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Pondering the details as Coach Em performs her patented "Asian squat" |
In any sport--dragon boat included--to do well you have to work hard, be confident, and most importantly, stay in the game. As you shake the cobwebs off, grab your PFDs, and assess your overall fitness game to your sport this season, consider this analogy...


As a coaching staff, it is our goal to keep on a plan towards greater strength, power, and technique while peaking at the right time (tourney time).
But anyone who has ever worked on a complex jigsaw puzzle knows that it takes a long time. Working straight through to completion could be an all-night thing, and if you decided to tackle it that way, puzzle burnout would be likely. By the time you finished putting the puzzle together, you wouldn't want to see it again or even think of doing another for a long, long time. To prevent burnout, you would need to take longer than a night to do the puzzle, as well as take frequent breaks. That way, you would start-up again with renewed enthusiasm and heightened creativity.
Like they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day," and neither is the accomplished athlete.
- Consider the bigger picture. Teamwork--"A few harmless flakes working together [to] unleash an avalanche of destruction." (L. Kersten)
- Don't doubt yourself--Be confident! Trust.
- Most importantly though, whatever your paddling goals are this season, don't forget to stay in the game.