Boat named 'Dragon Eyes' has extra meaning for winning team with visually impaired athletes

June 9, 2004, Ottawa Citizen, Advertising Feature, pg. C3
by Marlene Orton

Reprinted with permission

Dragon Boat lore holds that a ceremony is required to paint in the eyes of the dragon's head adorning each competing boat, bringing each dragon to life as it moves into the water.

"In our case, it allows our team to 'see' as they paddle their way to the 500 metre finish line," says Paul Marcinov, a fund raiser for Dragon Eyes, the boat paddled by a crew consisting of two blind and nine visually impaired athletes.

Dragon Eyes at the 2003 awards of the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race

Festival.

Daughter Tracey Marcinov has been paddling since 1997 for Dragon Eyes of the National Capital Visually Impaired Sports Association. The team has sprinted to victory six times taking medals including a gold last year since first entering the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival in 1997.

Tracey is blind, having lost her sight to an auto-immune disease.

She reluctantly joined that first crew but was hooked after the initial hour of practice.

Dragon Eyes hopes to put in another winning performance in the June 26-27 race at Mooney's Bay Park. The crew gives plenty of credit to coach Dan Castanza, and the Community Foundation of Ottawa. The Community Foundation has provided funds to cover new life preservers and paddles, and the $95 an hour for the extra Dragon Boat rental to boost practice time each week.

"It's tough enough to get a boat full of sighted people in sync," says Paul. "It is tough to get 11 blind and visually impaired people in sync. We do these additional practices so everyone is in sync come race day." How is it possible to pilot a boat when a paddler is visually impaired?

“You really don't need vision to paddle," Tracey explains. "The coach steers our boat and knows which direction to send us. For us, it is just the feel of the boat."

The 22-member crew works together, paddling in tandem. But more than that. The co-operation necessary to power the dragon boat is ultimate in teamwork, she says. "You feel the boat, you listen to the paddles ahead of you, around you, behind you. You listen to the count and follow the count."

The crew also gets a strong workout by coach Castanza, adds Tracey. "Our coach really pushes us. It is the visually impaired people who are pushing him to push us even further. We all want to do well. Truly we no longer have a point to prove because the teams who have been around as long as we have know what we are capable of."