Dominick Castellano

“In 2010, I made the ICF Team USA to compete at Worlds in Hungary. I got 2 bronze, in the open and masters divisions. Then at the 2011 ICF Club Crew World Championships in Canada, I took home another 2 bronze medals.

I went through USDBF training camps and Team USA trials, but eventually switched to outrigger to compete in Hawaii. I also did the really cool Synergy series, where our 10-man mixed team got silver.

I coached CHARGE, the Chinese-American Association of Central Florida’s team, and also some SCORCH paddlers for OC1 time trials. I currently coach Devil Dogs Outrigger, which does OC1, OC2, and OC6 on Lake Fairview.

I started dragon boat because I went to Olympic rowing trials, and some rowers who knew me told a local dragon boat athlete on Team USA about me. I got into an OC1 and because I did Olympic sprint canoe, I picked it up fast. I went to Philly for trials and was selected. 

The teamwork and intensity of the sport was awesome. At trials, 10-man boats went against each other and guys you friended who were in the other boats instantly became the people who might grab your spot on Team USA.

Paddling during those three days was ferocious and CRAZY hard.

I lived for the final strokes of the 500m at Worlds, but the party and shirt-swapping was incredible, too. I spoke with, high-fived and swapped team shirts with Russians, Iranians, Japanese, Italians, Hungarians, and Germans. There was such friendship after the intense competition; I have been to world-level competitions in lifting, rowing, canoe, Iron Man, triathlon, and I have never seen such a display of sportsmanship!”

[Dominick Castellano (Orlando, FL, USA), coach of Devil Dogs Outrigger, ex-paddler on ICF-US national team, ex-coach of CHARGE.]

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