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GDBA closes cultural gap
through dragon boating

1 September 2005

It took Gauteng Dragon Boat Association (GDBA) more than seven years to get to where we are today.

Paddlers and supporters arrived in their hundreds at Florida Lake, Roodepoort on Saturday 27 August for the drum-off of GDBA's first-ever league competition, which runs through to early March next year. Among all participants were two mentally challenged and two physically challenged school children who had had almost no place in any sports activities in the past.

By leveling the playing ground, GDBA's dragon boat racing, since it's first competition in Johannesburg's Bruma Lake in 1999, offers teams from all cultural background the opportunity to compete in the fierce but friendly game. Now the sport is being offered to rural youth and disadvantaged community, taking them off the street and away from drugs and crimes.

The league competition is a point-accumulator which ensures that members from all 15 teams will keep their paddles waxed until the end of the season when the final prize will be rewarded to the strongest group.

Organized by Florida Dragon Boat Club, one of GDBA's world-class backbones, last Saturday's competition received warm assistance from Jo'burg City's Region 3, 4 and 5 offices and was also participated by Region 9 and 11.  Race results can be found on the right-hand side of this page.

Dragon boat racing is a  fast paddling group-style water sport, it's being raced worldwide to test sportspersons' physical strength, challenging spirit and above all, group bond.

Many corporate/companies have shown interest in GDBA's events for company exposure and team building.

There are presently 6 competition classes in the dragon boat race: Premier (men, women and mixed); Junior (boys, girls and mixed with under 15 years in a separate class), Corporate mixed; Jo'burg's regional offices and the physically and mentally challenged groups.

Guests of honour:
Sherry Chen, MP
Gino Feng, Chairman of Gauteng Dragon Boat Association
Region 3: Mrs. Karen Du Plessis (Regional Manager) ; Mr. Mackie Venter (Area Manager)
Region 4: Mr. Nico Loubser (Regional Manager); Mrs. Katerina Parker (Aquatics Manager)
Region 5: Mr. Butch Kock (Regional Manager); Mr. Callie Kruger (Area Manager)

Thanks to the following roleplayers:
Gauteng Life Saving Club
EMS – Florida Fire Station
SAPS Florida & SAPS Waterwing
JOC Committee
Florida Lake Dragon Boat Club (host)
Region 3, 4, 5 (co-host)

Coming up:
City of Johannesburg Dragon Boat Regatta

The event will take place at Florida Lake, Roodepoort on Saturday 29 October (event bulletin and entry forms can be found HERE), please take the advantage of dragon boat racing to bond your members and celebrate cultural diversity and group success!

TEAM BUILDING

For any corporate company wishing to take the advantage of dragon boat racing to develop teamwork and group bond, GDBA has a 'mini-league' in place just for that purpose. The package will only cost a company R3 000 per team (of 21 pax) for 2 months which will include 2 coaching sessions and one corporate league competition. This will entitle the company to move on to the Premier section of our festival events as 'basic club' and will be charged the same entry fee as the Premier clubs and not at corporate tariff.

As it stands, corporate companies only taking part in our festival events and not as 'basic clubs' pay R3 000 to enter the one-off event.

On the other hand, corporate companies are also welcome to book a once-off team-building seminar at a rate of R4 500 per team, which includes 3 hours of non-stop team building but excluding transport, insurance and accommodation where applicable. This tariff is subject to change from season to season.