The Philippine Online Chronicles

Michelle Ebio works a 9-to-5 job in Sales. But four times a week, she wakes up at the crack of dawn to go to Manila Ocean Park, where she spends an hour and a half training on a boat.

Ebio is a paddler for the Dragon Warriors, a team which made headlines winning multiple gold medals during the 10th International Dragon Boat Federation World Championship in Tampa, Florida last month, and for the controversy raised by their mother organization, the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF) losing its National Sports Association (NSA) status.

The Dragon Warriors itself is made up of former national dragon boat team members, and people like Ebio who hail from local dragon boat clubs.

“I'm awake at 4am, and then I go to Ocean Park,” Ebio tells me. “We start training by 5, finish by 6:30, and then I run to the office.”

She admits that it's tiring—she's usually in bed by 9pm--but she's hooked to the sport. Ebio has been paddling in dragon boats for the last 10 years.

She'd always been into sports, like volleyball and basketball. But when a friend introduced her to dragon boats, she was immediately hooked.

“It's intense,” she says, of the pounding of the drums, the rhythm of the strokes, the synchronized rise and fall of the paddles.

The other thing the loves about dragon boating is it allows her to travel. Ebio has already gone to Taiwan, Malaysia, Macau, and others just for competition.

“Filipinos have an advantage,” she tells me. “They're small but strong, unlike some of the other competitors who are strong but much too big.”

Other countries have come to watch out for Filipinos during tournaments, she adds, saying they recognize how fierce the Filipino dragon boat teams are. During the Tampa competition alone, the Dragon Warriors won 5 gold medals, 2 silver, and set 2 new world records.

PCKF and PDBF

Despite this, all is not well for the country's dragon boat community.

Earlier this year, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) stripped the PDBF of its NSA status, meaning it can no longer send teams to officially represent the country in overseas competitions.

Instead, the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are attempting to subsume the country's dragon boat teams under the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation (PCKF), which has been designated to represent the country in the upcoming SEA Games in Indonesia.

In Joba Botana's Manila Bulletin article however, PDBF head coach and technical director Nestor Ilagan stresses that, “We didn’t want to be under the Canoe-Kayak Federation because for many years—since we founded the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation in late 80s, we have been training the discipline of dragon boat—not canoe or kayak.”

“The team was given an option: those who did not want to be under the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation can no longer stay at the athlete’s quarters,” Ilagan added. “They will not receive any allowance from PSC and they are not allowed to train at the Manila Bay...Those who wanted to train under the Canoe-Kayak Federation, on the other hand, are still entitled to these privileges.”

Following the move, several members of the national dragon boat team, which was then under the PDBF, opted to resign. It would only be later, upon taking in club paddlers like Ebio, would they return as the Dragon Warriors.

While the Dragon Warriors and their supporters insist on the “PDBF being returned to the PDBF”, the POC has said that the International Olympic Commission itself wants the dragon boat sport under the jurisdiction of the PCKF.

In his column, Bill Velasco adds that, the POC, PCKF and OSC “have never had anything against the PDBF or its team”, adding that, “they were merely following norms set by precedent and higher powers.”

The matter remains unsettled, with the issue being tackled by a House hearing.

Money matters

While the issue remains in limbo, what is certain is the repurcussions the conflict has had on the national dragon boat team, the members of which resigned to protest being folded into the PCKF.

“After the national athletes resigned, some didn't have jobs,” Ebio says. “I live with them in an apartment paid for by the IDBF. After dragon boats were removed [from the NSA], we lost government support. It's a good thing PDBF had funds to pay for the apartments the athletes live in.”

Ebio counts herself lucky she has a job outside of paddling dragon boats but says that some of her teammates have not been as fortunate.

“I see their suffering – like 'what am I going to do now? They aren't college graduates. How will they feed their families? Some of them are just in their 20s.”

After the Tampa win, things started looking up for the Dragon Warriors – a welcome reprieve, Ebio says, from all the difficulties they went through just trying to send the team abroad with minimal support.

Despite receiving support from members of the media who tried to highlight the dragon boat team's problems, and corporate sponsorships from groups like PAL and Cobra, many still suffered, especially in shouldering travel fees.

“We encountered so many problems,” she says. “Mostly with the funds. Like it's P50,000 just to go to America. But the team really wanted to defend its 2009 championship.”

Following the win, the team members were publicly congratulated by President Noynoy Aquino, have been invited to appear as guests on popular TV shows and have received financial support from business and political figures. But Ebio points out that there's no telling how long the dole-outs will last.

“We don't know what'll happen after the hype dies down,” she says, adding that what the team really needs is to have government support. “And then we can maintain the support of athletes for good,” she says.

Part of the team

Through the ups and downs involved, Ebio remains steadfast in her sport.

“It's not just a sport to get stronger,” she says. “Your team is like your family. You get really pumped, being with them. To be a team, you have to be in perfect synchronicity.”

Ebio's teammates come from all walks of life – most are soldiers from the army, navy, coast guard and air force, but there are also doctors, government workers, nurses, students, and others.

“It's fun when you're in the boat together,” she says. “It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, wherever you came from – in dragon boat, your true self comes out.”

She adds that unlike other sports, one does not have to quit dragon boat upon getting older.

“Dragon boat has no age limit,” she says, adding that the grand masters category of the sport features paddler aged 60 and above.

I ask her how the victories and controversies have affected how people see dragon boating in the country.

“Now, a lot of people are interested,” Ebio says. “It makes me happy because dragon boat went from being unknown, to people saying 'I want to go dragon boating'.”

“This isn't just any kind of sport,” she adds. “It's very fulfilling.”

People interested in dragon boating can go to Manila Ocean Park on Wednesdays and Fridays at 5am, or Saturday and Sunday at 7am.

Photos c/o Michelle Ebio. Some rights reserved.