Representative Program Objectives

• To implement and deliver a program for eligible athletes in the Auckland region to form Auckland Regional Representative crews for the annual NZDBA National Dragon Boat Championships.
  
  
• To raise the competition level of Dragon Boat racing across the Auckland region.
  
  
• To implement and deliver a program that will prepare eligible and interested athletes in the Auckland region to confidently put themselves forward for selection for the NZ Black Dragons (Taniwha Pango) National Representative squad, when crews are formed for international competitions.
  
  
• To encourage and assist the development of coaches, sweeps and team officials who aspire to performing those roles at a representative level.

Assessment Approach

Athletes in the program will be required to complete a number of assessments during the program.

Assessments will comprise fitness, strength and paddling tests and the results will be recorded by one of the Program Management team.

These results will form the main part of the final crew selection criteria, however there will also be other observations being made by our coaches and management team that will form part of our assessment of athletes.

Attitude – An athlete's attitude towards other members of the program.
Are they a team player?
Can they change and adapt to what the coach is asking of them and to what their team needs?

Commitment – It’s not just about an athlete's attendance record but also their focus and willingness to work hard and learn whilst they're at training.

Selection Approach

It is the Program’s intent to select the best crews we can to represent our awesome region and our wonderful sport. It is therefore possible that individual paddlers may not be selected for a crew or for the crew that would be their first choice after the program training and selection process is complete.

We wish to therefore acknowledge all paddlers who put themselves forward for the program and through the assessment and selection process.

We can’t promise that you will always enjoy it and we definitely can’t promise it will be easy however it will be a time for development, learning and growth as an athlete and as an individual. If you are not selected to part of a crew or the crew you wanted to be in then we genuinely hope you will not be discouraged from continuing to put yourself forward to be challenged again for future representative programs.

All paddlers should feel they can ask questions of the Program Management team and we will do our best to make ourselves available for discussion.

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