People have various motivations for joining dragon boating. Some people are seeking a new adventure, some people are trying to get in shape, others are looking for a community.
From the moment you meet her, there’s little about Kim Kuipers that isn’t delightful. Kim is a chipper, easygoing 67-year old with a mop of silvery hair and an infectious laugh, her cheerfulness paired with an enduring passion to do good things for the world and to do them well. A veteran of the sport, she’s been dragon boating since 2013, starting with Hamilton’s Lively Dragons and culminating in the Para Dragon category at the Canadian Club Crew Championships. Last year (2024) she founded the Extra Special Livelys: a dragon boating team for paddlers with special needs.
We spoke to members of Canada’s inaugural National Para Dragon Boat team, and here’s what they had to say.
If you’ve ever seen a dragon boat race, you know how intense it is- coaches bellowing out directives, paddlers fiercely battling the waves. A sport for the visually-impaired?
In 2010, athlete and ‘gentle giant’ Sandro François, experienced not one, but two strokes at the age of 25 and had to relearn everything again: how to speak, how to be independently mobile, how to manage in his new reality.
A Para Athlete’s Struggle with Body Dysmorphia, Anorexia Athletica, and Major Depressive Disorder By Randy Pinsky ‘Para athlete’ conjures up images of high performing athletes who have overcome physical challenges or disabilities to succeed in their chosen sport. The International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) has gone a step further and also includes a category on
Check out this article about how Sydney Spragg enhancing the quality of life for her and others through the dragon boat team sport.
