TEMPE, AZ — It’s a sport that takes a lot of teamwork: dragon boat racing. And now, more people from Arizona are representing Team USA at the World Championships in multiple divisions.
A dragon boat is like a canoe, explained Eric Tang, who helped start up the sport in Arizona. Eric says there are 20 people, two people sitting side by side in the boat and paddling. There’s a person who helps steer the boat and a drummer who serves as the ‘heartbeat’ of the boat.
“Dragon boat is such a team-oriented sport, our goal is to really paddle as one. We are one heartbeat and one soul of the boat. As long as everyone’s together with timing, you see and feel the difference as you move the boat together,” said Dorra Tang, a paddler.
Dragon boat racing is rooted in 2,000 years of Chinese culture, according to Eric.
“It came about from this poet who ended up sacrificing himself [in a river] and so the village people really loved him and so they started hitting the water with their paddles, from there came the sport of dragon boating,” Eric said.
Eric said that since Taipei is a sister city of Phoenix, they were invited to attend a race back in the early 2000s. After two years of checking out dragon boat racing overseas, Eric said he helped officially form the Arizona Dragon Boat Racing Association a few years later.
“Arizona was always thought about, ‘Ah, that’s the team from Arizona. There’s no water there. There’s no way they can be competitive there.’ To see what we’ve done in the last couple of years, competitive and now this year we’ve had so many paddlers make Team USA… in the last few years have put Arizona on the map for the dragon boating world,” Eric said.
Dorra told ABC15 she is one of nearly 30 people from Arizona going to represent Team USA, adding that this is the largest contingency they’ve seen with the World Championships happening every two years.
“It’s a full circle moment for me to represent my culture, my family in the sport they grew up with,” Dorra said.
More children are also going, Dorra added.
“Growing up, I fell in love with the sport. The community’s really nice. Everyone’s just so nice and welcoming and it’s just a fun sport to do,” said Michelle Cruz Ceballos, a teen paddler getting ready to go to the World Championships.
Every week, groups head out to Tempe Town Lake to practice. Every March, the Arizona Dragon Boat Association hosts a festival and draws large crowds to witness different boats race.
“Who would’ve thought you could paddle in the desert?” Dorra said.
For more information on next year’s festival or about dragon boat racing, click here. The group is also looking for donations to help send them to Germany to compete in the World Championships in July.
