Please read this email in its entirety, important logistics for this Sunday's tournament!
CALL TIME:
7:30 AM at the team tent (not in the parking lot, not getting off the freeway, not walking to the tent)
Some team members will start setting up at 7:00 AM
Looking for volunteers (at least 4) to help paddle boats from Mother's Beach, meet at Mother's Beach at 7:30 AM (let the coaches/captains know you're going beforehand)
PARKING:
Parking available at
Marine Stadium north (lot all the way down Marine Stadium, NOT the one closest to Mother's Beach)
Mother's Beach (if you want to keep feeding the meter)
Boy Scout lot (the usual spot for practice)
DO NOT park on the streets
Allot plenty of time to get from the parking lot to the tent site
Carpooling highly encouraged
THINGS TO BRING:
Racing uniform: sacred royal blue team jersey, black bottom
Vets please bring any extra jerseys you have
If you do not have a team jersey, wear a royal blue top
Your usual paddling gear: PFD, paddle
Chair to sit (you'll be there the whole day)
Sun protection: sunscreen (remember to reapply throughout the day), hats/visors, sunglasses
Water bottle: we'll be providing water and Gatorade, let's continue the green tradition
Your potluck items
$: if you have not already paid, Baby LB fees $15, 2011 team dues $80, cash or check payable to Space Dragons
If you have a lot of items, you may enter Marine Stadium south to drop off and continue on to Marine Stadium north to park
Don't forget to put your name on everything!
KEEP IN MIND:
There are residents by Marine Stadium, please be considerate and keep your voices down
Stay around the team area, if you need to go wander off, please let someone know and bring your cell phone!
The last race of the day is scheduled for 3:00 PM, expect to be there all day, hang out with your fellow Space Dragons and cheer on each other
YES - there is practice tonight (Wednesday) and on Saturday.
1. BABY LONG BEACH -- Sun 5/1
HOLY MOLEY! THAT'S THIS SUNDAY SUNDAYSUNDAY!
Are you ready to bring it?! Get pumped up for our first local tournament of 2011! But don't forget to taper your work-outs too. It's already Wednesday, so probably a good time to start tapering. We don't want you tired or sore on tournament day!
Don't forget to eat right and eat light, especially on tournament day!
POTLUCK! Please list on your Evite response what you're bringing.
If you haven't already paid your annual dues, now's the time to pay them. $80 payable to Space Dragons.
And don't forget the $15 Baby Long Beach tournament fees. Also payable to Space Dragons.
Keep an eye out for a Baby Long Beach Logistics email. Expect one in your inbox on Thursday. It will contain lots of importatn information like call times, etc.
2. ALCAN -- 6/12 & 6/13
Time to start thinking about Vancouver... only a month and a half away!
Your chance to see top-notch competitors.
Many premiere Canadian and American teams attend.
RSVP on the Evite
Hotels are selling out! We have 10 rooms booked in the Space Dragons block, but you MUST reserve by May 1, any room not reserved will be released. That's the same day as Baby Long Beach, so if you're on the fence, we advise that you just book the hotel (you can always cancel later - but make sure to ask about their cancellation policy).
The link to the User's Guide is also under "links" on the Space Dragons website
4. FESTIVAL TEAM COACHING
Always wondered if you have the balance to stand on the bow of a boat while yelling at people? Now you can! Volunteers are needed to help coach festival teams for Big Long Beach.
Festival teams are generally allows a few practices (usually on weekend afternoons) leading up to a particular tournament.
This is also a great recruitment strategy for the Space Dragons!
Interested? Email us and let us know! We'll get you more details.
5. THANKS FROM THE COMMUNITY
Space Dragons have been receiving accolades for our efforts at keeping the beach clean. People are noticing - and not just the dragon boat community, but the other beach goers and lifeguards too! So keep up the good work, and thanks to Marina for her continued efforts!
Space Dragons have also been receiving praise for our role in smoothing over the dragon boat community's sometimes bumpy relationship with the local community. From simple things like not parking in the church parking lot on Sundays to playing nice with the volleyballers, we're doing good! Keep it up!
6. YARD SALE
This past Saturday we had another successful Yard Sale! Big thanks to Denise, CJ and all of the equipment-bringers for all of their help! And of course mucho thank-o's to all of are team members who came to volunteer and donate in an effort to keep our tournament fees low.
