Jess Chang & Casey Qian

"I had a friend who convinced me to come out and try dragon boat. One thing led to another and here I am. 😬 Definitely stayed for my DB family though. (JC)

I started dragon boat in high school because my mom had been nagging me for years to try physical activity, and dragon boat was the one school team you could join on a first-come first-serve basis (ie. no skill required). I ended up falling in love with the sport and have continued paddling into university. (CQ)

I’ll never forget that one practice. It was pretty gloomy and maybe a couple of drops here and there but hey, nothing too bad. After a few minutes of joking with our coach about ‘seeing’ lightning and finishing practice early, it really hit. The second we hit the dock, we were drenched. As we ran to the subway, lightning hit metres around us, making us jump like the scared rookies we were. Once we made it to the subway, man did we celebrate! Shoutout to the strangers on the train; we probably looked like a bunch of crazy kids. (JC)

There was a regatta I couldn’t paddle in due to an injury, but I went to show support. I hadn’t seen the team in ages, and in one day I saw the wildest shenanigans. A few highlights: ridiculous “flex drill” at marshalling, square dancing (???),  and several guys rocking tiny sprouts in their hair. I seriously questioned myself for waking up at 6am to see these idiots, but they’re MY idiots and I wouldn’t trade this team for anything. (CQ)

[Jess Chang & Casey Qiang (Toronto, ON, Canada), paddlers on University College Dragon Boat Club and Dragon Zone Premier.]

076