"Rotate!"

by Who Needs a Name

June 11, 2009

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We had a pretty cool practice on Thursday night. James came by and gave us about 45 minutes coaching and debriefing. We worked on the push-pull drill and worked on our snappy recovery, race pieces. It was nice. What else is new.. mm oh. Rotation.

I notice we all have this flaw. When we're tired, we don't rotate, or we start arm paddling and do funny things. Some people over rotate, some don't rotate at all. Personally, I over rotate sometimes, when I notice I do, I start to not rotate and start rotating when I get my groove back on. It's funny. Hopefully I can correct that before Alcan comes along.

You know what would help with rotation? If you start paddling with a proper sitting position and set up that stroke with a reach and a rotation, your rotation will come to play.

One step at a time, WNN! Try sitting square, straight, looking forward and SLIGHTLY lean forward. Okay!!! KEEP IT THERE~ Don't come back up. Now....

1. turn your chest towards your seat partner
2. your lower arm extended like it's going to slap the front guy's thigh
3. now move chest back to original position till your left right shoulders form a straight line

That's right I gotta do it too....
My flaw comes from over rotating~ when I "unwind" myself, my shoulders are not aligned and I'm getting ready for the next stroke and never get a chance to correct my flaw on the next stroke. You know.. just.. constantly going in without correcting the stroke. It becomes a habit. Gotta work on rotation again next practice.

Raaaashaaa!! Boooyaaa!

PS: Start drinking plenty of water, aight? It's time to get hydrated, baby!!! Eat healthy!! and sleep early.. Ai.. Look who's talking.

"Snap it out"

by Who Needs a Name

May 29th, 2009

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Why was it so hard to recover or exit well?
Well means clean recovery, and crisp exit.
It took me forever to figure out how to exit properly without splashing the victim in front of me. SORRY!! No.. you say thank you, then the splasher should say you're welcome in advance? Anyway, let's not get off topic here.

Some people simply have great reflexes and they can take out the paddle and reach up front in a smooth movement, crisp and maybe powerful :p. Some are less flexible, you know..we're not all born flexible. So it takes practice. Believe in yourself you can do it and keep working on it!

Going back to the exit, what are the key points to having clean exit?
You need flexible top arm and lower arm movement, shoulders movement, and hips movement. They don't come over night if you're not born with it! So it's ok if you dun get the first time or the second time. There are the different parts of your body that requires a lot of attention while doing the exit for example, hand, arms, shoulders, and hips.

First off, tell yourself to hold the paddle FIRMLY, NOT AHH!!TIGHT!!!! but FIRMMMMMMMMMMLY. "Hold it like you mean it" (Kamini, 2009) Your lower arm needs to be trained/constantly reminded to keep it straight till it reaches the end of your stroke, THEN bend it to take it out of the water, THEN imagine someone's pulling your lower arm to touch someone's thigh!!! HAHA
Let's break it down, shall we? paddles up..!!!!
Reach up front --> dip it down (catch) --> arm straight, paddle --> paddle reaches knee? bend your lower arm to take the blade out of the water--> Reach towards your$ paddler (the person in front of you)'s thigh!

Your top arm needs attention too. You don't wanna be TOO TIGHT with your grip, you wanna be firm!! like a dragon boater hand shake. (freak'in firm, but not tight) Just hold it like you mean it. Keep your top arm kinked at the indicated angle (ask James?) follow through with your stroke. Your top arm should be at the same angle no matter you're catching or, taking a stroke, or uhhh...recovering.
relax your shoulder when you set up and be prepare to show your armpit while you rotate.

Your shoulder should always be relaxed. You don't wanna paddle without a neck. I can imagine a dragon boater having to paddle with the shoulders all tensed and stuff cos I did that too when I'm too excited. We need to see some rotation from the paddle... and lots of that rotation movement, comes from the hips and a lot of initiation from the shoulders. If your shoulder is relaxed, you can snap it out easily.

Your hips is where the power comes from.
They give you that extra inch when you reach. Swing em good :) You can do it.

