonboat National titles in 6 months and you are injured, you may need to change your goal to allow for an extra 3 months to recover from injury. It doesn’t mean you abandon all your plans. At the same time, you may find you are progressing quickly and need to raise your goal. Set Action-Oriented Goals
   Another important aspect of goal-setting is to keep focused on personal action. Don’t forget to consider not only what you want to achieve, but how you plan to achieve it. I will discuss this in another post.
4. Set Realistic Goals. Start where you are, and increase your goals accordingly. If you haven’t ever paddled a 1000m race, it’s probably not a wise goal to say you want complete this in 20 minutes. While that may be your long-term goal, in the short-term you may want to shoot for the a 500m race first and condition your body for racing conditions. This sort of progression is healthy and realistic. Also, keep in mind that as you become more fit towards your full potential, the room for continued improvement gets smaller. Similarly, if your goals are too simple, you won’t feel much satisfaction by attaining them. Only you truly know what is realistic for you.
5. Set Time-based Goals. Look again at first example: reduce your 200m water time trial by 30 seconds within 6 months. This is specific and time-based. Without a time line there is a tendency to procrastinate or get bored. You may also need to set interim goals with shorter time lines to keep you on track. Consider the previous example of working up to a 1000m race by completing shorter distances first. This is breaking down your goal by being time specific. In general, goals that stretch out beyond 6 months are too long to keep you interested and motivated. Try to re-evaluate your goals every 2-3 months.

Goal setting is an art as well as a science, but if you make sure your goals follow the S.M.A.R.T. formula, you will find you are more likely to stay motivated and reach goal after goal.

With this in mind, start putting down your goals for Dragonboating. I would love to hear your goals for 2009, so please add your comments below.

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