Since a lot of the team seems to have some difficulty with upper body strength i found an interesting article about general fitness goals. The full article can be found here, but below i wanted to highlight a a couple upper body ones. The full article is worth the read and about overall body fitness and some exercises you can do to improves yours.
Test #5 Assume a pushup position with your hands directly below your shoulders, your feet hip-width apart, your weight resting on your hands and toes, and your body in a straight line from neck to ankles. Lower your body until your chest is about an inch above the floor, pause for 1 second (this is essential), and then return to the starting position. Complete as many consecutive pushups as you can while maintaining strict form.
The Scorecard Below average fewer than 15 pushups Average 16 to 29 pushups Above average 30 to 44 pushups MH Fit 45+ pushups
Reach the Next Level
You can boost your pushup performance by doing just two workouts a week, Rooney says. The first day, do 6 sets of 10 pushups: two sets using regular form, two sets with your feet elevated on a bench, and two sets with your hands close together. Rest two minutes between sets.
The second day, do three sets of 20 to 25 pushups (or as many as you can), resting 90 seconds between sets. After the three sets, rest for three to five minutes, and then do one set of as many pushups as you can.
Retake the test after eight weeks.
Part Two: Upper Body Just as the bench press has replaced the pushup in many exercise programs, so has the lat pulldown replaced the chinup. And that's a shame. Both exercises hit the featured muscles in the upper and middle back—the lats, lower trapezius, and rear deltoids—but the chinup goes lower and deeper. Because you're hanging from a bar rather than sitting on a padded seat, you force muscles in your middle back to work with the muscles in your hips and lower back to keep your spine in a safe position. "Chinups are a great test of upper-body strength and endurance, core stability, and spinal stabilization," Cosgrove says. Pulldowns are certainly easier, but as with so many things in life, limited effort produces limited rewards.
Test #6 Grab a chinup bar using a shoulder-width, underhand grip. Hang at arm's length. Pull your chest up to the bar, pause for 1 second, and then slowly lower your body back to the starting position and repeat. A repetition counts only if you start from a dead hang with your arms straight.
The Scorecard Below average fewer than 3 chinups Average 3 to 7 chinups Above average 8 to 10 chinups MH Fit over 10 chinups
Reach the Next Level
Cosgrove recommends doing this routine twice a week: Start with half the number of chinups you were able to complete in the test (round up to the nearest whole number), and do three or four sets in each workout. So if you did 5 or 6 in the test, you'll do sets of three. Rest 90 seconds between sets. Each week, cut 15 seconds from your rest period. That means in week 7 you'll do one continuous set of as many chinups as you can. Whatever that total is, it'll be much bigger than the number of chinups you completed in the test.
LETS GET TO WORK! STRONG MIND, STRONG BODY, STRONG PADDLER!
I'll finish with this Interesting quote I found.
"It is up to the paddlers to win the race but it is the steersman who must create the environment for this to happen."
Give all our wonderful steersman some love next time you see them!
Space Dragons,
Don't forget: weekend practice poll closes tonight at 7 PM. <--- there is practice this Sunday 4/24!
Reminder, Sunday practice time has changed - it's now the same as Saturday practice time: 730am warm-up and 8am on the boat.
1. YARD SALE -- This Sat 4/23
That's right! It's coming up in a few short days. Got your stuff together? We're depending on YOU to come out and support the team by helping at the Yard Sale. Even if you have no items to contribute, your help in setting up, selling, even just coming for general team morale would be more than greatly appreciated.
All proceeds go toward lowering tournament fees! Don't you like the sound of that?! I do!
Practice is canceled this day so there's no excuse to not come help out!
Details such as time and location are on the Evite
Please RSVP on the Evite to let us know when you'll be coming to help. Lots of help needed for: setup, selling, cleanup!
If you bring large items, you need to make sure you take them back if they don't sell!
Please plan on dropping off your items either during setup (those yard sale hunters are super early birds), arrange with Jeremy during the next few days, or bring to practice tonight where Marina has graciously offered to take it (no furniture, only boxed items)
2. BABY LONG BEACH -- Sun 5/1
It is just around the corner!
Have you RSVP'd? Not sure? Please check! Not yet? Time to make up your mind! We are registered for 3 boats!
It's 2011's first local tournament. IN OUR BACK YARD. We had a strong start in Tempe and scared (and surprised) a bunch of teams with our strength and speed. Let's give them another scare and show them Tempe was just the beginning!
We'll be having potluck again for lunch, please list on your Evite response what you're bringing.
