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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[jean]

This guy gives me goose bumps!  As a caller/paddler on a comp. team - I cannot imagine this happening on our team.  First we listen to our steers, listen to our caller and if as a caller I ever had the unfortunate occasion to have someone like this on our team, I would motion to our steers to head out to the middle of the lake where I would drop him off - kidding - but working hard with the rest of our team at a comp level, I know our captain would be right in there and deal with it professionally.  We all have respect for one another and that kind of language only shows that this peron does not know what team work means, hopefully a lesson learned to him.   My heart goes out to that caller and hang in there - you are way above!

[Monk]

The actions of this individual are of course inexcusable and should be dealt with accordingly.

This kind of behaviour is the kiss of death for a team if it is not jumped on and squashed immediately and openly. To do so sends the message to anyone who may consider this kind of behaviour. As a captain I made this mistake earlier this year, and believe you me it was not easy to deal with.

I know that we all have outside influences that affect our behaviour (fight with wife, sick mother, constipation) but we are all adults in control of our outside voice.

I would recommend to any team that they discuss this kind of behaviour and its effect on team morale, and that it be reiterated frequently, but do it BEFORE it can happen. Maintenance of team morale is everyone's responsibility. And it is a HUGE part of a successful team.

If despite this you need to fight, take off your respective jerseys, go someplace else and don't come back until it is resolved.

[red]

to Bolero: We had no other paddlers sitting out, as it was we had to borrow a few to have enough.  The caller didn't feel she could boot him at that point, already being short paddlers.  But no others had to sit out for him.

If weather conditions on Sunday had been better and races were on schedule he would not have been on the boat, it would have been too late for him to marshall.  I know Kelowna is a fun festival with lots of festivities, but all the other teams managed to get there on time. 

[Wet spot]

Red, lots of good advice in the preceding notes.

In a situation like this its always a tough call because it often seems like there can only be 2 possible outcomes....(1) maintain the dignity of the team and the caller by immediately confronting him about his behavior and risk not having him for the race or (2) let the offense slide now and deal with it later, if at all (the chickensh*t option).

My own approach as a long-time paddler, captain, coach and race offical (and I have seen every bad kind of behavior imaginable) is to deal with things up front especially in the face of such open and blatantly inappropriate misbehavior... I would select option (1) and explain to the team and the offender:
(a) that the remarks were rude and uncalled for;
(b) that everyone on the team is excited and wants to get on with racing even in the rough water but this does not condone or excuse the offense to the drummer and the team (even tho the foul language was addressed to an individual treat it as an offence to the entire team);
(c) explain to the offender that he/she has a choice - apologize to all for the words said in the heat of the moment (i.e. make it a reasonable option for the offender to apologize) or leave the boat.

No matter what choice the offender makes, follow up with him after the race - if he apologized make sure he knows that he will be kicked off the team if it happens again; if he did not apologize and was kicked off the boat before the race then advise him that he is also off the team and that the stigma of being kicked off the team will go with him (and make sure it does!).

By the way, the captain should have been on top of this particually if the manager is not in the boat.


Thats my 2 cents - hope it helps.

[Propeller]

Although i am a new paddler, and kelowna was one of my first festivals. I know if i was in that boat and that paddler said that, i would be alarmed! the water was very rough out there, and i was extremely worried, not about my safety! but that i would not be able to race! (how's that for extreme behavior?!) I betcha the guy had too much adrenalin coursing thru his ears! all the more reason, in rough conditions, to listen to the people in charge!  I don't care about the language thing... but by his behavior, i would've  known that he was a risk, probably one of the first people to panic if anything went wrong! Ha! i would've pointedly ignored him, and repeated the info..that's all. You are competing, racing...go with....go hard.  People blunder for two reasons, lack of experience, lack of information....he had both going for him. How embarassing for him! he'll probably have a hard time living that one down. Oh well...