Dragon Boat paddled into Melinda Koh's heart and now she is sharing the love

Melinda Koh (third from right, front) and her team.

Source: Supplied.

At the end of last month, Melinda Koh and the Melbourne University Dragon Boat team went to Wenzhou, China to compete at the Wenzhou (Ouhai) Dragon Boat Invitational Tournament of World-Famous Schools.

The invite-only tournament is one of the highest quality dragon boat competitions for University students in the world, with many top international and local Chinese teams competing.

With Melbourne University being the only Victorian University to have a dragon boat team, Koh was recruited to join and set off for her first overseas university performance.

For many athletes, attendance was all about winning, but for Monash education (honours) student, Melinda Koh, attending the tournament was simply about furthering her experiences in the art-form she holds so dear.  

An art-form she first discovered six-years ago in Singapore.

“I started dragon boat in Singapore – where I came (to Australia) from – because it’s a big thing in Asia. I was just walking by the bay one day and saw a competition and thought it looked fun,” Koh said.

“So I tried it and I got hooked to it. I’d rather be in a boat than standing up.”

The niche yet growing sport, originating in China, sees anywhere from two to 22 people aboard a man-powered water craft, or ‘dragon boat’, paddling against opposing crafts in races ranging from 100m to 2km.

Melbourne University Dragon Boat in action.

Source: Supplied.

Competitors on each boat are either paddlers, drummers or sweepers and crews can be male only, female only, or mixed.

The style of rowing involves paddlers on their knees, using only one paddle each to row the boat as quickly as possible. Drummers sit at the front of the craft and ensure the paddlers paddle in time with one-another while sweepers direct the boat from the rear.

Before becoming a dragon boat expert, Koh said the physical stress of the gruelling job as a paddler took its toll, but the relationships with her peers kept her going, fuelling her passion for the sport.

“At first it was tiring of course, because dragon boat uses muscles you don’t usually use, so when I first went for training I couldn’t straighten my arm for a week or climb stairs,” Koh said. 

“But I love it because it’s a team sport, it’s really the people that have kept me going over the years, the friendship, the comradery and the sense of belonging in the team.

“It’s never really about winning, but about how we push one another into achieving personal goals.” 

All smiles for Melinda (middle) and her team.

Source: Supplied.

The competition in Wenzhou saw eight international teams and eight local Chinese teams compete against one another in the 200m and 500m dragon boat categories.

The relatively small boats had 12 individuals aboard, ten paddlers, a drummer and a sweeper.

However, upon arrival Koh said the upcoming races where the last things on her mind.

“When we first got there (Wenzhou) the hospitality was amazing and all the student’s came down to great us,” Koh said.

“We introduced ourselves to each other...we exchanged some gifts and we trained together.

“All the universities were housed in the same hotel, so you could interact with other teams from other parts of the world which was good. You weren’t just spending time with your teams. 

Paddling through the city of Wenzhou.

Source: Supplied.

“The exchange itself was actually the highlight…it was a good way to learn about the culture of the university, the students and the sport.”

When race day finally came, the 30-year-old member of Monash’s Elite Student Performer Scheme said she felt prepared.

However, after arriving and taking in the size of the crowd, nerves started to set in.

“When we reached the racecourse on racing day, the crowd was…whoa…I was speechless,” Koh said.

“I’d never seen such crowds, not even in Singapore…it was along the river, across the river, wherever you looked just huge crowds.

“I was nervous at the start line, no matter how many competitions or races you do, you’re always nervous at the start line.” 

Big crowds turned up to support.

Source: Supplied.

Facing off in races against teams from China, the US, Canada, Italy, Malaysia and Macaw, Koh said her team knew racing was going to be tough.

“Our team is relatively new, we’d only been together a couple of months so…we knew racing was going to be intense,” Koh said.

“But we trained hard and wanted to do our best.”

For Melbourne University and Melinda Koh, the end result was a very respectable 10^th overall, finishing 11^th in the 500m and 8^th in the 200m.

Against 15 other world class boats, Koh said the result was impressive and a good opportunity to see how the team handled itself against some of the more elite and seasoned competition.

“For some of my teammates it was their first racing experience, so the overseas race really opened our eyes…it was good to see where we were at,” Koh said.

With the tournament behind her, Koh is turning her attention towards growing the popularity of dragon boat in Australia.

The dragon boats have a very special look.

Source: Supplied.

The first step in her plan is to introduce a dragon boat team to Monash, before branching out university competition as a whole.

“Dragon boat in Australia is becoming very popular…but there’s no division in-between junior and premier levels, so there’s a huge pool of people around 16-23 –years-old who can’t compete anywhere,” Koh said.

“So I thought I could maybe try to develop a Monash team to fill this hole and possibly create a university team’s category in the upcoming Australian Dragon Boat Championships.”

In the short-term, Koh will hopefully be travelling with the team to an upcoming competition in Taiwan, pending try-outs and said she is looking to transition into becoming more of a coach in the near future.

Congratulations on your efforts in China Melinda and we can’t wait to see what you do next – hopefully it will involve competing for a Monash University dragon boat team!

Written by Joseph Arthur, Media Coordinator