Bernard Yu

“One of my favorite memories was at the 2018 Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival. In Southern California, high school dragonboat isn't that big. We usually stay local for races, but this year, thanks to the help of our coach, we finally reached a level of competitiveness that helped us make the decision to drive 6 hours north to race in Oakland. It was the first time we left SoCal to race, and though we had to convince our parents and had some transportation/housing difficulties, we finally made it. Being able to head up there and see new teams, as well as be exposed to the culture of NorCal dragonboat, reignited the spark and drive I had to succeed. It really opened my eyes to what our small SoCal team could become. Although we struggled to adapt to the water of Lake Merritt, we placed 3rd in the High School C Division.

Although this may not have been a big accomplishment for some other teams, I’m proud of how far we’ve come and where we’ll head in the coming months. We also got to meet a lot of new people at the festival. For me, it was a reminder of how amazing the dragonboat community is and how we can push each other to be our very best, all while having fun.

Another great memory was going to San Francisco for the 2018 College Cup earlier this month. A 7-hour carride will do wonders for friendships with your teammates. The night before the race, we huddled together for a team meeting and talked about what we wanted for each other at the race. It was so great to hear words of encouragement from everyone and to know that the people we'd been training with for only 6 weeks had each other's backs.

That night though, the race was cancelled. A nearby fire made the air quality too poor to paddle. We cried from disappointment and felt like our opportunity had been taken away, but I know everyone is still training hard.

Catch us at Tempe, we're still hungry.”

[Bernard Yu (Walnut, CA, USA), paddler on UC-Irvine Elements, coach and ex-captain of *Asterisk.]

013