dianec42

Last week at dragon boat practice I got to be one of the strokers for about an hour. The strokers are the front pair of paddlers, and they set the pace for everyone else. Good: we get to be Always Right. Not so good: slacking off is NOT allowed. A good rhythm is still required even when tired. It turns out I have a good sense of rhythm, and can work well to stay in time with the person next to me (even if I have to growl and elbow her until she does it my way), but that I get tired kind of easily. Based on my experiences with the band, none of this really surprises me.

This week I got to try something much scarier: I got to be the caller! The caller is the one who yells at everyone in the boat and tells them what to do and when to do it. Yelling encouragement (and the occasional, "Jay! PAY ATTENTION!") is part of the job. A good sense of rhythm is also required for this job, along with a good sense of what all the paddlers are ready for. I am apparently surprisingly good at this. (What can I say? I have very strong ideas about how things should be done...)

Amusingly, I think my experiences with the band (i.e. herding cats) came in handy one again. Luckily there's no overlap in personnel there...

The down side? If I call during any of the races, I have to bang a drum and yell at the same time. I may even need to COUNT at the same time as all that. And there is only one more practice before the race weekend. Eek!