The United States Dragon Boat Federation is offering a Fundamentals of Dragon Boat Coaching Course in November, right here in Portland, led by Connie Flesuras, founder of Dragon Boat Training.

Where: Wasabi Paddling Club, 1515 SE Water Avenue, Portland, Oregon 
When: November 18-20, 2016 (Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 9am-5pm) 
Cost: $300
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Course highlights include:

• Team safety – injury prevention
• Basic stroke mechanics – coaching strategies
• Identification of your coaching style
• Ability to create & utilize team mission and goal statements
• Design team season and practice plans
• Learn to capture and use video as a coaching tool
• Develop “critical eye”
• Develop a race day plan

Click here for more information and to download the registration form.

From Connie Cavagnaro, Wasabi Paddling Club:

The United States Dragon Boat Federation is offering a Fundamentals of Dragon Boat Coaching Course at the end of the month, right here in Portland, led by Connie Flesuras, founder of Dragon Boat Training.

Where: Portland Boathouse, 1515 SE Water Avenue, Portland, Oregon 
When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, January 29 - 31, 2016  
Cost: $300
​
Course highlights include:

• Team safety – injury prevention
• Basic stroke mechanics – coaching strategies
• Identification of your coaching style
• Ability to create & utilize team mission and goal statements
• Design team season and practice plans
• Learn to capture and use video as a coaching tool
• Develop “critical eye”
• Develop a race day plan

For further details, contact Connie or visit the USDBF website.

Our friends across the river at Wasabi have shared with us information regarding Team USA trials at the Portland Boathouse on October 11. The trials will be overseen by Garf Cooper, the coach of the 2015 USA Senior C Mixed Team, and he is hoping to form Senior C Mixed, Open and Women's teams.

The first stage of the try-out process is basically a fitness test. All candidates will be asked to do a 4 minute erg test and a 30 second erg test. In addition, candidates can choose to do two exercises from a variety of one-minute fitness tests: push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, burpees, ball slams, planks. Basically, most folks have opted to do the 1 minute push ups, but many have alternated other exercises in lieu of the sit up. Some fitness experts feel that the old fashioned sit up exposes athletes (particularly senior athletes) to back problems. Accordingly, the other exercises can be substituted for the sit up. Crunches are the preferred option.

The initial screening process also involves a 500m OC-1 test. OC-1 testing has many variables: wind, water conditions, the type and condition of the OC being utilized, and experience paddling an OC-1. For this reason, it is difficult to achieve an "apples to apples" comparison of test results. However, individual OC-1 testing is probably one of the best ways to measure individual paddling skills. All candidates can expect to do OC-1 time trials at the subsequent Team USA training camps where conditions will be relatively the same for all participants.

Once the first round of time trials have been completed, candidates will be invited to two three day camps. One is planned for late January in Florida. The second camp, we hope, will be at a warm weather West Coast location in early March. Currently, the vast majority of our Sr. C candidate pool hails from the eastern part of the country. If we can attract a significant number of West Coast candidates, we’ll hold camps on both coasts. The three Team USA crews (Mixed, Open, Women) will be selected after the three day camps. The final crews will participate in a five day camp in Melbourne, Florida from April 28 through May 3.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the Team USA Senior C Coaches:

Mixed Crew: Garf Cooper ecooper98@aol.com
Women’s Crew: Robin Parker parker_robin@yahoo.com
Open Crew: John Dyer jgdyer3@gmail.com

As a follow-up to the previous post regarding Team USA Time Trials, USDBF has circulated a FAQ document. Again, please visit the USDBF website for further information. 

The United Stated Dragon Boat Federation (USDBF) has posted a list of coaches, locations and dates for the Team USA time trials for the 2015 World Championships. The Premier Women and Senior A Women coaches are planning on holding time trials in Portland during the first weekend in August. If you are interested, you should fill out a paddler information form and send it to the coach. Please visit the USDBF website for forms and further information. 

The United States Dragon Boat Federation is offering a two-day intensive Fundamentals in Dragon Boat Coaching Course*

Where: Brooklyn, NY 
When: June 14 – 15, 2014
Cost: $300