The Villages - May 2008 - (Page 21)

As a lead paddler, Barb sits in the ﬁrst seat of the boat beside the other lead paddler to set the pace with the captain. “Our arms go up and everyone is supposed to follow,” Barb said. The lead paddlers aim to work together. “The goal is to lift our arms up and down at the same time. We’ve been told with practice we’ll get synchronized. The whole key is synchronization,” Barb said. Along with proper science, a powerful stroke and synchronization, — serendipity can also help a dragon boat team. Barb was talking about her dragon boat experiences with Lake Sumter Landing Bicycle Club members. A guest to the club that day happened to be Rick White, a dragon boat coach from Canada. He heard the conversation and introduced himself to Barb. “I was so excited,” Barb said. Barb put him in touch with Mickey, who convinced him to visit the team during his stay in The Villages. “He gave us a slight modiﬁcation to the new stroke we just learned. He also talked a lot about teamwork,” Don said. Liz, a resident of the Village of Calumet Grove, said having Rick’s advice was invaluable for Team I. “It’s always great to talk to someone with experience,” Liz said. “I was glad he said to keep it fun. This was one of my goals.” Liz’s profession made her a perfect ﬁt for the job as a team captain. “I’m a life coach by trade. Coaching and teaching is my passion,” Liz said. In addition to improving technique, Liz said one of her goals was to bring the paddlers together as a team mentally. “I needed to get a commitment from each member. Everyone is so busy with a variety of activities. We knew we needed these people to put both feet in the water. To come to practices and to stick with it,” Liz said. “I like to keep things fun, too. We joke around and I threaten people that I’ll make them walk the plank,” Liz said. Mickey and Liz worked together to improve the team. They videotaped a practice so they could see the team perform from different angles. The seat in the bow of the boat where the captains sit didn’t always provide the best viewing spot to see stroke synchronization. “Other team members expressed interest in watching the tapes, too,” Liz said. “So we decided to show them to everyone at a practice. People watched themselves and they could see how they were moving in the boat. It seemed to make a huge difference. You can say something to someone and give them coaching, but sometimes they need to see it to understand what you’re talking about.” MAGAZINE 21

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Villages - May 2008

The Villages - May 2008 Contents Latin Dancing Makes for Fun Fitness Making Graceful Moves in the Water Students Create Culinary Ecstasy in Pizzas Summer Plants and Flowers Brain Exercises Shopping & Dining Guide Retail Briefs Entertainment Briefs Major Events Snapshots

The Villages - May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.