Montreal DragonFly

Ciao!

Just wanted to wish-you guys Merry X-Mas & Happy New Year!!!  Also, want to thank you all for the support that I’ve gotten from the team with everything that has happenned in my family in the last couple of months.  You guys are best!!!  Makes-me proud and HAPPY to be part of this team!  You guys simply ROCK & kick ass!

The holidays is the time to be with love ones…  family & friends…  good food…  cheers & laughter…  Best wishes!  And we’ll see each other in the upcoming new year…  2010…  which will be even better then the last!

Nancy

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Also, a few words from Karnon:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-Karnon

Ciao!

If you haven’t noticed it, the team still hasn’t register for the Rawdon DB Festival yet.  We’re still missing two girls to be qualified as a mixed team.  We need girls on both side.  So, if you know of anyone who’s an experience woman paddler who would love to join-us in Rawdon, give Vicky or I a shout!

Till then, we’re still trainning hard to reach our personal goals!

 Nancy

Ciao Dragonflyers!!!

 A few days ago, I was contacted by a representative from CTV who wanted to interview me for her news report on parking fees at Parc Jean-Drapeau…  by the time, that I got a hold of her, the report was already on air but, she managed to get a hold of a bunch of people…

For those that are interested, check-out the CTV report on it.  I don’t know if it helped our cause…  but, it’s definitely a start.

 Nancy

Ciao Montreal DragonFlyers!

On 12SEP2009, Leslie will be participating at the Dragon Boat race & Festival which is being held by the Cedars Cancer Institute.  She strongly encourages us to partipate…  it’ll be loads of fun and also for a great cause.  If you can’t make-it but want to make a difference, you can also give a donation and support Leslie who’s registered on their site…  search for Leslie Walker-Rice or her team “The CanSupport Dragon Slayers”.

 So, check-out their site for more details!

 Nancy

Ciao team!

 Another great practice…  Though, we didn’t get to go on the water…  that didn’t stop us from having an “indoor” practice instead!  Gotta luv this team!  We didn’t wait around like the other teams…  we took charge…  got first dibbs for the indoor facility and went for it!   We got a great hour of practice focusing on mostly techniques…  Melissa & Kevin giving us feedback.  At next practice, remember all the tips that we got…  focus on it and work on it.  Next practice is Monday, 20JUL2009, from 19:00-20:00.  Don’t be late!!!  Show-up early… don’t make the rest of the team wait for you…  that would just SUCK!  Also, take initiative…  show-up early and work on your technique before practice.

 Have a good weekend!  I’m on vacation!!!!  Yay!

Nancy

Ciao! As most of you know, being part of the Montreal DragonFly team, you all know that you must run a 10km before the Montreal DB Festival…  this tradition was started by one of our former coaches, Winston Eng, which we have kept.  Most of us partipated at last Saturday’s 10km at Les Iles De Bouchervilles.  You should all give yourselves a tap on the shoulder!  Well done!!!  It seems that next year, we’ll be doing it in May instead of June…  I wonder if it’s because of the heat???  LOL  Here’s photos of the event.

Here’s the race time for those who attended:

Lin Wang - 48:38
Steven Lam - 53:47
Mikael Tournier - 54:22
Shu Ngok Lee - 55:55
Jerry Jao - 57:40
Jialf Maf (assuming this is our beloved Gloria...)- 59:52
Victoria Louie - 1:02:20
ANGELA CHOI - 1:02:21
CHI ZHANG - 1:03:04
Hanting Por - 1:03:34
Lei Fang - 1:10:28
Nancy Wong - 1:17:03
Benedicta Chan - 1:17:16
Patrick Kent Lau - 1:17:17
Rami Panossian - 1:19:15

Dear DragonFlyers!

 If you haven’t realized the crazy raise of cost for practicing our fave sport at the Bassin Olympic has become…  I don’t know where you’ve been hidding!  With the raise of cost for parking…  practices…  gym access…  and now, making us pay for the access card to enter the building for the practices that we’ve already paid for…  it’s where the Dragonboat community who practice their sport at the Bassin Olympic have draw the line.  I had gotten a request from our captain to write an official complaint letter to the PJD board from the behalf of our team.  With the help of Francis, this is what we sent:

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                                                                                             Saturday, February 14, 2009

                                                                     Nancy Wong

                                                                     Co-Captain

                                                                     Montreal Dragonfly Dragonboat Team

                                                                     http://montrealdragonfly.org

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Nancy Wong and I am co-captain and paddler of the Montreal Dragonfly dragonboat team (#2563).  I write to you regarding the new cost of accessing the Olympic basin facilities and its negative consequences.

It was brought to the attention of the Montreal dragonboating community that PJD intends to charge $20 for its Olympic basin access card at the beginning of 2009. It is also rumored that PJD is intending on charging for the card twice a year.

The cost of the access card has a negative impact on non-profit organizations, independent athletes and active students who only need to access the changing rooms, bathrooms, and clean water.

Consider other athletic facilities like your local gym.  They only charge you once for the membership, which includes access fees.  It’s not like they charge people extra for keys to the gym.

To put it more bluntly, the PJD is nickel-and-diming its users and such behaviours are practiced by the likes of money-grubbing telephone companies.  Obviously, this may result in events and athletes seeking alternatives to PJD.

That being said, it should also be noted decreasing the accessibility to the basin facilities flies against PJD’s own mandates (http://www.parcjeandrapeau.com/Profil/Organisation/tabid/65/Default.aspx).  This does not help PJD “provide activities to the public”, especially if events and athletes would consider alternatives.  And if dragonboating at PJD should wane, that will not help “foster the image of Parc Jean-Drapeau”.  Believe it or not, the image of dragonboating at PJD already exists: http://flickr.com/search/?q=montreal+dragonboat&m=tags.

Additionally, this directly affects the Montreal dragonboating community as it continues to struggle to be an established sporting event in Montreal.  Charging for access to basics has a negative impact on recruiting and retention of paddlers.

Granted, there are costs to maintaining PJD but I beg you to consider alternatives to increasing the costs of accessing the very basics for athletes.  I would suggest reaching out to various organizations to host more events.

Lastly, I would point out that this new fee hasn’t gone unnoticed by Montreal’s PJD’s users.  There is a petition in place (http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/parc-jean-drapeau.html) and you may want to go review the nearly 300 signatures and comments (http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/parc-jean-drapeau/signatures.html).

Again, I urge you to reconsider.

Yours, sincerely,

Nancy Wong

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