Incorporate all that in sequence of movements.
VOILA... aight. it doesn't ..VOILA~~~ or viola.. la la..
It takes practice. :) patience :) and some sexiness. You got the sexiness covered, I'm sure.

"Lean out, dammit!"

by Who Needs a Name

May 19th, 2009

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It's been two intensed training months for me personally. How was it for you guys?

I'm starting to notice how important it is to keep track of your own training progress. How would I know if I am improving? How would I know if I'm doing THIS right, or pulling at the right angle? Now that I have practiced keeping track of my training progress, I understand my ability a lot more AND I know what to work on now. Yeah it gets overwhelming sometimes. There's just too much stuff to know and fine tune!

Here's what I noticed, and I like to thank the coaches for pointing things out.

We shouldn't lean out but not sit right against the gunnel.
At first the coach said I tend to shift weight back to the boat when I take a stroke. So I kept my eyes open for that.
When I'm tired, I tend to do that. But there were something else that caused me to lose balance thus caused the weight shifting back and forth.

Coach noticed I was slid'in off my seat a couple times. Yes, I was leaning out but I wasn't sitting against the gunnel. So my weight was shifting inside the boat as I slide away from the gunnel.
What's the purpose of leaning out?
- ..To get your weight outta the boat and everyone will paddle less of your weight.

Here's what happened.
Right after I took a stroke and did the hinge thing in a repeated manner,
I watched myself slid'in away from the gunnel stroke after stroke. Again, I'm adding more weight INSIDE the boat as I do. Moreover, as I find myself slidding further and further away from the gunnel, I'd have to re-adjust my sitting posture constantly even during the race, which is very dangerous to do so.
As a result of putting weight IN the boat, I wasted your paddling effort.
The cause of all that problem was.... I couldn't stay on my seat!!! #$(#*)(*!!

So the next time I did a little experiment, I brought one of those butt pad thingy and I sat on it and tried to lean out as I paddled. I didn't see myself shifting like I did. Uhhh... but when the pad slips off the seat, I start paddling funny. Mmmm.. I need a bigger pad.

Next task: rotate

Stroke Improvement Clinic

by Lillian

April 18, 2009
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Credit to Kamini E Jain, Graham, Sherry

Sitting in general:
Sit up, edge of seat, square face forward, brace well (need to sit stable), sit comfortable to start but will be uncomfortable once you start paddling, body slightly forward so it's over your hips.
stick your butt out while sitting

lower arm: straight, let it lead.
upper arm: supports your stroke, supposed to be anchor, hand above elbow, elbow above shoulder. avoid upper arm too high, open your arm pit

Sitting on 6-16 boat:
recommended -
outside foot: heel touch boat, toes on anchor or something BUT ankle should be straight to brace yourself better.
inside foot: on boat, place comfortably flat on boat,doesn't really matter as long as you are comfortable and helps your sitting position as mentioned above.

Paddle:
parallel to boat,

catch (entering): emphasize on stretching out, push outside hand forward, open your outside armpit, take hip back as you reach,now reach then catch,now drag paddle back with your body as you return to original position (recovery)

recovery: shoulder relax, upper arm does NOT move. open your arm pit
Tips: upper arm lift paddle up slightly, lower arm follow, then take the lead

good habit to do your recovery when body is squared.
good habit to recover when the blade is vertical in the water
good habit to keep your elbow out
fcrcc have a "flick out" recovery method.. Some teams use it.. it's up to our discretion

top hand drive: upper hand push down JUST to keep the paddle in the water. Don't need to push it way down. warning: paddlers might put too much emphasis on pushing down and not rotation. therefore top hand drive is not that recommended for some paddlers. they might neglect the fundamental of rotation.

avoid bob: set up is important (sitting), don't collapse weight on feet when you paddle. catch with blade, minimum on bowel weight. swing your hips back.

recommended - don't swing legs. outside leg don't move too much. inside leg move a lot. should lean body out, don't lean our with your waist

review of video: (ed's boat, left) (links at the end of the email)
If anyone paddles like Lillian.
note that she pulls too quickly before the blade is catch.
Top arm needs to be more steady
Problem: tendency to apply top hand drive before catching. that's too early.
Solution: think bury the blade, then paddle.
Set up is good.

