Hannah Valerie
“Dragon boat racing kinda found me at the right time. All through my teens and early 20’s, I struggled severely with mental health. I’d moved to Sydney from a beach town for work and needed something to help improve my physical and mental health. Working through my own issues around sexuality and gender, I joined Different Strokes in 2015. I became addicted to the collective adrenaline and family atmosphere.
We have worked with our dragon boat community towards marriage equality, and we continue to have a colourful presence at local and national levels. When I think back to Szeged CCWC 2018, I feel so proud that we not only represented our club on the global state, but that we loudly and proudly represented the LGBTI community. I love being part of this beautifully inclusive club for LGBTI paddlers and allies.
My favorite memory is our 2018 Asian Championships campaign in Foshan, China. As my first time representing Australia, I was excited and terrified. We had a few training days in Guangzhou before races, and the site was a long freshwater canal just wide enough for bamboo lane markers, but too narrow to turn boats. Despite the water’s uncleanliness, dead animals, and water snakes that would come and say hello, it was a truly magical place to train.
On our last day of training, we had the privilege to meet and train with the Chinese women, the top women’s crew in the world. We organised gifts for the women and their families, including opal koala pins and gold kangaroos. The Chinese women don’t meet other countries often, let alone invite them to train with them, so this was a special moment for us. They not only let us into their home, but literally gave us the shirts off their backs. It was a beautiful and humbling experience I’ll never forget.
I stand tall in the Australian Coat of Arms, as a proud and open queer athlete representing my country in a sport that has changed my life.”
[Hannah (Sydney, NSW, Australia), paddler on Different Strokes & Australian national team (Auroras).]
061
