By Gabby Alvarado
“WE will try to get to the podium in Dbay,” the message read.
“Fingers crossed.”
The hopeful tone of Liza Avelino’s message shows just how far she and the Filipino Dynamo team have come less than two years after they tested the waters with their first tentative foray into dragon boat racing.
Proper training under volunteer coaches, allied with the cheerful nature and can-do attitude of Filipino migrant workers, has transformed a team of mostly newbies from spirited no-hopers to competitive paddlers.
And now they dare to dream.
“Batak na sa pagsagwan saka talagang na-train na din,” says Macky America, one of the leaders of the group. “Hindi na pa-FB, FB lang, may mai-post lang. Hindi na po.”
It may have been fun at first for this pioneering all-domestic helper crew to just get into the water and race against established dragon boat clubs in Hong Kong. But their competitive streak can’t be kept below the surface for long, especially as they grow in confidence with every race they compete in.
Talk of becoming part of a diverse community? Fine. Empowerment through sport? Sure. But at the end of the day dragon boat racing is a contest – and results matter.
And at Discovery Bay, haven to expats and their families for whom some of the girls work, there’s a sense that they can accomplish something big. And wouldn’t it be special to do it in these same waters where the Dynamos had their first race together in 2017?
Two Sundays earlier, in rainy Tsuen Wan, the girls had an unusual preparation.
For the first time they got to test themselves against all-male and mixed crews in an open race. The Dynamos gave it as good as they got. It proved a big step up for the girls, but it was necessary for their learning.
At 350 meters, the event is the longest they’ve raced this season – but still 50 meters shorter than the course they’ll be racing in at Discovery Bay.
Tsuen Wan is the fourth of six races they had signed up for the season – up from the four in their first season together, thanks to sponsorship and improved organization. They have even been using carbon-fiber paddles they’ve acquired at a discount, allowing them to ditch their heavy wooden equipment. Progress, indeed.
How did they get here?
The Dynamos are a brainchild of Avelino, one of a handful of team members with paddling experience. As a mountaineer, she has reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Everest Base Camp. The demands of such an extreme sport did not prevent her from dipping her toes into water sports. After six years with the Mighty Dragoners team of locals and expats in Discovery Bay, Avelino decided to put together an all-domestic helper crew.
There was no shortage in interest from her peers. Tryouts were not necessary.
“We accept anyone,” says the Davaoena, part of the Filipino workforce in the city for 23 years. “Our only requirement is that they are physically, mentally and emotionally prepared in embracing the principles of this wonderful team sport.”
Age doesn’t matter either. After all, the Dynamos like to push boundaries. Their oldest team member, Gildalita Dacoy, is 53 years old. She happens to be the shortest too. But Dacoy has run the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon and is also into trail running.
“Fifties is the new 30s?” Avelino says, laughing. “Age is not an issue. Kaya pang mag-push up, kaya pang mag-burpees. Ang importante yung passion mo.”
Commitment is non-negotiable.
Intensive training is required to learn paddling techniques and the intricacies of dragon boat racing. And 22 women paddling in unison, with power and stamina, with fluidity and tactical awareness, takes longer to achieve. As domestic helpers doing what is the closest thing to a 24/7 job, the Dynamos are already up against a tide of challenges unlike any faced by regular dragon boat teams. For one, they can only train during their dayoff, a big handicap in a sport where unity on and off the boat is vital. And then there’s the prohibitive cost, including boat rentals and race registration fees.
Training and racing are physically taxing, too.
“Most of us masakit ang balikat. Some of us naman po ay balakang, may nagka-cramps pa minsan,” America, 33, says of how it feels after a day of training or racing. “Sa akin umaabot ng two days (ang sakit). Light exercise ang gawa ko po pag Monday para mabilis mawala.”
“Konting sacrifice lang, instead naman na umuupo lang pag dayoff,” says Gina Inabiohan, 31, of Ifugao province. “Nung una medyo mahirap, nung tumatagal okay naman … Mahirap i-perfect ang technique. Kasi sa dragon boat importante na synchronized kayo saka ang timing. Kaya kailangan talagang pakiramdaman ang bawat isa sa bangka.”
“Kung iisipin mo lang ang pagod, tatamarin ka talaga,” adds Avelino. “But we have to do it dahil gusto naming mag-level up, gusto naming mag-improve. We’re motivated to push our boundaries and actually discover na kaya pala.”
Dealing with different personalities and conflicting ideas can also be a challenge, but one that they’ve managed to overcome. The group is now governed by committee. They have learned to stick to the guidelines and decisions agreed on.
And then there’s also the sacrifice of putting aside their other interests while the dragon boat racing season is on, from April to June.
