Olympic paddler Kamini Jain gives paddle clinic to Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team

Kamini Jain came out to give a paddle clinic. She is coach of the False Creek Mixed and FC Mens teams - that brought home medals from the World Championships last September in Sydney Australia.  Kamini is also a two-time Olympic paddler at the Sydney and Athens summer Olympic games.  And she is v-e-r-y "Gung Haggis" with both South Asian and Italian ancestry.

Kamini watched the team paddle out for their warm up from the coach boat, while Todd got used to steering the boat with a little out board and very sensitive throttle grip.

Then Kamini climbed into boat and gave a drill:
stretching forward with your hand along the gunnel of the boat until your arm was parallel with the water.  That's how far your reach should be she said.
A 2nd drill:  paddling only with the bottom hand... and reaching as far as the first drill

• She went down the boat making adjustments for each paddler. 
  
• She gave demonstrations for the reach and how to grip the paddle (no champagne glass two finger grips)

Kamini makes Stephen M utilize all his potential r-e-a-c-h!

Kamini did some paddle correction with each paddler
most notable:

1. more stretch
2. more forward lean
3. working the hinge at the waist
4. bottom hand placement

Good s-t-r-e-t-c-h Jane!

some of the corrections she made on the video were:

1. more reach
2. bottom arm extended straight out (more reach)
   
3. top hand staying high (not dropping out of the boat)
4. exit - not flaring out
5. recovery - not pulling the paddle into your body
6. move head forward when you pull
7. don't lean too far out
8. get paddle deep in the water for the catch
9. don't exit too late
   
10. don't sit back too far at the end of your stroke
11. use hips more
    

There were lots of compliments:

1. good reach
2. good top hands
3. good blending
4. good rotation
5. good hips
6. deep paddles
7. rookies are looking real good
   

Attending the practice today were, in order of appearance on the video:

LEFT SIDE of the Boat

1) Gayle
2) Hillary
3) Keng
4) Alyssa
5) Joy
6) Ernest
7) Steve Behn
8) Joe
9) Raphael
10) Don
11) Christina

RIGHT Side of the boat

1) Tzhe
2) Jane
3) Cindy
4) Colleen
5) Leanne
6) Stephen Mirowski
7) Steven ("Yoga") Wong
8) Devin
9) Sean John
10) Paulette
11) Pam

+
Michael
Gerard
Marion

Following both Tuesday and Wednesday practices.  We will take the dvd to "The Clubhouse" japanese restaurant - where we can watch the dvd, on a large screen, while we enjoy cabohydrate replenishment.

Tuesday roster will be limited to 22 paddlers, as last week we had the max, and not enough on Wednesday to go out. Very sad and unfair to the paddlers who came out on Wed.

please hit reply to myself and Stephen Mirowski, so we can have a roster count confirmed for each day. 

If you can only attend on Tuesday (some paddlers have classes on Wed) they will be priority for Tuesday.  If you can attend either - please come on Wednesday.

If there are 14 or 16 paddlers on each evening, it makes it easier for me to do more one-to-one work with individual paddlers.  If there is a full boat, I am less likely to do individual paddler corrections. hint... more personal coaching on Wednesday!!!

see all the pictures:

Gung Haggis dragon boat paddle clinic...

Cheers, Todd

BUT.... Last Sunday was soooo much fun with two boats out, doing sprint races side by side. Expect more fun and practices like this as more people come out.... It is 8 weeks until Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival Wednesday night, I attended the managers/captains meeting with Stephen Mirowski, Steven Wong, Stuart Mackinnon and Pash Brar.    more »

The sunshine stayed out - and it was warm!!! no rain in sight... and lots of dragon boaters came out to paddle in the sunshine. We had 28 people show up, so we took two dragon boats out. Gayle Gordon led one boat, and I lead the other. Both Stephen Wong and Stephen Mirowski started steering. Ashleigh and Wendy were lead strokes on the Chinchillas. Tzhe and Keng were lead strokes on the Donkeys. Gayle and I also took some turns at lead stroke as well.   more »

A very different kind of dragon boat practice today. When I arrived, we passed out the tartan kilts, and the tartan sashes. Because... We had a City TV cameraman John Wilson come film our practice this afternoon. And a bagpiper, my friend Joe McDonald, walked over from the Skytrain station, while we were doing our warm-up under the covered gazebo. We had a proclamation reading ceremony with the deputy mayor of Vancouver, city councilor Raymond Louie. + PICTURES   more »

Sunday March 30, we had 19 paddlers GREAT PRACTICE in the sunshine. This is what dragon boat practices are all about... great people, great weather, great experience paddling on a Sunday afternoon. We did our usual paddle around East Basin, then up to David Lam Park...... Tuesday Beginner night 14 paddlers out on the water Tuesday... and the boat felt strong, even with 3 new rookies. Joe Easton, a 6 year veteran on the Gung Haggis team says the team is way ahead of where we were this time last year.   more »