...just in case you've been wondering where I disappeared to these past weeks...read on...
After reading in AWARE magazine that AWA was in search of a coordinator to revive their dragonboat tradition my inner voice whispered immediately – “you have to do this, it will be fun” and without hesitation I signed up for it an hour later.
The quest for my team started out with me “patrolling” the Foyer of the Clubhouse of the Hong Kong Jockey Club where the annual AWA Kick-Off breakfast was taking place. Monitoring the end of the staircase like a hawk on the hunt, I eyed up dragon boat athletes-to-be as they trotted unsuspectingly upstairs, S. was rolling on the floor when I urged her dead serious to be on the look-out for anyone taller than 5.7 and no heavier than 120 pounds -that’s discrimination, we’re Americans ! – and I was being ironic of course, living out my European sense of dry humor! By the end of the morning front and back page of my activity list were scribbled up with names of aspiring paddle enthusiasts and I began shivering from the sheer thought of having to manage 2 dragon boats over the next couple of months. During the following weeks I came to experience many drop outs for various reasons and feared we might end up below the magic number of 24 participants which I considered essential to start this enterprise. With new arrivals to HK and new members signing up for AWA the list gradually filled up again.
My next task to tackle was finding the right coach who would be willing to take on the lovely assignment to instruct a group of rookies for free. I decided to activate a friend to send a lout shout out into the universe of the HKIPC yahoo.groups and was soon rewarded with a very nice email from a guy called J. who volunteered to instruct us. I was suspicious to have found someone who was able to commit to a practice time of 10-11am and set up a meeting right away to discuss details – turned out the guy was German and my immediate thought was – oh my God, my teammates will suspect I was trying to organize a German conspiracy, but this was a cause worth fighting as J. has paddled for the HKIPC for years and seemed to be really experienced. Done!
Next in line was to secure a gracious sponsor willing to finance our private fun. I expected this to be a minor detail being convinced that all of the American corporations would fight to be the first in line to support us – not so, big error in judgement from my side! We needed the relatively small amount of HKD 40.000 to cover the fees and all I got to hear was – for Charity anytime (take note AWA fundraisers!!) for dragon boating, no way!! Sigh! Thanks to J. who set up the initial contact, I was able to win over CROWN RELOCATIONS for our cause – quasi a last second rescue before I had to cancel the whole mission. It was such a great relief to hear D./Crown Re speak the words “ I can see us being your sponsor, why not”? Jippijeihhh and a hearty THANK YOU to CROWN RELOCATIONS – we will be wearing our racing shirts even to the Hong Kong Philharmonics!
Then february dawned and the Fertility Gods had no mercy and stroke heavily – minus 4 paddlers due to pregnancies and I was ready to ban anyone below 44 years from the boat, just to be on the safe side ;-) This must be a super fertile year....
More bad news were heading my way – our coach had to withdraw his offer, he was ordered to move, completely unexpected – 1 ½ weeks before our 1st practice session, in the midst of Chinese New Year – I was tempted to start tearing up my dragon boat file.
The quest for my team started out with me “patrolling” the Foyer of the Clubhouse of the Hong Kong Jockey Club where the annual AWA Kick-Off breakfast was taking place. Monitoring the end of the staircase like a hawk on the hunt, I eyed up dragon boat athletes-to-be as they trotted unsuspectingly upstairs, S. was rolling on the floor when I urged her dead serious to be on the look-out for anyone taller than 5.7 and no heavier than 120 pounds -that’s discrimination, we’re Americans ! – and I was being ironic of course, living out my European sense of dry humor! By the end of the morning front and back page of my activity list were scribbled up with names of aspiring paddle enthusiasts and I began shivering from the sheer thought of having to manage 2 dragon boats over the next couple of months. During the following weeks I came to experience many drop outs for various reasons and feared we might end up below the magic number of 24 participants which I considered essential to start this enterprise. With new arrivals to HK and new members signing up for AWA the list gradually filled up again.
My next task to tackle was finding the right coach who would be willing to take on the lovely assignment to instruct a group of rookies for free. I decided to activate a friend to send a lout shout out into the universe of the HKIPC yahoo.groups and was soon rewarded with a very nice email from a guy called J. who volunteered to instruct us. I was suspicious to have found someone who was able to commit to a practice time of 10-11am and set up a meeting right away to discuss details – turned out the guy was German and my immediate thought was – oh my God, my teammates will suspect I was trying to organize a German conspiracy, but this was a cause worth fighting as J. has paddled for the HKIPC for years and seemed to be really experienced. Done!
Next in line was to secure a gracious sponsor willing to finance our private fun. I expected this to be a minor detail being convinced that all of the American corporations would fight to be the first in line to support us – not so, big error in judgement from my side! We needed the relatively small amount of HKD 40.000 to cover the fees and all I got to hear was – for Charity anytime (take note AWA fundraisers!!) for dragon boating, no way!! Sigh! Thanks to J. who set up the initial contact, I was able to win over CROWN RELOCATIONS for our cause – quasi a last second rescue before I had to cancel the whole mission. It was such a great relief to hear D./Crown Re speak the words “ I can see us being your sponsor, why not”? Jippijeihhh and a hearty THANK YOU to CROWN RELOCATIONS – we will be wearing our racing shirts even to the Hong Kong Philharmonics!
Then february dawned and the Fertility Gods had no mercy and stroke heavily – minus 4 paddlers due to pregnancies and I was ready to ban anyone below 44 years from the boat, just to be on the safe side ;-) This must be a super fertile year....
More bad news were heading my way – our coach had to withdraw his offer, he was ordered to move, completely unexpected – 1 ½ weeks before our 1st practice session, in the midst of Chinese New Year – I was tempted to start tearing up my dragon boat file.
Out of the blue a quick rescue was on the way – K. knew someone who was ready to take over and we ended up with G. Thank you K. – Hong Kong really is ALL about networking! Our new coach turned out to be a real pro – having paddled in New York and participating in various international competitions and in the Stanley DB races during the past years. We managed to catch an ace to train us – thank you G., for donating your nerves and your spare time to our team – we won’t disappoint you, promised!
With 2 days before our official practice sessions begin on feb 29th with an inviting temperature of approx. 14 degrees and announced rainfall we’re back to 24 Dragons (only 8 left from the original sign-up list) who are all burning with the desire to become part of one of the true remaining icons of Hong Kong – the dragon boat competitions. The AWA Globe Paddlers are determined to lead their team to success - Ready, Steady, Go…….!
In case anyone wants to come to cheer us on, you can find us on Tuesdays and Fridays between 9:30-11:30 on Stanley Beach, rain or shine. Our Warm-Up race will take place on Thursday, may 1st and the main event will follow on Sunday, june 8th.
AWA = American Women's Association
HKIPC = Hong Kong Island Paddle Club
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