Starting a team

Welcome to the sport of dragon boating! 

Here’s all the information you need to start a new team.

What can your team expect?
The Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival Association  runs a festival each August.  The association runs an annual season practice grid where teams can prepare for the city Festival, as well as other Festivals in Canada and the United States.  Depending on your aspirations, teams can train for a berth at the National level, to represent Canada in international competitions, or just have some fun and team spirit locally. Practices are run out of Rafter’s Landing, on the south side of the river, beside the Edmonton Queen’s docks. The colourful Edmonton Festival trailer can be seen from 98 Ave. near 97 St., just east of the Low Level Bridge. This is the meeting point for all practices.The annual Festival is set up on the north side of the river at Louise McKinney Riverfront Park. This park underwent remodelling and reopened in the summer of 2008.

Choose your level of participation
There are different ways that your team can enjoy dragon boating in Edmonton.

• Race in the Edmonton Festival only
  Schedule practices through the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival Association in preparation for city's the August competition.
• Race in Edmonton and travel Schedule practices through the Festival Association, and choose which festivals you wish to compete in.  eg.  Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto.

Registering for the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival
Choose a team manager and provide two team contacts. These people are necessary in the event that a practice is cancelled or for communicating important information to teams about volunteer opportunities, scheduling, or other necessary changes that affect teams in the Edmonton area.

Build your team
All Dragon Boat teams consist of up to 25 members:  20 paddlers, a drummer and a steersperson.   You must have a minimum of 16 paddlers and a maximum of 20 on your boat in the Festival races. 

Categories
Your team may fall into one of the following  to race in the Festival:

• Mixed:  Minimum of 8 female and 8 male paddlers in the boat.  All paddlers must be 18 years or older.
  
• Women:  All paddlers must be female gender and 18 years of age or older. The steersperson and drummer can be either gender.
  
• Men:  All paddlers must be male gender and 18 years of age or older. The steersperson and drummer can be either gender.
  
• Junior:  All paddlers must be between the ages of 13 and 18.  The team consists of at least 8 male and 8 female paddlers.  A legal guardian must sign a waiver for all paddlers on junior teams.
  
• Club Crew:  All paddlers must qualify under Dragon Boat Canada or IDBF regulations and membership terms.
  
• Masters or Grand Masters: All paddlers must meet Dragon Boat Canada or IDBF age requirements.

As a team,  decide how many practices you want to have. Your Festival registration includes a free practice. You can purchase additional practice sessions, individually or in packages of 10 or 20 practices. Check the website for current prices. The packages are sold to individual teams, so two or more teams may not share a single practice package.

Once you have completed the registration form, mail them, along with a cheque for the total amount due made payable to:

Ensure that your team name appears on your cheque, so we can expedite the registration process. At this time, you do not need to provide a list of paddlers on your team.

Steersperson and Coach
Knowledge is safety on the river. If your team has a certified steersperson, plus someone to coach, then once you have registered your team for practices and / or the Festival, your team is ready to begin dragon boating. If, however, you do not have these resources in place, the Edmonton Festival Association has resources in place to assist you.The Festival Association provides checklist of what to expect from a coach.  Unless your team wants to hire a professional coach with extensive international expertise, or a special technique seminar is arranged, the Festival Association will provide FREE coaching resources and tip clinics. The Steering instruction and mentoring program is also provided FREE of charge to those desiring sport development. 

Note: The Festival Association does not establish any fee structure for coaching or steerspeople.
We provide these free services as a means to promote and expand the amateur Dragon Boating community.

New Team Pre-Season Checklist

• Completed registration forms?
• Requested your practice times and ensured those times are available by checking the posted practice grid?
• Written your team’s name on the cheque?
• Include deposit with your registration for a team tent?
• Check for request cut-off dates with the Resource Manager or Festival organizers.
• Does your cheque cover the full costs of your team’s activities for the season?
• Have you contacted a certified steersperson or or started someone from your team in the training program?

Once your team is up and running, we know you’ll have more questions. Talk to the Resource Manager at the practice site, or contact the Team Liaison. Keep checking the announcements on our website and join us on Facebook.