Club-Wide Competitive Programs

Dragon Zone Paddling Club aims to support high performing athletes at the national and international stages. These races provide the opportunities to showcase what the community has to offer, competing against some of the fastest teams across the country and the world. This program outline seeks to provide a comprehensive plan for prospective club-wide gendered crews seeking to compete at these events.

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2024 CCWC Gendered Teams Program

For the 2024 season, the club is aiming to enter 1 Premier Open and 1 24U-Uni Women standard boats to compete at the 2024 IDBF Club Crew World Championships held in Ravenna, Italy from September 3rd to 8th. Racing includes 3 distances for all classes/categories: 200m, 500m, and 2000m. The goal for these crews is to place 1st in their respective divisions.

IDBF Bulletin 1: 14th IDBF Club Crew World Dragon Boat Championships   

2024 Competition List

Both teams will be competing at the following local and international events this season:

• Burnwater Spring Sprints – May 4
• Vessi 500 Championships – June 1
• Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival – June 22-23
• IDBF Club Crew World Championships – Sept 3-8

· Aug 30 – Sept 9 including travel/training days

Athletes selected onto the crews should make provisions to participate only with the gendered teams at the above races in the specified divisions. Athletes may race with their Dragon Zone dragon boat team at the above races in other divisions (ie. Mixed Division) but may not race in other divisions with a club that is not Dragon Zone.

Eligibility & Requirements

All participants must meet the following criteria to be considered in selection onto the Club Premier Open or 24U Women Teams for the 2024 Season:

• Current paddler/coach/steers/drummer of a Club dragon boat team in good standing by March 1, 2024.
• A valid OC-1 (only Hody required) passholder for the 2024 season if securing a paddler position on the team.

· Completion of Club OC-1 huli drill or huli drill approval for current OC-1 pass.

· Completion and approval of 5 monitored OC-1 sessions, plus having passed the Club OC-1 online test

• 19 years of age or older as of competition start date.*
• Register for the mandatory Club-wide time trials and testing dates, 1 week prior at register.dragonboatbc.ca
• Be able to attend and pay for travel to the 2024 Club Crew World Championships, training days, as well as any qualifying events for the Championships. 
• Meet all Club rules and regulations, including those around good conduct, good standing, and codes of conduct.
• Meet all IDBF and DBC rules and regulations, including those around good conduct, good standing, rules of conduct, membership and affiliation requirements, age standards, and anti-doping regulations.
• At a minimum, 12 paddlers per roster must be composed of paddlers who were rostered for the Open boat at the 2023 Canadian National Championships.

* Certain exceptions may be provided for only the 24U-Uni Women team and are to be discussed with the club on a case by case basis.

Roster & Crew Selection

The 2023 Club teams will be competing in the following two divisions:

• Premier Open – no age or gender restrictions
• 24U-Uni Women – all women racers AND must be one or both of the following:

· 24 years of age or younger by December 31st of 2024 (birth year >=2000)

· A full-time student at an accredited-university at the time of competition (at any level)

Each crew is composed of 26-30 athletes (including steers and drummer), with likely 13-15 paddlers selected per side.

Coaches for the gendered teams have been invited to lead this process for 2024 by the Club. The Open team will be led by Aidan and Shamus Menard and the Women team led by Jennifer Thi. Team administration will be organized by Eric Liu and Vince Ramos.

Selection to the team will be entirely subject to the coach’s decision and selection event results. Factors include but are not limited to:

• 330m, 150m and 660m OC-1 Time Trial Results (Club-Wide)

· Please refer to DZ Club Wide OC-1 Sprint TT Bulletin – Feb 2024 for OC-1 testing information.

• Dragon boat technique
• Coachability and attitude
• Overall fitness and existing testings

Selection Process

The selection process for the team will consist of 4 camps, all composed of OC-1 Time Trial testings (Club-wide Time Trial) and dragon boat practices. OC-1 time trials will include 3 possible distances: 660m, 330m and 150m sprints. This is done to mimic dragon boat race distances and assess the paddler’s ability to move in a boat.

The planned dates for the 2024 selection camps are listed below. Please note that these dates and times are all subject to change.

