It’s early at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park. So early, in fact, that seagulls haven’t even arrived to shit all over the docks at the brand new Tampa green spaces. There’s a flurry of activity inside of the park’s gorgeous new boat house, however, and it’s happening at the hands of athletes readying dragon boats for a practice where coach Jonathan Rivera will direct a grueling, 90-minute workout. It might be a reaction to the tranquil nature of a river at 8 a.m., but Rivera’s voice never really reaches a scream as he readies two boats and their 20 paddlers for multiple sets of sprint workouts (rowers face backwards, people).
“Hold… we have alignment… attention,” Rivera, 39, says as he deconstructs the start before paddles go perpendicular to the water... “Go!”
Drummer Monique Smith — the only person with her back to the front of the boat — counts off strokes before pounding a mallet into a drumhead that sends the heartbeat of Tampa Bay Dragon Boat Club (TBDBC) echoing towards the river banks of downtown, Davis Island, Harbour Island and Channelside. The two boats thrust through the water, bursting forward with each beat. The experience is meditative and intense, and it’s peppered with endless bits of coaching, too.
“Don’t overextend… find that power… use your core… stay within yourself,” Rivera says during the sprints. As the team catches a breather, coach offers race strategy and club updates. He knows what he’s doing, too. After being cut following a 2011 tryout, Rivera has found himself on every U.S. premier team since. He and his teammates have earned three gold medals during his tenure, and many TBDBC paddlers have also found themselves medaling at international competitions.
Tampeños get a chance to see the club, along with several others from across the continent, on Saturday during the Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Festival (TBIDBF). Free for spectators, Tampa’s event is one of the two largest dragon boat events in the southeast and will find both club and corporate teams competing in several rounds (qualifying, semifinals, finals) as well as a 2 kilometer race if the weather permits. Isabel Dewey, president of the Junior League of Tampa, said that proceeds will benefit her nonprofit organization’s mission to develop the potential of women and improve Tampa Bay through volunteerism.
Participating in the sport benefits the athletes after they leave the water, too. Most team sports find individuals performing in different positions with different responsibilities. Dragon boat racing is a unique monster where 20 individual paddlers try to achieve the same motion, all at the same time, in pursuit of one common goal. Energy stores are depleted during the sprints, and the time between is spent restoring them. Strategy is involved to prevent burning out during the initial stages of a race. Wind and tide conditions are also considered. A team will often finish out of first in a non-championship heat to make sure it ends up in the optimal lane when the final arrives.
“[It’s] much more than just sitting in the boat and paddling your butt off,” Rivera, who joined TBDBC in 2005 and began coaching it six years later, explained., adding that finding the perfect blend of people for a crew is the ultimate goal for a coach. “A feeling of simultaneous motion is hard to describe. I tell my club that each crew has the perfect race and when that is achieved. You know it immediately.”
TBDBC padders know how to have fun, and there’s an almost palpable sense of camaraderie within the club, but they seem to be in search of that ideal, too. The club — home to paddling newbies and seasoned, medal-winning dragon boat vets with weathered palms — practices three times a week, but many of them train in and out of the water on the days they’re not with teammates. TBDBC even offers free trial practices to aid in recruitment of more members. While
Rivera acknowledges that recreational paddlers who get out once a year often get shine in the media, his club (along with the Suncoast Asian Cultural Association, aka SACA Golden Dragons club, which also paddles out of Julian B. Lane) wants the public to know that dragon boat racing is home to high caliber athletes who sacrifice to perform at high levels. Next month in Sarasota, TBDBC will complete in a regional tournament where a championship would earn the club a berth in the International Dragon Boat Federation Club/Crew Championships being held in France in next year.
“I’m not knocking recreational paddling; it’s where most of us got our start,” Rivera said. “It’s [just] hard combating the public perception of the sport, but we’re trying.”
Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Festival. Sat. April 27. 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Free to attend. Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park & Garrison Channel, downtown Tampa. jltampa.org.
Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter to get the most up-to-date news + views. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.
