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Paddles Ready is your go-to podcast for everything happening in the world of paddle racing.
Hosted by Dougie and Hando, the show brings you inside the sport with race reviews, real-time commentary, and conversations with paddlers from across the globe. Whether itâs breaking down major competitions, sharing behind-the-scenes stories, or hearing directly from the athletes shaping the sport, this podcast keeps you connected to the pulse of paddle racing.
From elite races to grassroots scenes, Paddles Ready covers it all, giving you insight, perspective, and the stories you wonât hear anywhere else.
What youâll hear:
Honest race reviews and analysis
Conversations with paddlers and industry voices worldwide
Commentary on trends, performances, and competition results
Stories from the front lines of paddle racing
If you follow paddle racing or want to understand it better, this is where you stay informed.
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âFunny story about the Chinese. We were, they were out warming up and they were going hard, you know, making all these noises and I'm going, "Oh, they're wasting their energy. Don't worry about them, team." And then they come out, smoke us. We were like, "Ah."
Got that one wrong.
Uh, rugby was your first love. What, when you jumped over to the paddle and left rugby, what was that transition and how did it all happen? My cousin just gave me a paddle. It actually helped me with my, with my symptoms and stuff as well. Um, just
clearing my head and being on the water.
What is the biggest misconception people have about outrigger canoeing, do you feel? I mean, outrigger is, is much more popular than dragon boating. Um-
Just because I've represented Canada or Germany or America doesn't mean that I'm a good coach. And that's
my point. That is my point. Sometimes the best coach isn't the fastest or the best paddler.
If you're rudderless and don't have leadership, you're not gonna be a good coach. You're going to lose paddlers, and guess what? You're not gonna win. There you go. Paddles ready.
This is Paddles Ready, the global voice of paddle sports. Live commentary, race coverage, athlete stories, and expert analysis from across the world of paddling. From dragon boat racing to ocean ski, this is where the competition, the culture, and the stories come together. Let's get into it
Hey, good morning everybody. Dougie, how to see ya?
How are you, Hando? It's good to be back. It's been a big couple weeks on the road, but we're back now.
It has been. Well, we've got a special guest today, our, uh, Antipodean brothers. We've got, uh, o- one of the best and, and, and how, how we're excited about, uh, introducing Mitch.
Good morning to Paddles Ready, and welcome.
Yeah. Morena. Uh, it's awesome to be on here. Um, been, been listening to your guys' content for a while now and, uh, you guys are doing some, some awesome work and it's, uh, it's good to see you guys, uh, uh, and what you're doing and throwing out, um, some, some good content for, for paddlers.
Oh, ab- ab- ab- absolutely. And, and look, this is why we got everything going and, and we're really excited about talking to you and your experience because we, we are dragon boat centric, but we are Paddles Ready, where we're covering outrigging, surf skiing and, and dragon boating. And Dougie, Mitch's journey from, I suppose, professional sport, Mitch, from rugby to outrigging and now dragon boating has been an amazing journey.
And Dougie, how good's this? We've got, we've got the, the guys just across the ditch is Mitch in the Antipode. And that the Kiwis have shown us how to play rugby for years and now hopefully they're not gonna show us how to paddle better.
No, exactly. So Mitch, you, you've represented New Zealand in outrigging.
Uh, prior to that, uh, just for people who don't know Mitch, uh, rugby was your first love, uh, playing with Otago and, um, from what I've read and from, you know, please pull me up at any stage, a couple head knocks, um, pushed you into outrigging and a decision needed to be made. So early doors, you know, for people who don't know you, Mitch, how did this all evolve and going f- what-- When you jumped over to the paddle and left rugby, what was that transition and how did it all happen?
Yeah. Well, it's bit of, bit of a story. Um, yeah, like you said, I was down at Otago, um, playing rugby down there and sustained, man, I had, I think I had four or five surgeries down there. Um, and then couple of bad head knocks. My last one was about two years where I just couldn't do exercise, um, I couldn't study.
I was in a pretty bad way, so had to hang up the boots. And then, um, some of my, uh, family live in Tahiti, so I would go back and visit them all the time and, um, my cousin just gave me a paddle. Um, and then I come back to, to New Zealand and pretty much just, um, went to the local, um, canoe club down here in, uh, Mount Maunganui.
And, um, yeah, it, it actually helped me with my, with my symptoms and stuff as well. Um, just clearing my head and being on the water, um, and having that kind of connection. Um, you know, just being out on the water.
Was there a grieving, I guess, process there as well? Did you, did you feel, you know, "I'm a sportsman at heart, I'm a rugby player, um, I just need to get, I need to do something."
Um, just so you don't fall into that, I guess that mental
Yeah, I was just trying to fill, find s- another sport. Like I used to play golf growing up, so I kind of tried to go back to that, but that just made me more frustrated, you know? Um, so I wanted to like, um- There's more money
in golf
than outrigging
yeah. More, more money in golf. I don't think I would've won much, but, um, yeah, it was just a good sport for me where I could, um, use my strength and my, my fitness and my, my power kind of translated over and I mean, at the start I was paddling like a kayak, but um, you know, over the years I've just gone, gone full in and, um, yeah, the rest is history really.
Oh, good. And from that moment in Tahiti, what was the transition then? You, you obviously joined the local club with your mates and, um, when was, when did the penny drop? Did you say, "Hey, I can become a Kiwi doing this. Bugger the All Blacks, I'm gonna become a New Zealand representative."