Order of paddling:
Set up --> reach --> catch --> (elbow straight) pull while move body back FAST --> top arm lift --> Set up...

warning:
beware of locking joints. might hurt yourself
hyper extend outside arm, might cause you not paddle straight

Good habits: relax shoulder to get a longer reach
good habit to not spend too much power GOING IN, but spend more power pulling it back
good habit to keep rotation with catch
good habit to sit up and use your butt cheek as pivot
good habit to keep a up right posture (slightly body over hips) in the beginning
good habit to keep your back straight, body straight when you rotate (don't hunch)
good habit to bury your pinky when you paddle but NOT YOUR WHOLE HAND
good habit to paddle parallel to boat

Common question:
When do we PUSH WITH UPPER ARM?
Answer:
Top arm push down when the blade is all the way in. but the idea is not to make the boat go uppppp...
the idea is to keep the blade in the water as you pull back.
and upper arm is giving it pressure as it applies power to your pull.

Ed's Front Lefts
Ed's Front Rights
Ed's Middle Lefts
Ed's Middle Rights
Ed's Back Lefts
Ed's Back Rights
Theresa's Front Lefts
Theresa's Front Rights
Theresa's Back Lefts
Theresa's Back Rights
All FCRCC Paddlers together with clinic participants

Kelowna International Dragon Boat Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 15th and 16th 
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PART  1

Friday:
We all went to Casa Loma Resort at different time. Some arrived as early as 3pm, and some arrived as late as 12am the next morning. We each went to our designated condo and cottage and mentally prepared for next day's race. I was so excited I almost couldn't sleep!

Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Festival

Saturday and Sunday, September 1st and 2nd 2007
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TDBF Mandatory Practice #2

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
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Easy practice today. Some of us (former ccpc and Jac from Team Magnum) are going to double-dip tomorrow, so John cut us some slack :P Thank you!!! What a great father of Dragon Hearts monkies!

We only paddled for an hour and went back to briefing .. just a little bit. We don't know what time we're meeting on Saturday and Sunday yet, but we'll know by Friday for sure.

Aud, Jam, Rem, Tif, Lil, Adri, and Lea went for ice-cream at xxxxx xxxxxx. :p yummmmmy~

Here's something unrelated to the practice and yummy ice-cream. I came across this article about James Erlandsen, who's a drummer from Gung Haggis Fat Choy. Some of our Dragon Hearts paddlers went to Vernon with this team. So as soon as I saw GHFC on the article, (I think it was the team name that got my attention) I stayed behind to read the article and skipped the briefing. (Oops... Sorry!)

The article says James from GHFC has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He's undergoing medical treatment right now. (found out he has Leukemia in Feb) Since he has no siblings, the chance of him finding the right bone marrow donor is very low already. At least someone in Canada should be able to save his life. He's Eurasian. If you are too, you might be able to help. Canadian Blood Services (CBS) said you have to:

Register to be a bone marrow donor with CBS
They will mail you an information package
If you finally decide to donate, you can book an appointment to do testing and donate bone marrow.

The only thing is if you donate bone marrow (just like blood), your bone marrow might not go to James right away. You don't get to choose who you want your bone marrow to go to. It's very hard to find a match... but there is a chance! Even if you are not Eurasian, your bone marrow might still be able to save James Erlandsen.

I don't know him personally, but I think it's an interesting coincidence that I saw this article. I usually don't pay attention to the bulletin board @ dragon zone. Just so happened..... something made me wanna stay behind, skip the breifing and read the bulletin board and write about it tonight. Just....fate. I'm known as an overly-active loud-mouth sometimes. So yeah I'm going to spread the words. Please help him out! And I'll do some research about it. Not everyone's suitable to donate, especially we're talking bone marrow. Anyway... Look into it if you can. Help spread the words if you can. Maybe someone reading this right now has matching bone marrow for James. You never know!

