How Philly became a major hub for a 2,000-year-old Chinese sport

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At 5:45 a.m. on a pleasant May morning, three boats push off from the dragon boat dock on the west side bank of the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, tailed by a small motorboat.

It’s a long-distance training session, an hour out on the water paddling in unison with up to 19 other members of the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association (PDBA), propelling an almost 40-foot-long boat up and down the river. 

Head coach Dr. Robert McNamara follows alongside in the motorboat. He uses a megaphone (the traditional drums are rarely used in practice) to start and stop the racing and rest periods or to call out individuals by name — or learn the names of any newcomers — and correct any sloppy technique.

“This is harder to teach than rowing,” said McNamara, who also used to teach rowing. “Rowing … you have a fixed oar lock, it’s much easier to control where the blades are going. Here, it’s all free-flowing.”

When the hour ends, the boats return to the dock and everyone heads off to their work days. For McNamara, that’s as Chair of Emergency Medicine at Temple University Hospital. 

Until that time though, all minds are only focused on the technique, the boat and the river.

“It’s a moment you’re connected to the water,” said Sibila Antoniazzi, a member of the women’s dragon boat team Philadelphia Flying Phoenix. “I think the water is a big therapy. It’s that noise, that rhythm, that steady thing that goes on, and then you go into that Zen moment.”

This and many other training sessions are part of the preparations for the 17th annual Independence Dragon Boat Regatta on June 1. The event is the largest single-day regatta in the U.S. It draws well over 100 teams from the Greater Philadelphia area and across the country to compete or watch from the banks.

‘That’s not rowing’

How did Philly become a major hub for a 2,000-year-old Chinese sport?

In 1983, the Hong Kong Tourist Association came to the U.S. Rowing Association, headquartered in Philly at the time, for help trying to build up the international dragon boat circuit. U.S. Rowing went to Boathouse Row to try and recruit rowers for a tournament in Hong Kong.

“[They] said, ‘that’s not rowing,’” recalled McNamara, who had rowed lightweight at La Salle and was a second-year resident at the Medical College of Pennsylvania at the time. “‘Well, we were going to give you a free trip to Hong Kong,’ [the recruiters said]. [They] said, ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s rowing.’”     

After competing in 1984 and 1985, McNamara began to coach dragon boating in 1986. Today, he is the most successful coach in the country, guiding the PDBA — the oldest and most decorated club in the U.S. — and the U.S. national team to over 140 International Dragon Boat Federation World Championship medals and two Nations Cup wins. Last year, he was inducted into the federation’s Hall of Fame. 

Philly provides about a quarter of the U.S. national team’s paddlers, McNamara said. On that May morning practice, former champions paddled alongside first timers. Single outrigger canoes passed by the three dragon boats with individuals doing time trials to make the premier team boats. McNamara likened the mentality of the local paddlers to a certain Philly mascot.

“The Philadelphia paddler is seen as one that has grit, that really will push themselves to the max,” McNamara said. “That’s been part of our success, knowing that we work harder than other teams.” 

‘We help each other out’

Race day will see a mix of serious competitors and community groups out for a recreational paddle. Races are set up to be competitively even, based on skill level and ages. 

The PDBA runs the regatta, and members will swap their paddles for staff shirts to keep the event running smoothly,  said Tommy Leonardi, PDBA team president and president of Schuylkill Paddlers Incorporated.

Fourteen clubs currently paddle out of the dragon boat dock, with close to 700 members. Leonardi said that three-quarters of the paddling community is female and one-quarter is people of color. There are teams for breast cancer survivors, members of Philly’s Chinatown community and the Philadelphia Police.

“It’s a wonderful community, we help each other out,” Leonardi said. “A few years ago, when Ida came and flooded, the water was literally on MLK Drive. After it cleared out and our stuff was all over the place, not only did the whole community come together, but people who weren’t even paddlers came out and helped us.”

Much of the event’s proceeds will go towards helping sponsor the U.S. team, giving current team members the same chance to visit and compete around the world that the pioneering paddlers received. 

“That to me is the most amazing part of this: The ability to stay healthy and to travel the world to compete,” Leonardi said.

The sport’s camaraderie also extends beyond Philadelphia. Flying Phoenix member Antoniazzi recalled her trip back from last year’s IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in DBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Pattaya, Thailand.

“On my way back I went through Doha and said, ‘Let me check out a dragon boat team in Doha,’” she recalled. “You travel and you find teams that you can join and they’re so happy that you come and join their team.”

The regatta starts Saturday, June 1 at 8 a.m. The races will be livestreamed be on the event’s Facebook page.