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Ever Heard of a Sport Called Dragon Boat?

Dragon boat is a paddling sport that started over 2000 years ago in southern China. According to the legend, Qu Yuan was a minister of the southern state of Chu (present day Hunan and Hubei provinces) and someone who pushed for political loyalty and integrity. However, when the state of Chu fell under control of corrupt officials, Qu Yuan walked into a river carrying a great stone as a form of ritual suicide to protest the widespread corruption. The fishermen in the area all rushed to the middle of the river on their boats while beating their drums and splashing water to scare away the fish and evil spirits from Qu Yuan's body. The boats are made to look like dragons simply to venerate the dragon deities so to avoid misfortune and encourage rainfall, especially since the time that the main dragon boat festivals in China take place is during the point of the farming year rice must be planted. Today, dragon boat is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, with millions of participants from close to 100 countries. Regulation boats have either 5 or 10 rows of 2 people (10 or 20 paddlers), space up front for a drummer, and space in back for a steersman.

That's my high school team out in front.

This is my high school team out in front.

This was taken at the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in 2015. You might be able to find me in this picture.

This is Team USA taken during the 2000m race at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Welland, Ontario, Canada in 2015. If you look hard enough, you might be able to find me in this picture.

This was also my high school team out in front.

This is also a picture of my high school team out in front.

What does this have to do with adaptive sports?

This past weekend, the San Diego Dragon Boat Team hosted their annual dragon boat race. This year however, this race was host to the Pacific Dragon Boat Association's regional qualifiers. Teams from all around California, Oregon, Arizona, even from Canada (though Canadians have their own regional qualifiers, this team came for fun and weather) came to compete for a bid to go to the Club Crew World Championships (CCWC), which take place next summer in Hungary. One of the teams that came for a bid was BlindStart, a team based in Cerritos, CA with blind paddlers and deaf paddlers. Over a year ago, they went to Adelaide, Australia to compete at CCWC, but they were the only adaptive team competing. But this coming year in Hungary, there will be other adaptive dragon boat teams from Canada and the Philippines, so there will be competition. How did BlindStart do at the San Diego race? Well they got a bid to go to Hungary and compete! BlindStart isn't the only adaptive team in the United States. There are adaptive teams in Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Portland, Oregon; and Las Vegas, Nevada, to name a few. There are only going to be more popping up in the near future.

These are the dragon heads that are put onto the boats during races.

These are the dragon heads that are put onto the boats during races.

BlindState getting ready to race. Check out that red and white paddle in the back decorated to look like a cane for the blind.

BlindState getting ready to race. Check out that red and white paddle in the back decorated to look like a cane for the blind.

This is the sign name for BlindStart. It combines the signs for deaf, blind, hearing, and dragon.

This is the sign name for BlindStart. It combines the signs for deaf, blind, hearing, and dragon.

The BlindStart team.

The BlindStart team.

Me and BlindStart.

Me and BlindStart.


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