On Friday morning the Portland Winterhawks went for some team building before the Neely Cup resumed later that evening.
Athletic trainer and strength & conditioning coach Rich Campbell led the players on an approximately two-mile walk from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, across the Willamette River, to the docks where the Golden Dragon Paddling Club boats were waiting for them.
The players split into their respective teams and were given instructions on exactly what the next 90 minutes entailed with the Golden Dragons.
Dennis Gavin, Golden Dragons Commodore, described their group, “We race dragon boats every year. We are advertised as an over 50 group that in actuality most of our paddlers are in their 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Currently, our oldest paddler is 87. We paddle every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and encourage people to come down and paddle with us.”
The Golden Dragons are located just south of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Gavin said, “We paddle from 9:00 to 10:00 AM and paddle year-round. Anybody who wants to learn paddling can come down, we’ll give you a jacket, a paddle, and instruction.”
However, what Gavin’s Dragons were doing on Friday was slightly different. They were providing training and coaching for the Winterhawks.
“This is a totally different concept,” Dennis said. “In most sports, you have players that yes, work on team cooperation and building a team structure, but they have stars, players that score the goals. Dragon boating is completely different. Dragon boating is a team sport where everyone is essential, has their part, and they have to pull really hard. The most important thing is everybody has to paddle together.”
Approximately 84 players were given instruction about what Gavin and the other Golden Dragons were trying to teach, “If you can get a team that is perfectly synchronized, they may not be as strong as other groups, but they will perform a lot better. We try to change the mind thinking that it is a group activity where everyone is important; everyone has to paddle together.”
The teams split up along the dock and began receiving their instructions with the most popular being “don’t look at the water” “don’t look at your paddle” or “eyes up”.
Each boat then was paddling up and down the Willamette River learning the technique while also working together to build speed and communication.
One guy having fun on his boat, Jaydon Dureau, see video below:
An hour or so later the four boats lined up and started their first race. Clearly, Team Williamson (Team Black) figured out the paddling the best as they easily won the opening race.
The teams each received feedback on their performance and made some final adjustments for a race double in length, or at least what was supposed to be a race across the river. Instead two of the boats collided and the course was adjusted to a shorter distance.
Several players were laughing and joking afterward about the helpless feeling as they did what they could to avoid the collision; however, the steering was not controlled by any of the Winterhawks.
Team Williamson won the second race as well making them undefeated on the day. What fueled them to victory, “We just kind of bonded together,” a tired Jake Gricius said after climbing out of his dragon boat. “I don’t know, we just had a lot of fun with it. I didn’t take it too (seriously).”
Many of the boats were trash talking and chirping each other as they went by. Who was giving it out the most, “Gricius,” John Ludvig said. However, he also mentioned how “Robbie (Fromm-Delorme) and the rookies starting jumping in too. Our boat was fired up and we were giving it to everyone.”
Organized by size for proper weight distribution, a soaking wet Jake Gricius said after the races, “They put all the big guys in the middle of the boat apparently, and I’m soaked.”
A year ago the Winterhawks were on the Willamette River for their team building event, “Last year we did the water jet ski boat,” Gricius commented. “We all got soaked there which was fun. This year was a little different because we didn’t get drenched and it is really nice out.”
Comparing Friday’s activity to 2018’s Ludvig felt, “this one was a little harder than last year, but it was fun. It is just about getting the guys together and having a good time whether it is hard work or just relaxing.”
There was nothing relaxing about Friday morning. Not only did the players complete fitness testing, walk two miles to the dragon boats and then paddle for 90 minutes, they then made the two-mile trek back to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to play two 25-minute games.
Ludvig answered questions with a smile about how his arms were tired and also how this is “not exactly something you want to do before a game, but it is training camp.”
Many guys laughed about taking an Uber back to the rink, but Ludvig joked, “I probably shouldn’t, I probably should walk back with the team.”
Gricius said he was thinking about taking one of the shared public scooters.
While exhausting, many of the Winterhawks felt the time was enjoyable out on the river. They just hope maybe next year’s team building activity will require less manual labor, not start after fitness testing, and not occur right before a game.
Some additional photos from the event:
