500 meter EXTRAVAGANZA week

Hey Team!
This week, Tuesday at 615pm, Thursday at 6:15 pm if you care to join the Team Survivor practices, we will be doing nothing but 500m pieces! Should be an excellent opportunity to get the feel for that distance in time to excel in the event at the end of the month in Tempe!

please email me if you plan to attend the Tuesday or Thursday evening practices.

February 13th

Hey Team!

Nice turn out today a full boat! ya-hoo! Note the count down timer as we move along towards Tempe- its like Marshall says- time to get serious!

If the rest between pieces is too long- then work harder on the paddle piece! But gauging by everyones admission to it- we will reduce the rest time, and push your efforts up a notch- that means that what was, isn't anymore, what will be, is harder!

C'mon on out Thursday nights @615pm. You know what? The other teams competing in Tempe and Long Beach are Dragon Boat specific paddlers, and that is their only discipline and that is what they are training for- not outrigger, not running, not swimming, not biking- pure and simple- dragon boat racing.

Time to say good-bye to 60 spm...BAM! we're taking it up a notch!

See you Thursday- on the water at 615!

February 10th

Hey Team-

This is an open invite to the men and women who are paddling in Tempe at the end of March- we are now adding a Thursday night practice to the schedule- on the water at 6:15 pm.

You will get an hour of quality paddling - giving your cardio the kick-start it needs to be able to maintain the winning reputation that SDDBT boasts!

Come on out join us for Thursday nights under the stars!

February 6

Must be what it's like to paddle in London. The fog was so thick we couldnt see the second boat after they took a 20 stroke lead on us! Ok.. Bye Jerry and other crew! Have fun- hope we dont "run into you" on the water! It was eerily odd, as we paddled out into the thick stillness of the morning. We stayed close to Fiesta shoreline, listening for Jerry's whistle or the splash of the paddle as it hit the water. But heard nothing, and saw even less.
We continued our workout as planned, and hoped for the best! It was a good long 2 hours of paddling- and pushing each other to the next level.
With just over a month left to ready for Tempe, we are focusing hard on getting into race mode and mentality.

January 30

Nice day for a great paddle team! we managed to have a pretty good hour workout- with some boat-to-boat competition, that was kind of fun!

And Karen "im-a-huki-winner" Jewel took the till and did an excellent job at it! Look forward to us giving more tiller experience at the end of each practice. Its good for everyone to have experience on how to react when a boat gets taken away from the tiller, and it happens to the best of experienced steerers, ask Jerry, Susie, Suzanne, anyone! Plus it builds on our experience and depth of talent in the club.

WOW! Can you believe how many new folks showed up?!?!?Even with cloudy skies and cooler temps- BIG THANKS to Judith and Meet-Up.com for encouraging the attendance- and to Andi and the rest of you for bringing food and friends to the beach on Sunday.

Lets hope we can keep them on board with us as we strive to build the teams and membership.

We logged in a little over 3 and 1/2 miles in our hour together- Stay tuned as we use the blog to give you information on what to expect in future practices and how we plan to prepare for Tempe, Long beach, and San Francisco!

And for those of you who have an interest in trying out for the USA Teams heading to Tampa in August, we will also keep that information posted here.

Its all good, and its all going to get BETTER!

January 23

HeyTeam! GREAT turnout Sunday- optimum weather and enthusiasm. The wind was holding back and really let loose as soon as we left the parking lot!

I hopped over to the OC demo at Santa Clara, and by 11am it was howling! Ask Roberta and Kim (Survivors) as they were testing some oc's that day.. Steve and Judith were over there too.

Thanks to Jerry and Susie for taking the 10man steering group on a crash(less) course of dragonboat steering- its just a first lesson gang- so no one gets to toss in the towel! Time at the till, time in the boat... its all about practice, and we promise to give you that time as we move forward these next few months.

The 30th is orientation day- and it could be "rewarding" for you to recruit serious participants to the team, there is a financial incentive program in place: if you recruit and 3 of your recruits sign up and pay their membership- your member ship dues are FREE! How great is that!?

We have a great day planned:

we will meet and get on the water by 8am- DONT BE LATE! we wont wait

work out til 9

meet and greet the recruits at 930 (Judith already signed up 38 people!)

introduce the stroke and the sport, then get YOU to help teach them the basics- its a teach-to-learn philosophy- so please plan to stay! and paddle with them until 1030

Afterwards, we will EAT! (bring something to share)

Looking forward to a great day Sunday!

January 16

I hope you all feel like you accomplished a little bit with respect to gaining a better understanding of what the stroke should look and feel like, and how close you are to getting it "right".
Previous coaching with Les has given you all an excellent starting place, and some of you have improved greatly from one season to this. We are fine-tuning and adjusting the little things that, when added up, can make a huge over all difference in competition.
Film is a valuable asset to our program, please do not be afraid to get filmed. We are all, on some level, self-conscious and we all, myself included, can learn a lot from being filmed and critiqued.
I will review the film again, and make individual comments and email you some clips to help solidify the areas that you need to concentrate on- as well as allow you to ask us specific questions so we can clarify in as many ways possible what we are hoping to achieve.
"in as many ways possible" - may not make much sense, but often times I think I am explaining something and it makes clear sense, and then Mike,Jeannette or Lisa will say the same thing in a different way- and suddenly its all clear to you.
Dont be afraid to ask us.

Excellent job today team- thank you Steve and Dave for teching out the pop-up studio, thank you Jerry for steering us, and thank you Marshall and Lisa for the stationary boat set-up.
Have a great week team- see you Sunday!

Reminder: Sunday the 23rd: we have Jerry and Susie offering a steering clinic towards the end of practice- for those interested- please plan to stay.
Dont forget to RECRUIT for our January 30th Orientation!