BRIEF TDBA HISTORY:
The challenge to establishing the Turkish Dragon Boat Association (TDBA) was taken up by Tom Holleman and his Turkish Rafting friends in September 2007
Although we all never been in a original Dragon boat (only Tom paddled in a 12 man big canoe before back in Holland) we new from the beginning on that this could become our new passion , Andreas Hanh who competed in the German senior team and became European champion in Poland introduced us with story's around the campfire to the sport in 2004 . Years later when Tom was looking for a new kind of team building program for his Company he remembered the story's from Andreas and started his research ,automatically he came to the İDBF / EDBF web site and dragon boat organization . Being a kayaker from the age of seven he knew the excitement and passion from a kayaking team sport and told his friends (all rafting guides) about the 2000 year old traditional dragon boating in Southern China .
From their on they started to look in to the change of establishing a Turkish association and to organize a dragon boat festival in 2010 for the European city off the year Istanbul , contact was made to the IDBF Executive President, Mike Haslam
This is his reply :Dear Tom ..Many thanks for your email and the exciting news about the planned Dragon Boat Festivals in Istanbul . Both IDBF and EDBF would be delighted to help you with these projects and to establish a Dragon Boat Association in Turkey , which we would do from the crews that start to take up the sport there. Best wishes, Mike Haslam IDB F
From their on it started the TDBA was formed among our friends and planning begins , to start from scratch is always hard ,with only 6-7 friends ,a normal day job and no money we begin to meet at Tom's office / house . biggest problem are the dragon boats and the cost to get them .
We consider two options 1 built them our self , or nr 2 buy them. Both options cost a lot of money so now we are busy getting sponsors for the boats a new mail from Mike Haslam came in after i told him the situation
Re: from Mike Haslam : The Boats. You have details of the Boat Manufacturer's Scheme amongst the PDF's that I sent to you (second email attachments). However, I am negotiating with the Iranian Dragon Boat Federation , who already have an IDBF Boat manufacturer, to supply boats to new and developing Countries at no cost or very low cost. This scheme is designed to get things going, not as a permanent supply system. Iran is very interested in sending boats to Turkey but it may take quite a few months, maybe one year, before the scheme is up and running and it would be a maximum of 4 boats.
Best wishes, Mike Haslam IDB F
We can not express our self's good enough about the help we get from the İDBF and now our neighbor country Iran, thank you so much for your kind help .
After getting this new information and also the DBWI magazine reading about Iran the big amount off participants and İDBF spec Dragon boats (50) they purchased and distributed throughout the Province off Iran .
We started to plan the following project
Our big goal stays the same : to promote Dragon boat sport in Turkey to a broader public and to organize in 2010 an Dragon boat festival in Istanbul .
To get all official things ready and to train people for .awards ,coaching teams, crew helm men-woman, we will start organizing a smaller version of the Istanbul festal in Antalya
At this small festival –training and national competition we will learn all things necessary to organize a big international festival and competition .We have found several perfect locations in the Antalya region and will start to come in contact with the sport authorities , because Antalya is booming at the moment and wants to promote it self as a very sportive city the changes are high to get even the city's first men behind the project and in a dragon boat.
For the official trainings dragon boats we get in contact with Iran and the İDBF, look for the best time plan between March – April –May the weather is good ,air fair is cheap at this time and the accommodations Hotels are still empty and low prices are available for the teams .
Start to promote the Antalya dragon boat competition –training day's to the public rafting and sport club's . looking for financial support boat sponsors etc .
When anyone who reads this wants to help the TDBA in succeeding his goals , We are looking for support , sponsorship, motivated sport man-and woman, teams sport clubs and school teams.
Contact
Tom Holleman President TDBA (in English ,Dutch German )
info@doitadventure.com
Emre Yildrim Vice President TDBA ( Turkish ,English)
emre@doitadventure.com
Food for Thought.
At a time when Dragon Boat Racing rituals were well established, the games of Olympia were just evolving from a similar simple religious observance, towards a regularly scheduled grand festival. Both of these two ancient public dramas honored their gods, heroes and legends. For example Zeus , Apollo and Hermes in Europe and in China the dragon and Qu Yuan - the man whose spirit lives on in the modern world through his legacy of the Dragon Boat Festival Races.Today contemporary values such as teamwork, cultural diversity, brotherhood, community spirit, athleticism, fortitude and fitness are all glorified in both the Dragon Boat Festival and the modern Olympic Games.
The reality.
Dragon Boating is not merely just a paddle sport, such as competitive canoeing is. The "hun" and esprit of racing dragon boats, goes far beyond a mere sports spectacle and embraces a rich and dynamic cultural fabric that has been observed uninterrupted for more than 25 centuries. May it always be so, through its traditional Festival Races and modern ‘IDBF Sport Racing' with its cultural, traditional values and up most respect for the ‘Spirit of Qu Yuan'.
For over 2000 years there has been competitions between dragon boat teams PARTICIPATION LEVELS shows that it is currently estimated that over 50 million people participate annually, in dragon boat competitions worldwide.
The majority race in China and South East Asia, with over 300,000 estimated participants in Europe; 90,000 in North America and 30,000 in Australasia and Southern Africa . years.
IDBF News letter ! click on
Dragon boat festifal 2010 İstanbul click on