TDBF Mandatory Practice

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
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6:45pm~ The sun was up and so was the temperature. We were so excited to get on a Taiwanese Boat for the first time. At least 10 people from both Team Magnum and Dragon Hearts went out to pick up our ride and paddled to Dragon Zone. The rest of the other paddlers waited patiently at the dock looking out for something different to appear on the shore. Oh there it is~ the boat's huge! It's got a huge head and huge xxx too!! The boat has no gunnel almost. (gunnel: 2cm or something). We had to lean out a lot more and submerge the blade in the water even more. It's a heavy boat~~ and takes a lot more effort to make it fly but that just motivates a lot of us to paddle harder. Ounff!

"Bring more water next time"

Thursday, August 16th, 2007
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After about 4 complete race pieces total, (some short ones) we couldn't do anymore powerful start. We saved up for the finish and give hell to False Creek. EAT OUR DUST, YOU DIRTY WATER!

First race piece was a bit sloppy, but it got better and better. 
We worked on endurance and some of the paddlers got picked on. Yeah, watch the negative paddling. I'm not gonna say who.
Coach emphasized again the up's are up front. If we're tire, keep the paddling up front.
Critique on the side, Coach Mui reminded us to bring the paddle out of the water instead of pulling too far.  A lot of us are putting a lot of effort in our strokes pulling really hard and all, but it drags the boat down. Why? Check if you're paddling too far back. You may start up front but pull way back. If you remember, "there's no point to put so much power to pull your paddle so far back when all it does is drag the boat down." Take it out and hang till the next stroke.

If you're tire, make good use of your technique.

Relax on your reach, and bamm!!!! on the pull.
Don't tense up~~~ Relax and accelerate through your stroke.
Don't relax through your stroke.
Hahah this **honk** is not easy hahaha.. Play with it... see what you find and if this makes sense to you.

Thank you, Way, for coming to steer for us : )
and of course.. taking care of DH's ride and stuff.
You're the bomb!

2nd time writing the same recap...

Thursday, August 9th, 2007
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Oh dear, this is the second time I'm writing the recap. I just lost the blurb I wrote from Thursday practice. Anyway.. Here it is again:

If you're paddling at the back, technique to you is more important than anything. You have to paddle in a more technical way. How so? The water runs much faster at the back of the boat. When you put your blade in the water, the water pushes your blade back much faster than any other spots at the boat. All the heavy water is WAY UP FRONT. In order to catch the heavy water, you need to rotate AND put some weight on to your paddle as you rotate. The command you might hear is "get on top of your blade" or "reach for the heavy water". Emphasize on putting the blade in (really in) before pulling it. What might happen is that the water will take your blade back before you can plant the blade in. You just have to fight it. Get your blade in the water first before accelerating through your stroke. If you pull too soon, you are only pulling light water and you're dragging the boat for pulling too fast. Remember "WHAT'S THE RUSH?" "SPEND MORE TIME UP FRONT". Now you know what that means.

We had three crazy race pieces, and two 20 to 30 minutes endurance training nonstop. We paddled to Graville Island dock to drop off Kitty and said bye bye to K&K. "Ok, we have to bring the boat back to Dragon Zone." We were so together when we said "Awwwwwrgh!!!!!" Can you say "TEAM SPIRIT?"

We were puked! Luckily, no one wanted to race us. YESH!!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this next practice. Are you?

Rec A Final (500m) - Time: 2:18.760

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
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Nemo cheer: "Dragon Hearts, OH HA HA!" (Inspired by Finding Nemo)

Team cheer: "Who's got hearts We've got hearts! Who's got hearts? We've got hearts. WHO'S GOT HEARTS! Dragon Hearts!"

