Chattanooga Dragon Boat Club

08/24/2026

Some photos from our most recent race in Oak Ridge! 🐉

The Chattanooga Dragon Boat Club came home with a bronze medal 🥉, and our Chatta Dragons had a great race as well! We’re proud of both teams and all the progress we continue to make.

Great job, everyone! Let’s keep practicing, improving, and working toward that gold! 🥇

08/10/2026

We’re excited to be part of the 2026 Emory Valley Center Dragon Boat Race! 🐉💙

One of the things we love about dragon boating is that it gives us the opportunity to support organizations like Emory Valley Center and the incredible work they do for individuals with disabilities and their families.

We’re proud to support this year’s race and can’t wait to see everyone on the water in Oak Ridge!

💚 A huge thank you to Chattanooga Dragon Boat Club for being a Race Day Sponsor of the 2026 Emory Valley Center Dragon Boat Race!

We are incredibly grateful for your partnership and support in helping make this event possible. Your passion for the sport, willingness to share your knowledge, and commitment to creating a fun, welcoming experience for all of our participants truly make a difference.

Thank you for helping us bring the excitement of dragon boat racing to our community and for being an important part of this incredible event. Your support helps ensure race day is an unforgettable experience while making a meaningful impact for the individuals and families served by Emory Valley Center.

We appreciate your partnership and look forward to making waves together on race day! 🚣🐉💚

08/05/2026

Did You Know?

One of the most important chapters in modern dragon boating began with a group of breast cancer survivors.

In 1996, Dr. Don McKenzie challenged the long-held belief that breast cancer survivors should avoid strenuous upper-body exercise. To prove it, he brought together a team of survivors to train in a dragon boat.

The results changed more than medicine—they changed the sport.

The women not only showed that dragon boat paddling was safe after breast cancer treatment, but that it helped rebuild strength, confidence, and a sense of community. What started as one team inspired a worldwide movement.

Today, there are more than 260 breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams across 33 countries, and survivors now compete on the international stage—including at the Dragon Boat World Championships.

For many women, dragon boating became much more than exercise. It became a place to build friendships, regain confidence, challenge themselves, and focus on life after cancer—not just cancer itself.

We're proud to be part of a sport with a story like that.

💙 Whether you're a breast cancer survivor, supporting someone who is, or simply looking for an incredible community, we'd love to welcome you on the water. Your first two practices are free, and no experience is necessary.

07/29/2026

🐉 Did You Know?

One of the coolest things about dragon boating is that many festivals are about more than just racing.

For more than 2,000 years, dragon boat festivals have brought people together to celebrate culture, tradition, and community. While those celebrations have evolved over time, that same spirit lives on today. Many modern dragon boat festivals use the event to support charities, nonprofits, cultural organizations, hospitals, and other causes that make a difference.

This season, Chattanooga Dragon Boat Club is proud to race in festivals that give back in a variety of ways, including:

- Acworth Dragon Boat Festival – Supporting Loving Arms Cancer Outreach and Camp Sunshine.

- Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival – Promoting Asian culture, education, and community through the Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Foundation.

- Peachtree City International Festival & Dragon Boat Races – Celebrating cultures from around the world while bringing people together.

- Montgomery Dragon Boat Festival – Partnering with local nonprofits and community organizations.

We love competing, but one of the things we love most about dragon boating is knowing that many of the festivals we race in are also making a difference. Whether it's supporting local nonprofits, celebrating culture, or raising money for important causes, every event has an impact that reaches far beyond the finish line.

If you're looking for a sport that's about more than just competition, dragon boating might be for you. Come meet great people, stay active, and be part of a tradition that continues to bring communities together. Your first two practices are free! 🚣💙

07/21/2026

🚣 Did You Know?

When most people think of dragon boating, they assume the strongest team wins.

The truth? The most synchronized team usually does.

Every paddle stroke creates a force that moves the boat forward. When all 20 paddlers enter and exit the water at the same time, those forces combine into one powerful, efficient movement that keeps the boat accelerating smoothly.

When paddlers fall out of sync:

- Some paddlers are trying to accelerate the boat while others are already finishing their stroke.
- The boat constantly speeds up and slows down instead of maintaining its momentum.
- Energy is wasted overcoming drag instead of moving the boat forward.

That’s why elite teams spend countless hours perfecting synchronization. In dragon boating, success isn’t just about strength—it’s about getting 20 people to move as one.

Have you ever wanted to try dragon boating but worried you weren’t strong enough?

The good news is that you don’t have to be the strongest person in the boat. Dragon boating is a team sport where timing, technique, and working together matter far more than raw strength.

If you’ve been thinking about giving it a try, we’d love to have you! Your first two practices are completely free, and no experience is necessary. Fill out the interest form in our bio to get started!

Stay tuned for the next post in our Did You Know? series.😊

07/14/2026

🚣 Did You Know?

Dragon boating dates back more than 2,000 years to ancient China, where it began as part of the annual Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival.

According to tradition, the festival honors Qu Yuan, a respected poet and government official who lived around 278 BC. After being exiled from his kingdom, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River in protest of government corruption.

Legend says the local villagers rushed out in their fishing boats to try to save him. They beat drums to scare away fish and evil spirits, splashed the water with their paddles, and tossed balls of sticky rice into the river so the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan’s body.

Over time, those rescue efforts evolved into the Dragon Boat Festival, and eventually into the sport of dragon boating enjoyed around the world today.

Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still celebrated every year in many countries, and dragon boating has grown into one of the world’s fastest-growing team sports.

Interested in giving it a try? We’d love to have you on the water with us! Fill out the interest form in our bio to learn more.

🐉 Stay tuned for our next Did You Know? post!

07/14/2026

 Practice is canceled tonight due to weather.

07/11/2026

Practice is canceled this morning due to weather. See you all Tuesday!

07/01/2026

Another hot Tuesday on the water. ☀️

We started practice with a team safety briefing led by Cindy Kelley before heading out—a great reminder that safety always comes first. Thank you, Cindy, for taking the time to review important safety procedures with the team.

Thanks to everyone who came out and battled the heat with us. Great work, team! 💙

06/26/2026

🚨 **Practice Update** 🚨

There will be **no practice tomorrow (Saturday, June 27)** as several of our members will be attending the **Mekong Dragon Boat Camp** to continue developing their paddling skills.

We're excited to share that **six members of the Chattanooga Dragon Boat Club** will be representing our team at camp this weekend! We're proud of their commitment to learning and growing, and we can't wait for them to bring new knowledge back to the team.

Join us in wishing them good luck as they fine-tune their dragon boat skills! 🐉💙