Public Beta Version - February 2026

Introduced the sport to the USA in 1983. Training world champions ever since.

The Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association

We Got Lucky. Now It's Your Turn.

Recruiting

This year we're going to make it a lot easier to start from zero. Getting into a boat full of seasoned world champions (regardless of age) at 5:45AM is a heavy lift for newcomers. The Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association always welcomes new members but owing to our focus on preparing our paddlers for world championship racing the best time is in the Spring of even numbered years like 2026. That’s because this is an off year for the IDBF World Championships and qualifying time trials for Team USA. On even-numbered years we are more focused on our own team here in Philly.

Up until now our new members typically came from four sources. 

  • Someone hears about dragonboat racing by chance and wants to take a look.
  • Somebody on the team recruits a friend, coworker, family member, gym buddy, etc...
  • Someone tries dragonboat racing for the first time at our Independence Dragon Boat Regatta in June, likes it, and decides to try out the real thing at our high performance practices.
  • Someone already paddling with one of our neighboring teams in the Philadelphia suburbs decides they want to level up into a program that is more focused on competing in World Championships.


You can read all about our practices here.

This year we plan to make it easier for rookies from the first three sources to get started. We’re still fleshing out this plan, but starting sometime in May we will begin rookie practices at 6PM on a weeknight to be determined. Watch this page as we get closer to that date for details.


These practices will be less intense than our standard AM high performance sessions and start with a focus more on proper technique than on hard-core workouts. These sessions will be coached by PDBA veteran paddlers, all of them recent World Champions following a program approved by Coach McNamara and Assistant Coach Tommy Leonardi. We’ll start with once a week sometime in April. As interest grows we hope to offer separate rookie practices for paddlers under 40, paddlers over 40, and military veterans.

We’ll provide loaner paddles, seat pads and PFDs for these sessions. All you need to do is let us know you are coming via the form on the right and show up wearing athletic apparel appropriate to the weather.

Want to Give this A Try?