Levels of Training

What it means, which is for you?

Dragon boating is a sport and recreational activity that can be pursued by everyone and anyone of all abilities and at every level of competition. Dragon boating encourages wellness, fitness, fun and camaraderie. For over 2000 years traditional dragon boat festivals have been about colourful and exciting racing.

Whether you have just started paddling or have been paddling for many years if you are serious about the sport of dragon boating you should be continuously trying to improve your paddling ability to race. The sport has dramatically changed over the last 20 years, becoming increasingly more and more competitive in every age group.

The way you approach training will determine your results; if every session is approached as an opportunity to learn and develop you will improve. Some will be able to progress quickly while others will naturally take more time, but it has to be your own journey to ensure you reach your objectives at the level that you want to achieve.

This guide is to help you understand the different levels of paddling and to assist you in identifying your paddling objectives. As a paddler you are not locked in our out of any of the levels. You are free to paddle at the level that you feel you can commit to.

Fitness programs are available to assist you prepare to move into more competitive levels. Building fitness takes time and has great rewards.

Social Paddling (includes improving fitness and technique)

Social paddling focuses mainly on the wellness, fitness, fun and camaraderie of the sport. Paddlers at this level are expected to learn the paddling stroke that is being taught by the coaches and to continue to improve it. You are expected to contribute equal effort to moving the boat (paddling effort) to ensure the best paddling experience of other paddlers at this level.

It is highly recommended, although not compulsory, that some off water activity is included to improve overall fitness and wellbeing. Training once or twice a week off water for 40 to 50 minutes at 70% of your maximum heart rate will improve your cardio capacity and ensure you meet the demands of paddling for an hour.

There is no expectation for social paddlers to compete in races.

The training focus for this level is stroke technique. Coaches will assist you by providing advice to enable you to improve your stoke. Trust and respond to this advice.

Competitive (defined as having a strong desire to win or be the best at something in which more than one person is striving for the same thing)

This level includes fitness, technique and training to compete in local and regional races or invitational events.

The training focus for this level is to prepare paddlers to race whilst maintaining the fun and camaraderie.

The level of individual commitment to continuously improving your fitness and synchrony with the rest of the team is what separates social and competitive paddlers.

For safety reasons you are required by AusDBF to be race fit – this applies to any level of competition. There is therefore an expectation that you will spend at least an hour a week conducting off water training to improve your overall fitness. This will include cardio and dragon boat specific strength training.

Racing at this level will be with paddlers of varying experience and abilities and range from participation races for newer competitive paddlers to gain experience; to racing in competitions with more experienced paddlers who have a reasonable expectation of winning or placing.

You will be expected to develop focus in the boat, concentrating on your training. You should develop consistency and synchrony with the team and train with a common purpose. Trust and respond to the stroke advice the coaches give you.

Training is progressive and will include a base building phase and a pre-race phase that is then maintained through the racing season. The pre-race phase combines off water and on water training and includes moderate intensity and higher volume sessions that incorporates race practice and competition to elevate your fitness.

At this level you will notice continuing and significant improvements to your fitness, which will be monitored throughout the season. Prepare to reap the rewards of your work!

High performance (fitness and technique training with a goal of competing at the highest levels of the sport. This includes National Championships, Club Crew World Championships and World Nations Championships representing Australia).

High performance paddlers have a goal and a plan to achieve the goal. Goals give structure and motivation to what you are doing and if the goals are smart they will help you measure your progress incrementally.

You will be expected to remain highly focused while in the boat, concentrating on your training. You should respect and encourage others and always train with purpose. Teamwork and consistency is what makes good paddlers better.

You will spend many hours in the gym pushing yourself to new limits and building up the muscles that provide the power for a race. You will build the cardio capacity to allow you to recover quickly so that you can consistently put the same effort into heats, repo-charges and finals. You will also build stamina and endurance, not because of individual races but because of the physical demands explosive racing places on your body over consecutive days of racing at the highest level.

Your fitness improvements will be closely monitored to ensure you are consistently achieving the team fitness targets. For Auroras paddlers this will include single craft training as well as gym work.

Training programs will provide a base period, a pre-competition period and a competitive peak period when you should be at your absolute best within a specific date range where the team meets specific goals for that period. After the peak you will take a rest period then start over with a long base phase to start preparing for the following year.

The camaraderie from shared experience at this level of racing is immense and very rewarding. There is a lasting bond between high performance paddlers; it comes from the trust you have in your teammates and from knowing how hard you have worked individually and the certainty that everyone else has done the same for you and the team.