These two dragon ladies not only breath fire but also provide inspiration to the Philippine dragonboat team. Whether in water or on the ice, they seem to instill the right formula for success even in the most unprecedented ways.
Jonne Go, the young and dynamic president of the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragonboat Federation (PCKDF), and coach Len Escollante, are known for doing the unconventional. Example, they don’t get their players in places where there are waters but they explore places like the mountainous region of Benguet to find a rough diamond.
For this unique brand of leadership, they reaped major successes in international water tournaments.
So when they received a call to join the first ever World Ice Dragon Boat Championships in Dolon Nor, China recently, they had to find ways to practice and mimic the training of ice-rich regions in Europe, America and Russia.
Living in a tropical country, the Filipino paddlers have no experience in a snow sport, or even just being in a negative-zero degree weather.
“We have zero experience in skiing, especially in this kind of weather,” said Escollante, a former national volleyball player and national dragon boat athlete herself.
So what the team did was device course in the murky waters of Pasig River and train on top of water lilies.
It proved to be a successful training that the 12-man Philippine team won a pair of bronze medals in a tournament that lured 25-countries.
The team placed third in the 200-meter mixed 10-seater category behind gold winner Russia (44.99) and silver medalist Hungary as well as in the 100m event where they placed behind top winner Hungary and second-placer Russia.
“Ang training namin sa ibabaw ng water lily, inaply namin sa yelo. Parang parehas lang, kaya maraming nagtatanong taga ibang bansa, pano daw kami nanalo ng medal,” said Go who joined the team not just as federation head but also as the drummer.
Escollante, meanwhile, acted as the steersman.
These unique role-playing again did wonders for the dragonboat squad.
“It has always been an honor to join my team. Sobrang saya ko this time kasama pa ako talaga na lumaban and not just giving instructions to do things,” said Go.
“Proud ako na naramdaman ko na stage at sinasabitan ng medalya. Mas masasabi ko sa kanila ngayon na mas naiintindihan ko na kung ano nag nararamdaman nila.”
On the part of Escollante, it has been 11 years since she took part as an actual member of the team in a competition.
“Usually sumasakay ako sa training. I just proved that kaya ko pa rin pala mag-timon kahit matanda na, said Escollante laughing. “ Natutuwa naman kami sa reaction ng mga bata, lahag ng sinakyan naming, parehong nag medal.”
“We learn new things in every competition. We will keep on improving because we understand everybody’s feelings.”
Go said the event a showcase of what to expect in the 2022 Beijing Olympics where ice dragonboat will be introduced for the first time.
“We can now say that we have a chance to win a medal in the Olympics. But that’s too far from now, we are using this as a preparation for the coming Asian Games.”
Dragonboat will be played in the Indonesia Asian Games set in August with competitions in the 10-seater men and women’s 200 meters and 500m categories, and the singles and sprint doubles in 200m canoe-kayak events.
“Our target is to win a medal of any color. Matinding kalaban ang China, Japan, Uzbekistan and Russia, plus yung host Indonesia,” added Escollante.
Meanwhile, the leadership tandem never told their opponents in the ice dragonboat their training over a long patch of water lilies.
“Secret pa rin sa kanila until now,” said Escollante, with a smile.
