Boaters paddle to China
Scarborough student dragon racers to compete in Shanghai
NICOLE MACINTYRE
Inside a tiny shed on the shores of Frenchman's Bay in Pickering, there is a wall papered with inspiration.
Glossy pictures of former Olympians hang above fresh newspaper clippings heralding recent victories in Athens. In bold type, a poster of Alwyn Morris, gold medallist in kayaking at the 1984 Summer Games, declares: "If you have it in you to dream, you have it in you to succeed."
Dragon boat coach Scott Madill reads the quote out loud as he steps inside the shed, which is stacked to its ceiling with boats. He pinned these posters to the wall to motivate the 54 teenagers who come to this bay to train for the race of their young lives. He wants the youths, aged 15 to 18, to believe they can accomplish more than they ever thought possible.
"Cheesy, I know," Madill says in a later e-mail. "But when you watch what Adam van Koeverden accomplished in Athens, you begin to believe." (Van Koeverden won gold and bronze medals in this year's Olympic kayaking events.)
In a few weeks, Madill and fellow coach Jill Norman will lead the West Rouge Canoe Club's Canadian junior dragon boat team to Shanghai, China, for the 2004 World Dragon Boat Championships, which run from Oct. 15 to 25.
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Madill, a former competitive kayaker, has been coaching dragon boating for more than a decade. He was thrilled when the Greater Toronto Dragon Boat Club asked him to co-ordinate a junior team to go to the world championships as part of an overall Canadian team of 200 competitors. As the only junior Canadian team, the West Rougers will be in several races.
To prepare for the gruelling competition, the teens come to Frenchman's Bay four times a week to train. They usually arrive before dawn, slipping from their beds at 6 a.m.
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articlehttp://www.canadianjuniordragonboatteam.com/From the Junior team web site:
Canada’s Premiere team includes several athletes who will compete in the summer Olympic games in Athens Tamas Buday Jr, Attila Buday and Adam Van Kooverdon. Former Olympians Larry Cain and John Wood, both of who have won medals at previous Olympic games, are competing on the Masters team.
