Philadelphia Flying Phoenix dragonboat team

WHY A SEPARATE TEAM?

Lots of reasons.

Having our own team allows us to have an opportunity for camaraderie and support from our sister survivors.

It gives an opportunity to compete with other breast cancer survivor teams in dragonboat festivals that have a special division only for breast cancer survivor teams. The team decides which competitions they want to travel to, but it is not mandatory that any one attend any specific competition. We like to win but we consider participation more important then winning.

When we compete at a dragonboat festivals, we are always introduced to the spectators as a breast cancer survivor team. We want the public to see a different face of breast cancer. Hopefully if they or someone they know ever gets a breast cancer diagnosis, they will remember a boat full of survivors, paddling hard, and having a good time competing. That image just might take the edge off the terror of the diagnosis and give a message of hope for recovery.

We also like to think that the very existence of a breast cancer dragonboat team promotes breast cancer awareness.

Our goal is to have fun, learn a new sport, get exercise and demonstrate that women can have a full and ACTIVE life after breast cancer.

Against the Wind has been very successful, winning many races over the years. In 2007, Against the Wind traveled to Australia to compete in a festival with breast cancer teams from around the world.

A Brief History of Breast Cancer Survivor Dragonboating

In 1996, Donald McKenzie, MD, a sports medicine physician at the University of British Columbia, started the first dragonboat team for breast cancer survivors. In addition to the known positive effects of exercise for breast cancer survivors, he (and his team) were interested in the effects, if any, of dragonboating in initiating or worsening lymphedema (a chronic swelling) in these survivors. He found no increased incidence of lymphedema in this group. You can visit the website of the first breast cancer dragonboat team at www.abreastinaboat.com. Now, many large dragonboat festivals have a separate division in which breast cancer teams compete against each other.