Once again, the Carolina Rollergirls have found another great opportunity for cross training — Dragon Boating. Dragon boating is the fastest growing international team water sport. Each boat holds 20 paddlers, a drummer, and a steer person. In races, the goal is to finish faster than their competition. This sport focuses on power, speed, synchronization and endurance. Like roller derby, this sport is able to accommodate varied skill levels, which only makes it more appealing!
CRG was invited by Raleigh Dragon Boat Club to come experience it on a sunny Saturday morning at Lake Wheeler. First we grabbed paddles that corresponded to our height, life jackets, and water. Then we had a run down on land on how to position our bodies as well as how to hold and move our paddles. Dragon Boating requires a very specific way of movement in order to effectively work as a team. With great instruction, we finally started to get the hang of it once out on the water and started to gradually build up more speed as we became more synchronized.
This was a really great core and teamwork exercise. Although CRG works as a team all the time, this gave a bit of a different perspective as we all attempted to stay in unison. This experience was very fun and a great challenge that Carolina Rollergirls look forward to doing again.
Check out Raleigh Dragon Boat Club here: http://www.meetup.com/Raleigh-Dragon-Boat-Club
Contributed by Grim Carey
Photos courtesy of Jousha Billingsley
This was super fun! And we almost got to be the first team to ever capsize the boat. Thank you so much Raleigh Dragon Boat Club for inviting us.