“Our team is composed of women with different sports or hobbies,” says Avelino. “We have mountain climbers, trail runners, rugby players, volleyball players and rock climbers. But in order for us to develop our skills as paddlers, we realize we have to make our dragon boat training a priority until after our racing is done. We understand that we can always go to our other hobbies during the dragon boat off-season.”
“Hindi pa tapos ang laban. May isa pa. Okay? So kelangan nyong paghandaan,” trainer-coach Jed Patron tells the girls during a huddle before the last of their three races for the day in Discovery Bay.
“Kumain kayo nang maayos at huwag masyadong magpagod … hindi sa bangka nagsisimula ang laban.”
Cheered on by the most vocal and enthusiastic group of supporters, the Dynamos had finished third in the first two heats behind the Buzz Dragons and Tormenta Espanola in the six-team Sinopec Ladies’ Race. A rare podium finish is within sight, just another 400 meters of hard paddling in hot and humid conditions. But the Lamma Dragons are nipping at their heels in fourth place. A dip in energy or concentration in the final race, and the Dynamos’ hopes will sink like the Titanic.
“Whatever happens we need to stick to our race. The worst thing that can happen is not losing – the worst thing that could happen is not giving your best tapos pagdating nyo sa finish line alam nyong meron pa kayong ibibigay pero hindi nyo ibinigay sa team,” Patron reminds the girls again.
“Huwag maging kampante pero kailangan patient pa rin tayo … Make every stroke count. We need timing, we need teamwork, we need the focus of everyone so we can pull this off.”
The Discovery Bay races are being staged two days after the annual Tuen Ng Festival in June, when dragon boat races are held across the territory. Organizers here have been one of the Dynamos’ earliest supporters, waiving the registration fee to allow the Filipinas to compete for two years now. It is time to reward their faith.
So the pressure is on, and as expected the girls come under threat from Lamma in a tightly fought finale. Paddling furiously to the beat of Patron’s drum, the Dynamos have an up and down race. But they somehow hold on and take third place.
Mission accomplished.
“Ayos ang race, sobrang challenging,” says Patron, an IT professional. “Everyone gave their best. Everyone fought every single meter of the race.”
Patron is practically breathless at the end. He had been juggling his duties as coach and drummer for the Dynamos and as a paddler for Team Mushi of Hong Kong Disneyland in the men’s race. Right after helping Team Mushi to victory, Patron jumps into the water and heads to the tent, where the next starters, the Dynamos included, await. He pulls on a Dynamos jersey over his shirt and it’s back to the water with the girls, all in just over two minutes.
The effort is worth it.
“We’re getting faster,” Patron says proudly. “They’ve grown so much in every aspect like discipline, their commitment, their technique even the logistics and how we react to things, the amount of training that we do.
“We grew a lot. We are consistent and way better this year … they’re more physically fit.”
Inside a red tent in Tsuen Wan, as rain poured outside, Dynamos stalwart Ligaya Pecson, 40, of San Nicolas, Pangasinan, is interviewed by a video crew from the South China Morning Post.
Moments earlier, a reporter and cameraman from Reuters took footages of the Dynamos doing their warm-ups and straining as they paddle on alongside veteran all-male crews. Reuters even followed Inabiohan into her employers’ home to learn more about her life as a domestic helper.
“Nosebleed,” Inabiohan says of her interviews with the journalists. “Tinanong din nila ako kung ano daw ang nakikita kong future namin ng Dynamos. Sabi ko: ‘To be a champion’.”
Another media group from the Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper is set to meet the girls later in the day.
All the media coverage of the Dynamos is geared towards the Tuen Ng Festival, the traditional day of the year set aside for dragon boat racing in various Hong Kong communities. The Filipinas are not competing in the blue-ribbon Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races at the Central Harbourfront; their season revolves around the local races in places like Sai Kung, Stanley, Tsuen Wan, Discovery Bay and Cheung Chau. Here they sometimes come up against battle-hardened fishermen and lifelong residents of coastal settlements.
But it is the story of the Dynamos that catch people’s attention. During the buildup to the festival, they are on TV, websites and newspaper pages.
The attention is flattering, sometimes even overwhelming, but it’s the fierce battles in the water that sets the girls’ pulses racing.
And they don’t want to be seen as something of a novelty, here today but gone tomorrow.
“My vision for the team is to go on, even if I am not around,” Avelino tells one interviewer from the Post. “I know it won’t always be smooth sailing, but at least they’ll all be in the same boat.”
Before that time comes, Avelino hopes to see another of her dreams come true: for the Dynamos to race together back home in the Philippines, in front of family and loved ones.
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