Eight girls come together to produce a magazine on how everything in the Universe is intertwined. But are they just as intertwined as a team?
Follow us as we find out whether we will sink or float in a dragon boat.
Written by Hayley Foong | Photos by Phyllis Go
Within 10 weeks, the eight of us squeezed our creative juices to create ideas for our stories, design and theme for the magazine – intertwined.
So, the team and I thought of another way to test our ‘intertwinement’ with one another. Then came the idea of trying out a highly team-oriented sport – dragon boat!
According to Australian Dragon Boat Team member Dennis Wright, teamwork in dragon boat is the cooperation of all boating members to dissolve their individual egos in order to become a single body that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The team arrived at the Lower Seletar Water Sports Centre at around 11 am.
Our coxswain, the person in charge of steering the boat, then came and instructed us to wear our life vests before proceeding to teach us three basic dragon boat commands – ‘Paddles Up’, ‘Easy’ and ‘Hold Water’.
We also learnt the technique to properly hold the paddle with reference to an A-frame position. With that, we headed to the pontoon to take turns boarding the boat and we were off!
As soon as we started paddling, the heat of the noon sun struck us. However, we were determined not to let the heat diminish our enthusiasm. With each time we used all our might to pull our paddles through the water, we synchronously counted from one to ten over and over again.
Aside from hearing the continuous counting, complaints were no less heard. “You’re splashing water on me!”, “You’re not paddling in sync!”.
We were paddling a 10-man dragon boat which weighed about 150kg. To let us better understand the importance of each paddler, our coxswain gave us the challenge of taking turns rowing the boat pair by pair.
Seated at the front, Shermaine and I were the first pair to row. The struggle hit almost instantly. Although we were using all of our energy to paddle, it almost seemed as if the boat was stationary around the ripples made by our paddling.
It was not until we were five strokes in did we see gradual movement of the boat.
Each pair rowed 10 strokes, one after another, experiencing the same ordeal that Shermaine and I went through. After the drill, we were definitely able to experience the responsibility of each teammate on the boat, highlighting the importance of teamwork in such a team sport.
While paddling back to shore, our coxswain suggested that we sing nursery rhymes instead of counting. We began singing while paddling, which definitely was a funny sight looking back.
After approximately eight nursery rhymes, the pontoon was in sight but we were all drained and tired. This was when En Xuan, our Chief Editor, stepped up, “Last 50 strokes, guys! Let’s go!” With all the vigour left in us, we completed our final lap back to shore and completed our challenge.
After trying out dragon boating with my team, I came to better understand the importance of coordination and teamwork in a team sport. This was also very applicable to our daily job of being in the print team.
Just as all dragon boating members had to become a single body to achieve success in the sport, each of us in the print team also make up a significant one-eight of the collective creative, logical and resilient pool to create a magazine that we all can be proud of.
Check out our video below for a look into our dragon boat adventure, to see if we sank or float.