3. ALCAN -- 6/12 & 6/13
It is one of the biggest tournaments on the West Coast
Many premiere Canadian and American teams attend
Not sure about it? Why, it's only the biggest dragon boat tournament this side of the Pacific! I mean, are you kidding me? It's got something for everyone - the ultra-competitive will enjoy the racing and the rankings, the I-wanna-have-fun crowd will enjoy... well, let's just say Vancouver is a very fun and beautiful city... *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*.
Remember all that leftover food we had from the Friends and Family Day potluck? It sure didn't go to waste - we had enough to feed ourselves, our friends & family, and a team full of starving college students!! And they wanted to say THANKS!
To UCLA Dragon Boat: You're very welcome, anytime!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To everyone at Space Dragons:
Thank you for a delicious potluck! All of us here at UCLA greatly appreciate your sportsmanship and hospitality and hope to return the favor one day.
Keep killing it on the water!
Sincerely, The UCLA Dragon Boat team and UCLA Dragon Boat Officers 2010-2011
Our campus here at Dominguez Hills sponsors a 5K run/walk to raise money for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, this will be the 10th annual run/walk. I have participated and helped raise money for the last 4 years and I am at it again!
The run is April 28th, so if you'd like to make a donation I will happily accept on behalf a great and worthy cause. Contact me for details!
No, its not the Isley Brothers I'm singing about, its Grace! Wondering what she's been up to in the past year? Our own SD amiga has just gotten back from travels abroad in Chile! Read about her adventures here!
Grace teaches her students English as a news reporter
So WHERE have you been and what have you been up to?!
I have had a goal to do 1 domestic and/or 1 international trip each year. So far, I have
been to Taiwan, China, Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Canada, various US states.
I recently returned from living and volunteering abroad in Chile.
How long have you been gone and WHERE did you stay? From March to December in 2010 in asuburb or rural town outside ofValparaÃso , Chile. I got to live with a Chilean host family and immersed myself in the Chilean culture.
So describe the program you partook in. What'd you do?:
I volunteered to teach English (conversational skills) to 7th-11th graders to over 300 students in 4 months while I lived with a Chilean host family in a suburb.
The program is provided by the Ministry of Education in Chile. However, I went through a 3rd party program called WorldTeach which is affiliated with Harvard University. I benefited from their 2 week teacher training and orientation. I had fun singing, dancing, and playing games with my students as they grew confident in
speaking English.
...and WHY did you decided to do it?: My initial interest to visit Chile came from making friends with an occupational therapist from Chile who volunteered at my workplace a couple of years ago. While practicing English with her and inviting her to do various activities around Los Angeles, I learned more about the Chilean culture and became intrigued by it.
I have always wanted to go study, work, or volunteer abroad since college but never was able to. Volunteering abroad offered the chance to help those in countries with less opportunities and resources that we have here in the United States. I couldn't pass up a chance to volunteer abroad through WORLDTEACH to make a difference in an under served community.
Clearly giving back to the global community is a reward in and of itself. What kind of things did you take away from this experience? Give us some highlights.I didn't have formal training in education. But I did have something different to bring into the classroom setting. Having worked as an occupational therapist with children with special needs for 5 years and having collaborated with families, teachers, and health professionals, I now have more skills and knowledge than before to contribute as an international volunteer.
Others things...
-Having Chilean aunts, uncles, cousins who treated me like family. I made so many new
friends in Chile and from my volunteer program.
-My sweet crazy students who had fun shouting “AWESOME!” across the school yard
to show me that they remembered the “Slang of the Week”. I was relieved that my
high school students had fun singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” super fast
and learning how to dance the “Cha, Cha Slide” as well as doing the “Booty Bounce”
portion of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.
-Knitted an entire wool sweater with the help of my Chilean host mom.
-The BEST Scallops
Eating and reviewing the various empanadas in Chile
Learning and dancing the Chilean national dance, Cueca.
-Traveling and seeing all of nature’s beauty in Chile.
"It was a little exciting to experience a series of large aftershocks in Chile, but was
worried if it was the next big earthquake."
I wanted to get my students, host family, and community motivated to learn English. I was hoping to incorporate their cultural background into the academic curriculum and share some aspects of my American-Taiwanese background to increase intercultural understanding and development. I also hoped to improve my Spanish language skills so that I may better serve the Spanish speaking population for my work as an occupational therapist.
