Monologue

I have always viewed myself as just the artsy girl, who sang in chorus, worked in interior design galas, exhibited her art in a MoMA program, and made a bra out of Victoria Secret shopping bags. Strenuous, competitive sports were never my forte. But in the summer of 2009, I found out about dragon boating through my internship. The practices were held at Flushing Meadows Park every weekend and the team had a month to get into shape before the Dragon Boat Festival. I would’ve never caved into joining if it weren’t for peer pressure and the decision to be spontaneous.

Dragon boating, despite the peculiar name, is a very demanding sport. I woke up at 6 in the morning and traveled 2 hours to practice. Our team consisted of a drummer to keep us in sync, a sweeper to steer, and 12 paddlers, 6 on each side. I was a left side paddler. When you first get on the boat, it was wobbly and unstable and there was green gunk everywhere. water was murky and smelled putrid. Despite the Youtube videos I watched beforehand, paddling was not as easy as it looked. Your arms had to be raised to a certain height above you head, your elbow had to be at a certain angle, your paddle had to be parallel to the boat, and it can’t be too deep or too shallow into the water. The hardest part of all was pacing with your teammates because if you fall out of sync, you will hit the paddler either in front of back of you, which will drag down the whole boat. My arms and back were sore beyond relief and there were blisters all over my hand. I decided to quit. On the verge of giving up, my mom told me that, not only will I let the team down, but I’m proving to others and myself that I am weak and a failure. I had too much pride for that. So the next morning, despite the pain and exhaustion, I hauled myself out and gave it a second chance. So for a whole month, I rowed as well as I could. I began to realize that my body was adapting and that this sport was exhilarating. When you put your mind into rowing, your stress disappears and everything is a happy blur. It’s the adrenaline rush when your whole team is rowing together and every single one of your teammates is sweating the same amount of effort as you. It’s the bond you share on and off the boat. It’s the knowledge of knowing you’re doing something good for your mind and body. In the festival, we placed third in a friendly competition. Winning would’ve been nice but I was proud for doing something I never thought I was capable of and having such a fun and insightful experience.

Afterwards, the team disbanded but I decided to try for a more competitive team. The first day of practice for this new team was pure agony because they were professionals. We rowed through dead fish and geese for 3 hours STRAIGHT. As soon as we docked, we had to do pull ups, sit ups, and push ups. My whole body was numb. But unlike my first experience with dragon boating practice, I embraced this pain because I know I’m could get through it. Even though I’ve stopped dragon boating for a year now, I never forgot the emotional and physical experiences I had and how it changed me. I’m actually thinking about rejoining this summer.