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UPDATE: The Gorging Dragons announced their Spring 2012 Stroke Improvement Clinic schedule. See the Gorging Dragons’ website for details.

I had the pleasure of attending the Nanaimo sessions of the Gorging Dragons clinics last weekend,  on April 16th. The clinics were held at the Mount Benson Legion (Br. 256) and, of course, on the water.

Over the past few years, I have attended several such clinics, all presented by competent, professional coaches. After watching Coach Tom Arnold and his team operate, however, I have to say that these were the most useful, and certainly the most thorough, such clinics of my experience.

Tom Arnold has been paddling in dragon boats for eleven years. In that time, he has competed in two Club Crew World Championships and an IDBF World Championship. In August, he hopes to compete in his second IDBF World Championship in Tampa, Florida.  Tom is a member of the Open Men’s National Team, and 5-time Club Crew World Championship medallist.

You don’t just get Tom, however; you get a full coaching staff, all of them available to provide the kind of one on one coaching that a single presenter simply cannot.  Assisting were Rick Baxter,  a 5-time Club Crew World Championship medallist, and Andree Mazure, member of the Senior Women’s National Team, and 5-time Club Crew World Championship medallist. With talent like that providing hands-on training, it just doesn’t get any better.

UPDATE May 11, 2011: Andree Mazure has been named to both the senior women’s and the senior mixed Canadian National Dragon Boat teams, and will compete at the upcoming World Championships in Tampa this August. This is a great achievement for Andree, for the Gorging Dragons, and for the Victoria dragon boat community. Way to go Andree!!

In addition, more Gorging Dragons team members were on hand in supporting roles – operating the video boat, videotaping the on-water sessions, filling out the rating forms, and any other task needed to make things run smoothly. Make no mistake – this was a team effort in every respect.

Tom, using a slide show as a backdrop to his Stroke Technique presentation, covered a lot of material that I was familiar with, but he did it in a manner that helped me understand concepts that had previously gone in one ear and out the other. I think that was the thing that impressed me the most. Tom’s a guy comfortable in his own skin, and absolutely confident about his paddling skills, and it shows.

Everyone learns in a unique way. Some of us only need to hear, some need to see, and some need a hands-on approach… If you’re a visual learner, and don’t get visual examples, you may not do well. I think one of Tom Arnold’s strengths is that he has a knack for reaching nearly everyone.

He made things click for me that others had not, the correct position of the outside arm at full effective reach in particular.

Tom’s presentation began with a thorough discussion of stroke technique, and then moved to the Merlin Excalibur Data Acquisition Paddle - it’s been covered elsewhere on this blog, so I won’t rehash old news. The important thing here was that Tom explained how the paddle worked, and how it would be handled in the boat. This included a brief explanation of how to pass it on to the next paddler, and how to turn it on and off when your turn arrived.

The last part of the first classroom session ended with an introduction to the boat, a Champion 12 meter IDBF dragon boat. Coach Arnold explained the differences between training boats and those used for internationally-sanctioned racing, like BuKs and Champions.

He told paddlers what to expect from IDBF boats, likened the Champion dragon boats to sports cars, and reassured everyone with respect to their stability on the water. He also discussed the importance of the positive feedback such boats provide, something almost entirely missing from the heavier and more cumbersome training boats commonly found on Vancouver Island.

He also addressed the issue of foot and leg placement. He talked about the fact that proper placement was awkward and uncomfortable in some types of dragon boats, and explained the importance of positioning your body properly.

At that point, the paddlers headed for the NCKC dock at Brechin where the boat was waiting for them. Once loaded, they headed down Newcastle Channel for some practical technique drills followed by use of the Excalibur paddle.

I have to commend the morning crew at this point, because the weather turned ugly shortly after they left the dock. First it was light sprinkles, then the rain clouds moved over the channel and opened up, soaking one and all. The rain was followed by a deluge of hailstones the size of plump peas which drove the shore crew into the shelter of their cars. Shortly thereafter, the light showers returned. The result of this was a boatload of cold, very wet, but happy paddlers. Kudos!

The paddlers then returned to the Mt. Benson Legion for a two-part analysis of their video records and Excalibur data. Members of the Gorging Dragons provided personalized commentary on the video data first, then the paddlers moved on to another station where their Excalibur data was reviewed by another team member. In both cases, paddlers were given personal suggestions, with illustration, with respect to improving their performance.

Following the video and data analysis, students were given a personalized rating sheet which provided a comprehensive look at their personal performance, and which included suggestions for areas needing improvement.

I don’t know when the Gorging Dragons will offer these clinics again, but they clearly hoped to do another series, later in the season, after they compete in the 2011 Canadian Dragon Boat National Club Crew Championships, to be held in Welland, Ontario on July 1 & 2, 2011.

I encourage students from the Victoria and Nanaimo clinics to add to and improve this review. I wasn’t on the water, so I missed a lot. Please feel free to contribute your personal observations.

I will conclude my part of this piece by encouraging all paddlers, anywhere on the Island, to avail themselves of this superb opportunity the next time it’s available – I’m hoping that will happen in August or September. If you’d like to be notified, use the Newsletter form on the right sidebar so you’ll receive any future announcements.