Race1: Current was mild. It was there~ We had a good start.  The power was there. Did you feel the wind blowing at your face.. your hair going back as you serg? [video : Regatta 2007 Team CCPC]

Race2: Current was mild. We started with a bad angle. The boat was corrected after we did our start. So that was good. The current wasn't going against us. [video : Regatta Race #2 (our boat appear in 00:04)]

Race3: We successfully got to Rec A :) competed with James' team. Impressive! We were dying at the finish. Yes, we gave it all from the start and finished with an empty tank. We could have came 4th place. At the end, just before the finish line, another boat caught up to us and took 4th place. We came 5th/6 at the last race. Over all, it was a good race. Here's what coach had to say about the last race:  [video : Regatta Team CCPC race #3]

"It was transition. It was ok for a bit, and all of a sudden it (the rate) went up... like crazy all of the sudden."
Coach thought this problem started from the "back push now".
The strokers felt it too.

"That caused you 4th placed or something.. that should have caused you 3rd place. I dunno how you do that or stand doing that."
We should have been very tired by then, how could we maintain that high rate or even boosted up the rate at that time? We went crazy.

"The rate went down a bit (at the end) but the rate after that (back push now) was just high."

What do we need to work on for our next practice?
"What we do need to work on is power and speed."

"How did the finish feel?"
Were we dying?
The team responded with a few breathless "yeh" and a few nods.
"It looked like you guys were dying."

"Yeah.. the 4th place caught up to you. So you need to work on the power." GO GET EM~ Dragon Hearts! OH HA HA!

Although we didn't win top three, coming from Rec E to where we are is a great achievement! Y'all should be proud of yourself :) We beat our record! "It was a pretty good achievement over all." YESH!!!!! It was! We raced against James' team! It really happened!

"Over all, it was good."

Timing! For real...

Friday, May 18th, 2007
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Regatta

Great Weather

Wednesday, May 12th, 2007
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Let's work together~~ beat our record in Alcan!

Share your thoughts with your team mate~ Cody and Lillian wanna hear your experience that day. Was it your first time competing at the Regatta? How did you feel?

"Marga is our caller"

Race Overview
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OVERVIEW OF OUR RACE PIECE:

"Paddlers! Are you ready!!"
"Attention please!! ..."
"(HONNNNK!!!)"
HALF
HALF
3
3
FULL
FULL
UP UP UP 4 5 6 7 8
UP UP UP 4 5 6 7 8

RRREADY annnd Rrreach (slow down the rate, the strength remains)

Readeeeee annnnd reeeeeach!!!!

........... (keep going...powerful clean strokes!! backs.. push!!)

POWERRRRRR 10 noooooOOW!!! (120% POWERRRRRRR BOOOOST IT UP~~)
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (don't speed up)

FINISH~~~
FINISH
FINISH~~~
(empty it up~ keep in time)

A word from "LK":

Please remember who you should follow. Other teams are doing their own thing. YOU are doing your team thang!~ Just do well in it, and you'll be surprise by the result.

Sometimes during the race, you might THINK that you're tired. You know, it's all in your mind. Fight through it. Mentality is everything. (and I agree with coach Team UBC on this one) The race is actually for you and yourself. Race against yourself. Test your endurance. Stay focus in your boat. Believe in yourself(Stephanie,07). Your power is everything to the boat. One person's effort matters a lot to the boat. So everyone, you are that special to the team. Believe you are powerful, you are significant and can make a great difference!!!

A word from your Webmaster:

It's SNAPPY time!

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007
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• Leg drive and hip rotation: Naturally, your knee will move forward when you rotate your hip. So rotate that hip! Pivot on your "inner cheek" (ie. the butt cheek closest to the inside of the boat), which should always be touching the seat. Try to sit close to the edge of the seat. Rotate that whole body and push off with your outside leg. Give us that extra boost!
• Getting SNAPPY: Dig your paddles in and come out with a quick retreat, ie. *snap*.
• Breathing: Exhale with a tightened stomach while you do your "UPs". "Up, up, up, up."
• Starts: Marga is back! Yay! For those who's not familiar with Marga, she's our caller. Get used to her voice. Here's how she'll be calling our starts:
  
  
  Half, Half, Three, Three, Full, Full
  Up, Up, Up, Up, 5, 6, 7, 8
  Up, Up, Up, Up, 5, 6, 7, 8
  Ready.. And... REACH!!!
  

