NBP paddlers train for the IDBF World Championships in Bradenburg, Germany. Photo by Joe Meischke, Jr.

For a dragon boat to even be able to leave the dock, someone has to steer. In 2013, Angela Long had never set foot in a dragon boat before. So naturally, she learned to steer.

“All of us who started in that first boat were new to the sport,” says Long, the founder of Survivors in Sync and head paddling coach at Nathan Benderson Park. “For us to be able to have practices, someone had to learn how to steer the boat and I knew I had to take that on because nobody else knew how to. It just made sense for me to do it.”

Long started Survivors in Sync, a breast cancer support group, after her recovery for breast cancer. Dragon boat racing—which was propounded in 1996 by Canadian Dr. Don McKenzie as a form of exercise for breast cancer survivors—was not initially on the docket. When the International Dragon Boat Festival came to Nathan Benderson Park for the first time in 2014, festival organizers wanted Sarasota to have a boat. “It’s just been teamwork since the very beginning. That first year, we’d only been battling together for six months, but finished in the top half of that competition that brought in over 100 teams from around the world. For the next festival, four years later, we set the goal to be one of the top teams—we finished fourth in the world that year,” says Long.

SIS, and the ensuing paddling programming at Nathan Benderson, has only grown since then. SIS has competed at higher levels, including the Club Crew World Championships, and the programming at Nathan Benderson has expanded to include veteran and all-cancer survivor teams, more recreational-minded dragon boat teams and outrigger canoeing. This past July, Long was selected as Team USA’s first-ever coach for breast cancer paddlers. Long led 39 women from across the country, including 22 paddlers from the Nathan Benderson Park Paddling Program, to compete in the International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. In total, the athletes from Nathan Benderson Park brought home 11 gold medals, 28 silver medals and 48 bronze medals. “If you had told me 12 years ago that I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I could have never imagined it,” says Long. “I’m so appreciative to be here and to be able to contribute to the lives of others.”

Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota, 34235

NBP paddlers train for the IDBF World Championships in Bradenburg, Germany. Photo by Joe Meischke, Jr.

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