By Fearooz Al-Rabahi, Staff Writer
Having been around the sport of dragon boat for the last 16 years, 13 of those years as a coach, as well as helping to start a team while at UC Santa Cruz, new counselor Mr. Chu, has had a strong passion for the sport for over a decade because he believes in the teamwork that the sport helps build.
Mr. Chu was influenced by his friends to join the dragon boat team while he was a student at Lowell High School in 2008, his sophomore year. He enjoyed his time so much competing that he wanted to continue being part of the sport even after he graduated from Lowell, so he started coaching at Lowell in 2010.
In 2012, while a student at UC Santa Cruz, Mr. Chu and his friends were inspired to start their own dragon boat team. At the time UC Santa Cruz didn’t have enough funding to sponsor an extra sport team, so they supported themselves & recruited people on campus through “word of mouth. As a result of their efforts dragon boat at UC Santa Cruz is now an official club.
Mr.Chu explains his love for dragon boat as a team sport, saying, “Dragon boat is not about one’s individual strength but rather how strong you are as a team, it doesn’t matter how strong you are you can still move water and be able to blend in and do well on the boat. You’re only as strong as everyone around you is.”
