Dragon Boat West

Hi Folks,

Most of our team (Spirit Of A Renegade) is new to dragonboating.  We practice twice a week.  On Mondays we have a fabulous coach, who also provides a practice schedule for us for our Wednesday practice. We have a month between regattas and some people are getting a bit bored  :whistle: with our Wednesday practices.  Any suggestions as to how to inject some "fun" yet still has us working on our endurance?  perhaps some games or different drills?

Any suggestion from you more seasoned paddlers would be appreciated!  Thanks in advance for all your input!

Broken Pieces - Full race start; down to 60% power for a timed period; then full race finish.

Sparkers - Full race start; 30 seconds at race pace; full finish. short break (e.g. 1-2 minutes) between pieces.

60/100's - 60% power for a timed period; up to 100; back down etc. Can do this in a pyramid (i.e. increasing duration of 100% relative to duration of 60%, then back down.)

Full boat 1 minute; back half 1 minute; front half 1 minute; 100% pressure the whole time.

Duration/reps for these will depend on the fitness of the boat. have fun

That sounds a pretty good training regime for now.

Like you said, most of them are new the Dboating so they're really not gonna show much interest until later on in the season... probably not until they race against other teams or until the first few festivals.  Don't worry, they'll come around, just like all other teams.  :)

Thanks for the comments.  We have in fact had 3 regattas so far, and are doing similar routines as paddlerbum is suggesting.

I would suggest your coachy poo to come out there to coach you both nights after Victoria so you can rip it up for Kelowna if that is your teams plan!  and tell him to quit talking and get you paddling......good luck, have fun out there and don't splash the coach!  :lol:

Grrrrrrr.
Talk is good!
Yes, 2X a week after Victoria is good as well
He sounds like a wonderful person and a decent human being..... :roll:

:oops: OUCH!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO,, you gotta love secret identities!! :roll:  8)

I'm going to suggest very very basic stuff here...

I would suggest stuff like, getting 1/2 the boat to paddle (assuming that 1/2 the boat means more than 8 people at one time) and then getting the other 1/2 to encourage them. For example, front right and back left paddling with front left and back right talking to their partner. This kind of stuff is very encouraging, fun, and yet resistence training.

Tug-of-war...b/c the winning 1/2 has to work together in order to win the competition.

Keep them constantly moving with 1/2 boat going at one time (ie, 20-30 minutes constant with short breaks). For example, front right and back left...fronts or backs only...if you have 10 seats, odds or evens only paddling...with occasional powers, etc. Keeps their mind in the game b/c they have to be listening...it's resistence training...and they can encourage one another!

Performing race pieces between designated markers and getting the team to try to get further each time in a set time period.

Racing other teams is also good for experience and to keep the motivation high...

That's my two cents, but what do I know!??!

You know Mr Coach you could be giving away simple stuff that someone who passess him/herself off as a coach should already know about. It could be that someone has decided to coach a team and says "I know what to do so let me do it! Afterall I have been paddling for a year!" only to find out they have no freaking idea. Just kidding but you know there are those out there that think that way.

So Mr Coach, if that was your two cents worth maybe I should hire you if you are that cheap! Again just kidding!

You're right about that BernMan... There are those out there that have no friggin' idea/understanding of paddling, coaching, body mechanics, prevention of injuries, physiological systems of the body, and still think they can coach. This is one reason why the sport of DB hasn't exceled despite all the teams involved...

I've dealt with many "coaches" in my past that have/are coaching and then when they get in a DB or solo, they are themselves, are slow like slugs with the most biomechanically useless stroke ever!

I wish there was a solid course that coaches have to take in order to understand HOW TO COACH. Right now, I have my NCCP Level 1 Certification and an working towards the next step. But a background in sports med/kinesiology/biomechanics would also help...

Basically, I second your thoughts BernMan. However, I am not implying that the coach that was originally referred to in this posting does not have the experience or sports-specific knowledge!

Later skater!