I am grateful to have loving friends and family. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have been given to go to college, earn a degree that led to a good profession where I could help others and live comfortably, and enjoy all that our country has to offer. Now I would like to start giving back especially to those who don’t have the same opportunities that I had.
How are you settling back in after having been away for so many months? What kind of "Then & Now" changes have you had since leaving and coming back?
Then: I thought most people in Chile would be conservative.
Now: The younger generation (20s-30s) consider males and females to be equals as both genders now work outside of the home and it is not rare for the woman to be the dominant decision maker regardless of their age. In addition, types of relationships vary greatly by being in non-exclusive relationships to having serious relationships, being separated to being divorced, being remarried or just living with a partner due to not wanting to remarry.
2. Then: I thought eating healthy would be difficult.
Now: I can buy various familiar foods in the suburbs and cities that help me maintain a diet of fruits, vegetables, fiber, and whole grains.
Thankfully, I have experienced minimal reverse culture shock. However, I think I will miss the more laid back approach to life once I start working. I do miss taking public transportation everywhere and seeing everyone drive compact vehicles.
What are some things you missed most while being away from the Space Dragons and the States.
I missed working out with my friends on Space and their encouragement for me to stay
fit. In general, I did miss hanging out with my friends from the States. I missed eating
delicious foods like Pho, and Thai & Indian food.
Wow! ANY ADVICE FOR PEEPS WHO MIGHT WANT TO GET INVOLVED IF THEY WANTED TO DO THIS THEMSELVES?:
Camera was scared to focus on
Grace's chisled SD GUNS! I can't
fault it.
If you want to volunteer abroad, do it because you really want to contribute and make a difference in the lives of others. Don’t do it solely because you want to improve your
foreign language skills or you want to travel.
Also, you have to be FLEXIBLE as the educational system, diet, family life, gender
roles, values, etc. may be very different from what you’re used to. I thought my
program prepared me well by stating what the biggest differences were between Chile
and the United States. However, I found more similarities than I expected while I was
Are you EXCITED? Today's our first Wednesday practice for the year! Can't make Wednesday evenings? How about the weekend? Weekend practice poll closes tonight at 7 PM.
Don't forget, Sunday practice time has changed - it's now the same as Saturday practice time: 730am warm-up and 8am on the boat.
1. BABY LONG BEACH -- Sun 5/1
It is just around the corner!
Have you RSVPed? Not sure? Please check! Not yet? Time to make up your mind!
We'll be having potluck again for lunch, please list on your Evite response what you're bringing.
2. ALCAN -- 6/12 & 6/13
It is one of the biggest tournaments on the West Coast
Many premiere Canadian and American teams attend
Not sure about it? Maybe the recap from 2009 will help you make up your mind
RSVP on the Evite
Hotels are selling out! We have 10 rooms booked in the Space Dragons block, but you MUST reserve by 5/1, any room not reserved will be released
Awesome job yesterday! The OC-2 testing results are up! Check them out here.
Special thanks to Brian for being the official time keeper, Devant for steering, Scott and Sammi for transporting "Frankenpig" and James for taking pictures and uploading all the videos!
If you weren't able to test yesterday but still want to, please email the coaches ASAP. We will be holding make-ups next Sunday after practice.
Also, as a reminder, water testing is only one piece of the puzzle that determines what boat each person paddles on. The most important reasons to get on the OC-2? So you can track your own improvement and get individualized feedback on your technique!
If there were any "secrets" about what those Space Dragons are on and how we do what we do, I'll go ahead and "give all [our] secrets away" on this post! But first, a word on the stage and how it was set for our SD peeps who missed out...the season opener came along with calm AM winds, perfect sunny 70s highs, and our usual brand of Space Dragon energy. More uncommon to our SIXTH showing in Tempe was the ritual set-up of tables and chairs before our first circled warm-up. From mouthwatering fruits galore to scrumptious carbs, each table was lined with an array of energy-dense food--each morsel made possible and brought by our own SD brethren. The energy was charged, Space Dragon tattoos and sunblock applied, Space Roach N' Fist perched and ready, WE were ready!
The Space Dragons assembled early before the first heats of the day to the circled warm-up. The sea of blue from the SD invasion was apparent as Coach Em rallied everyone to the huddle on our objective for the weekend.
"We have worked our @$$es off...My goal is to not waste that effort. I don't care if we get hardware. I don't care where we place. What I want is for everyone to step off of every race heat and feel like they've put everything into that heat."