• Preliminary Seeding Camp

· OC-1 TT (660m & 330m) – February 18th

· DB Practices (1) – February 25th

• Early Selection Camp

· OC-1 TT (TBA) – April 27th

· DB Practices (2) – April 28th

• Final Selection Camp

· OC-1 TT (TBA) – May 25th

• Training Camp

· OC-1 TT (TBA) – Aug 10th

· DB Practices (TBA) – Aug 11th

All eligible athletes are permitted to attend the first three camps, however, only CCWC race roster-selected athletes are permitted to attend the Training Camp (August). The gendered roster decisions will be conducted through a multi-step selection process that differentiates between the local race roster and CCWC race roster.

Local Roster

Rosters for local events will be composed of 1 Open boat and 1 Women boat each composed of 26 athletes (Including caller and steers). They will be exclusively selected from athletes who attended prior testings and practices:

• Burnwater Spring Sprints – up to Early Selection Camp
• Vessi 500 Championships – up to Final Selection Camp
• Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival – up to Final Selection Camp

Roster decisions will be officially announced approximately 1 week before each competition, and be emailed to selected participants. After this roster decision, only selected athletes will be permitted to join for practices.

NOTE: Selection to the local roster does not guarantee selection to the CCWC roster.

CCWC Roster

Phase 1 & 2 Selection Camps together will see the total selection of ~30-50% of the final CCWC race roster, while Phase 3 will compose of the remaining athletes. Final roster decisions will be announced approximately 1 week after Final Selection Camp (or any makeup testings), and be emailed to selected participants.

Training Camp results will be used for race lineup decisions of selected athletes for CCWC. NOTE: Selection to the CCWC roster does NOT guarantee that you will race!

Practices & Training

Upon registration to the program, athletes will be expected to participate in the following training modules until departure for CCWC

• Tuesday Dragon Boat Practice for each crew from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

· Bi-weekly (every 2 weeks) practices for each team (March, April, May)*

a. Open’s start date: March 19th, 2024

b. Women’s start date: March 26th, 2024

c. Ex. Opens, Womens, Opens, Womens, … (Alternating weekly)

· Weekly practices (June to Sept) for selected athletes

• There may possibly be supplementary OC-1/Gym workouts suggested by the coaches.

* Please note that the bi-weekly schedule is subject to change depending on the number of paddlers committed.

Costs

Similar to the selection process, costs for the program will be split into local and CCWC fees. Local costs apply for all those who are trying out for the program, and will cover expenses for practices, coaching, testings and races. CCWC costs only apply for those who are selected to the gendered teams.

Local

This will include one installment of $150 to be paid by each athlete on acceptance to try out for the program. This payment covers:

• All dragon boat practices & coach boat (subsidized by the Club)
• Local race fees (subsidized by the Club)
• Coaching fees

NOTE: Paying local fees DOES NOT guarantee you will race locally, you must still be selected! If we have enough registrants, we may race more than one boat per gender locally.

It is mandatory for athletes participating in this program to purchase a 2023 DZPC Gendered Team jersey if they do not have one already. Paddlers must wear this jersey for all local races with the team. The installment does not cover the jersey cost.

CCWC

For selected athletes only, there will be an additional installment that is currently TBA and to be paid by each athlete on acceptance to the CCWC roster for race operation related costs. This payment covers:

• CCWC/IDBF race registrations
• One CCWC club jersey (subsidized by the Club)
• Coach travel & accommodations

(**) Costs for accommodations (August 30-September 9) and bus (to and from race sites for 2 practice days, opening ceremony, and race days) for ALL Dragon Zone athletes will be organized through the club, but this fee is not included in the race operation fee indicated above. Each athlete will pay this amount, regardless if they are in one or more Mixed, Open or Women divisions. If an athlete is on a Mixed crew going to CCWC, this amount will be paid through your team, otherwise it will be through the club.

Installments DO NOT COVER:

• Dragon Boat Canada Registration Membership – $30 (DUE MARCH 31st)
• Flights, meals, personal expenses, and hotels outside of race period
• Travel insurance or other costs not listed in the explicitly included cost lines above

It is each individual athlete’s duty to book their own travel according to the dates required for racing and on-site training sessions in Ravenna, Italy. Athletes going to CCWC only for the Open or Women’s teams are encouraged to plan their trip alongside other Club paddlers or teams racing (JUICE or UBC Current Blue).