A dragon-headed boat cutting through the water with a sharp group dance…

A booming sound spreading over the water

Aiming for a medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games…

The canoe charter team’s ‘training experience’ is in full swing as the ‘captain’ and drummer…

Changes speed and adjusts the entire ship

A total of 12 people ride on a boat with a dragon head.

Drummer

The drummer, who plays the drum, sits at the head, and the helmsman (stealer) sits at the tail, facing each other.

Meanwhile, 10 squatting people are busy pulling oars through the water.

None of them are looking straight ahead.

The players row silently with their heads bowed at a 45-degree angle, their gaze touches the water or the back of the person in front of them.

There is no sound of the boat cutting through the water.

This is because the cheerful drum sound made by the drummer overpowers other sounds.

By the time you are distracted by the sound of a ringing sound at regular intervals, 100 meters have already passed.

Dragon Boating

Dragon boating, classified as a subcategory of canoeing, is a sport with a clear division of labor.

The stiller sets the direction, and the drummer controls the speed and runs the game.

The rest of the paddlers forget everything else and focus only on the act of paddling.

On the afternoon of the 7th, training for the national team athletes for the Hangzhou Asian Games was in full swing

at the Baekma River Canoe Training Center in Buyeo-gun, South Chungcheong Province.

At first glance, a drummer who sits facing the paddlers on the bow and plays only the drums seems to be the most comfortable.

But the drummer’s task is enormous.

Ha Jae-heung

Ha Jae-heung (Gangwon Canoe Federation), head coach of the women’s national team,

who took reporters on a motorboat and chased after the national team in training, explained, “A drummer is a captain of a boat.”

Coach Ha said, “The drummer controls the players and controls the rhythm.”

She added, “They beat the drums in time with their breathing.

The speed also changes depending on the game.”

Lee Hyun-joo

In fact, when Coach Ha instructed, “Now raise it strongly,”

the women’s team drummer Lee Hyun-joo (Korea National Sport University) struck the drum faster and made a sound of spirit.

Sometimes she single-handedly singled out paddlers who rowed at different beats,

coordinating the entire boat to achieve a ‘sword dance’ without any error.

This is something only a drummer can do, looking at the paddler moving the boat with his head down from the other side.

Asian Games

Dragon boating, which became an official sport at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, is said to have originated from the Pearl River Delta area in Guangdong Province, China.

As it is held in ‘mainland’ China, it was adopted without disagreement at this year’s Hangzhou Games.

There will be six medal races, including the 200m, 500m, and 1,000m for men and women.

At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, a unified team of North and South Korea was formed and the national team,

which won gold in the women’s 500m and bronze medals in the women’s 200m and men’s 1,000m, is aiming for medals this time as well.

Coach Park

One, Coach Park said, “Looking at the composition of the players,

we must challenge ourselves with the goal of winning the gold medal,” and expressed confidence,

“The men’s team has become stronger than the unified North and South Korean team in 2018.”

The men’s team’s drummer, Shim Hyun-jun (Dongguk University),

actually beat the drums at faster intervals than Lee Hyeon-ju.

Then the paddlers worked hard to follow the drumbeat.

He ‘sprinted’ 100 meters in 25 seconds.

Coach Ha said, “Teams from Greater China and Southeast Asia,

who have been preparing for several years, virtually sprint the entire 1,000m section.”

Coach Park also said, “We have yet to start ‘speed strengthening’ training.

It will be much faster than it is now.”

In fact, according to these coaches, teams competing on the international stage run 200 meters in 40 to 45 seconds.

There is a long way to go for the national team aiming for the gold medal.

Since full-scale training began on the 29th of last month,

the national team’s skills have not yet reached their ‘peak’.

However, Coach Park believes in the skills of the selected players.

As the team consists of athletes who are familiar with the 1,000m race, all that remains is for their records to improve as they gradually adapt to the dragon boat.

During his active career, Coach Park participated in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and took first place (3 minutes 35 seconds 646) in the preliminaries.