Coach James said he felt our Power 10's. Hooray!! But, he also said that means we've been slacking off when we're not doing the power strokes. Is that true?! I thought we were improving (delusion?). Anyway, let's show him that we're not slacking off. 100% ALL THE WAY!!!

"UP UP UP"

Friday, May 4th, 2007
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Today we reviewed what we learned last week and we practiced quite a bit on the "Start".

Remember:
• "UPs'" (excuse me, not "UPS" the courier) = short strokes to get the boat going. Put your effort in every stroke so we have a good start.
• "bury your blade" even before your start begins. You can pull a lot more water with the same effort.
• "just stay in time, damn it" (Mark, 07)
• "Don't speed up the rate at 'power' "
• Rotate your body and do a full reach.. so slow down the rate and chest faces your partner...back faces outside the boat
• Pivot on your raspberry. (John.. it's Blueberry. Has anyone checked to prove it's right or wrong?)
• Bring out the tiger in you hahaa. As Kevin said "killer instinct". Be aggressive. If it helps to groan, please go ahead^^
• When your body hurts, breath out the pain. Deal with it
• If your body hurts, you're doing something right!!! haha
• "Paddle til you puke" (Ko, 07)
• "I want you guys to puke" (Mark, 07)
• The call for 16: UP UP UP 4 5 6 7 8 UP UP UP 4 5 6 7 8
• First 6: 2 3 4 5 (Your 1 is when the horn blows) (half 3/4 3/4 full full full) <--- Confirmed with John
• Use your mind, kill the pain. Don't give up

Does anyone know what to do when we're about to start? Some of us learned it since last year. Rest the paddle in the water (so the blade aligns with the side of the boat) and twist your paddle to paddling position inside the water when we're ready to race. That way the boat won't go backward at the starting line when you push your paddle out.

Enough said..

Here's our debrief for today ^^

IMPORTANT NEWS:

April 26, 2007
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Please Wear your Dragon Hearts RED T-Shirt so we could be spotted.
Please let me know who has yet to receive a T-Shirt.
Bring water, snacks, lunch
MANDATORY - 100% ATTENDANCE

Reminder: If you're going to bring something valuable, please have it with/on you at all time. Oh of course, you can put it in someone else's car, but as a volunteer of a policing centre, you know that leaving your valuables in a vehicle is your risk to take :p

Also, one of our team member lost his/her glasses while racing. Put your glasses away when you're in the boat if you don't want to take the risk.

Rainy Day

April 25, 2007
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We worked on rotation (it was some good rotation!!) and "start".
What can we do to improve? Because there were only a few of us on the boat, we could see each other's paddling technique very well. Our endurance level got lower or something? (Let's blame the weather, shall we?) After a minute of long strokes, lots of us stopped rotating and went back to the arm-only or VERY SMALL rotation. The boat was flying at first. Our reach was amazing! Then after a minute of amazing paddling, we went 40% or even lower kekekeke. Most of us just stopped rotating. I guess we were all tired. How are we going to improve on that besides running laps and doing push-ups and sit-ups. Let's go to the gym? Kekekekek ^^

Great Improvement!

April 20, 2007
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Working on "recovery"

April 18, 2007
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Some of the things we talked about at debriefing was...

Worked with James Version 6-16

April 11, 2007
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Click here for James' technique tips

James' start:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-1-12-13-14-15-16 READY and REACH
Please correct me if I'm wrong...here's how the start goes ...GOhalf halfthree quarter - three quarterfull fullUP UP UP FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN ...etc...

Racing w/our "sibling" team

April 6, 2007
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Paddling Tips

March 3, 2007
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• Very Basic Paddling Tips

• Winter Paddling Tips