From then on, we looked into each other, nodded recognition for what we had in front of us, ran our game, and didn't look back!
SD BLUE close and connected!!
Before you could say "fist of fury" the races were on the way and so was the weekend! With little room for dilly-dally many races were slated back-to-back between 2 mixed boats for the 500m, 250m, and 1000m races in addition to a men's boat, a women's boat, and a masters crew. The race organizers did a great job keeping the weekend packed with race action while we fearlessly slated our crew to participate in 17 races over the weekend! While the weekend weather was dry, the sun draining, racing plentiful, keeping strong and focused on the game plan was the goal from the beginning and everyone executed beautifully!
MEN.
Space Women finishing strong through the finish!
Saturday exhibited some crazy exciting racing as RED took the stage first and showed how a 'no regrets' attitude along with hard work can pay-off by taking impressive 1st place finishes in both mixed heats--such results poised Space in great position and momentum into Sunday's races. SD BLUE would not go quietly either with close connected racing at only sheer seconds behind great tough competition from teams such as UCSD and LA Thunder Dragons (much props to you!). To be part of the pack this way shows loads of discipline and potential for growth as we looked at each other at the end of the day's debrief as if to say "HELLZ YEAH, we want more!"
TRUE CONVERSATION:
Person: "Are you well adjusted to Space now?"
Ally: "Still adjusting to their level of awesomeness!"
Finally adding method to madness Space Dragons Women AND Men placed blazing fast heats alongside sizzling fast teams to qualify for the Div. A Semi-finals races! Such close races can only be appreciated when considering the all over high-level competition we faced in strong teams such as San Diego and Wasabi Power, not to mention local forces and powerhouses like LARD and DPW (just to name a few). Did I mention that both Men and Women placed overall top 3 to respectively take the Bronzes?! Not enough you say? That's what our Masters said after pulling the 3rd fastest time in the Masters division to secure the Bronze bling behind San Diego and composite Long Beach Masters.
So is there an app for "awesome?" Well, it better be called the Space Dragons because our app is programmed with continuous hard work, much love, and SD energy! The way I see it, stepping off of our first tournament benchmark this season is both a blessing and a curse in disguise. Its a blessing that we've been rewarded for our hard work at home. Its a curse because now we know what we are capable of, and it can only be better and better. That means that we've gotta keep pushing for more work and never "get comfortable."
BIG STEVE and tutu and SD BLUE!!
Big UP'S to:
AZDBA and volunteers for making it the event
to look forward to. A definite yearly classic for us!!
Callers TRAN, DEVANT, EM,
SAMMI, and "Secret Weapon"
BIG STEVE shot callin'!!
SCOTT, DJ BAKASAN, K-MAK and other stalker lenses
for serving as paparazzi pirates and making us look like
ROCKSTARS!!
MARINA for taking us to AWESOME TOWN
as your Tempe Tourney manager!!
CEEZ for his magician like handling
and coordination of equipment
Thanks MICHAEL from DRACO Phantom Dragons, LANGSTON from DPW, and
others for joining our MASTER'S crew!
Steers PEARL and BRIAN for grippin' it tight and grippin' it right!
ROD for paddle and big equipment transport
and for saying "'no' means YES (I can help)!"
ROBERT for kindly picking up
our Ripple brethren from the airport!
NATHAN and ANNA fromRipple Effect
for lending us your guns, talent, and laughter
for our SD boats!!
EVERYONE for simply doing the big & little to take care of one another--WORD UP TO BEING A SPACE DRAGON!
GREAT JOB to all of our first-time competitors and newbies: Ally, Rhommel, Emilio, Kevin, and Lindsey. Welcome back to the madness Arlene, Diane, and Tammy. It's only going to get better!
SD NEWBIE QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND:
"I SO HAPPY!" -Emilio
Finally, for the stuff off the water you may have missed and will want to ask your fellow benchie as you make it out to next practice--ask Karen how she got Allan to take his shirt off (again!); have a chat with Big Steve about his 1000m ride; ask Emily who she thinks won the sumo wrestling match between Rod and Davin; check-in with Deej to see who she thinks looks more provacative, the SD MENS boat topless or Big Steve/Devant in a blue Tutu...
Oh and if you were wondering about what "secrets" I'm giving away, I'll state it here...What are we on? We're on the boats training our @$$es off every weekend. We're on the beach doing Rod's land and core workout. We're at the gym and the track hitting it hard!...What are you on?
