Karina Meng

“I am currently on Dragon Hearts ZERO! I started the team back in 2016 on a whim and was captain for two years, but I've since stepped down and am now a paddler. 

In 2015, I stopped paddling with my old team, Dragon Hearts Thunderbreaker, but I missed the sport. One day, I mentioned to my ex-coach that I wanted to paddle again; he told me a few days later the club wanted to sponsor my future potential team! It was so crazy.

I'm very glad I started this team, and the most insane part is that I honestly expected my friends to only paddle for that summer and we would disband but here we are, 3 years later! Though not everyone has been with me from the beginning, I'm very happy and thankful to all who have supported both me and ZERO! for the past 3 years. I can't believe we've come so far and we will only reach higher from now on.

(Side note: my older sister started Thunderbreaker, so I had some high expectations to live up to 😬)

I think my favorite moment is Steveston 2013, on Thunderbreaker. That was my sister’s last year with us; she left for uni that year. I remember paddling our final in the A Division, out of breath and shaking as we finished. Paddling back, we could hear results being announced, but tired as hell and ready to celebrate regardless of results, none of us were fully sure if we heard correctly. We didn't know if we were dreaming or if it was real; I kept asking if we’d really won and there was a lot of, “I think so? MAYBE?” The entire day, we’d worked so hard to beat other teams and after making A Division, we knew we had a shot at winning the festival. The result: yes we won, and I was so proud! My sister gave us an extra sense of pride and she even cried from happiness! She's usually super mature, so seeing her cry was pretty funny, to be honest. 

To make things even more special, the team we competed hard against that day congratulated us and we took a cute photo together, happy for each other and valuing their tough competition. These past seven years paddling have given me so many great memories and I am thankful for everyone I've met along the way.”

[Karina Meng (Vancouver, Canada), paddler, founder, and ex-captain on Dragon Hearts ZERO!.]

034