Yeah, well, pretty much as soon as I got into the s- the sport, I wanted to represent my country.
Um, and there was like guys like Tipere King who was kind of, um, setting the way and, uh, I connected with a coach here, um, called Karina Gage, and she's pretty much told me, "If you want to get better, you need to, um, go to Hawaii and Tahiti and spend months or half a year at least over there." So 2019, that's what I did.
I started, um, I spent three or four months in Tahiti and then, um, spent the rest of the year in Hawaii.
Wow. Wow. And you, did you, did you do Molokai?
Yep, yep. So I've done Molokai three or four times now. Um, probably would've been more without COVID. I joined, um, Team Oceania over there, and so two years ago we come third, which was awesome.
And, um, yeah, just do all the other changeover races over there and did Hawaiki Nui, uh, last year with a Tahitian crew. So yeah, some, some awesome opportunities. Um, this will be my fourth world champs, uh, in Singapore. And then, um, the, uh, the dragon boat story is another story as well, but, uh, yeah.
And we'll, we'll get into that one.
Dougie was act- Doug- Dougie was actually just in, in Singapore talking to, um, all the head guys up there from, from, from Vaha with Prash and, and, and the guys there. So you'll see them over there. Uh, the Oceania, that's a, a, a, a team put together to do international races in outrigging. Is that correct?
Yeah, it's a special team.
It's, um, a guy, Mari Masuo, um, who's kind of Fijian, used to live in New Zealand, but lives in Hawaii. And so he gets, um, his local club there and then gets international paddlers from, um, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, uh, and come and race together under, under one team. So you have to kind of live there for two months a- and do all the racing and training.
Um, but yeah, it's, it's been an awesome experience. We've had guys from Aussie, um, Sean Shumarak, Mitch Olds, uh, Paul Chong, um, they've all come over as well. So it's pretty cool. Nice.
Oceania. We've, we've, we've got the Oceania Diggers, our, our, our, our team over here, so good, good, good name. So Dougie, really it's, it's great timing that Mitch is here.
Uh, we're loving the cross-reference of the outriggers from the waka coming into the dragon boat. We saw them at the Aussie titles. We had Wairoa 100 Waters come over and dominate, which was fantastic.
Well, they came over, dominated, and went home with all their medals They didn't even s- they didn't even stick around for a beer.
Hey,
that's not like them.
They, they didn't even stick around for a beer. It's
like... They, they, they, they, they gave me some, some gifts because, uh, I was commentating, uh, the Wairau in, uh, in Italy. So i- it's great to see. So tell us a bit about that because it's been in the press. You're talking about having your paddles ready.
We, we, we saw you go from leaving on the plane, landing in China. I think you, you and some of your team members, because I, I linked you up with, with Fiona and Mr. Luo from Champion, and they're doing an amazing job. We're just about to do a massive, big paddles ready, I suppose, launch into China. So tell us about that, how it was.
Dougie calls it the F1, the F1 of, of, of dragon boating. You're the first international team. You're the first, uh, uh, gweilo, as they would say in Hong Kong, uh, to, to come. Tell us a bit about that and how was it? It must have been phenomenal.
We kind of had a group last year. We went over to Milo and paddled, and then from there it's kind of developed into, um, this NgÄ Hau e WhÄ, which is kind of like a MÄori dragon boat team, I guess.
Um, so it was a massive group, um, fully or mostly funded by, um, New Zealand Foshan Art and Cultural Association. Um, and yeah, we took a team of or a squad of about 35, 40 people, um, and went over and then, yeah, man, you get treated like royalty over there. It's, it's, uh, it's, it's unreal. Um, we were pretty-- like it was pretty unexpected.
Like it's a different boat, um- From watching them, they go up on their knees as well, so that was, um, you know, we were a little bit nervous. You're, you're going in and out, there's different courses. There's the C course, there's the back and forward, there's the one where you go in and out and back round.
Um, so we jumped on the boat and practiced. Um, we figured out that the knees thing wasn't really quite for us.
Did, did you have your, your own sweep or you had your lo- your local sweeps, and then did you, did some of your guys have a go?
Yeah. So what the... At the start we had all the locals, and even the teams from outside of that area used the local steerers.
Um, and then we're like, "Oh, we'll give it a go. You know, we've got some good steerers here." And so we did, and we started to, to, um, nail it, and we're like, "Ooh, okay." And then we, we trained again and went a little bit faster and, and we were like, "Man, we can do this ourselves." And I was like, oh, I was a bit nervous making that call, but in the end I was like, "Man, if you could do this, it would be awesome."
Um, it was a little bit controversial, like they, um, they actually w- from what we heard after, they weren't gonna let us race because we weren't using their local steerers. They kinda seen it as maybe a disrespect, um, to them. But, but our, our guides were telling us, "Nah, nah, you guys do it. You do it by yourselves."
And we're like, "Okay, well you guys are running this, this, uh, trip, so." And how many were in the boat? How, how many- Um ... was it a 50-man or? Nah, you could, you could get about, um, 30 paddlers and then six steerers, three on either side, and a drummer. But because we were turning and we've got quite a big team, you know, we're a bit bigger than the, the Chinese, um, we kinda dropped it down to about 26 paddlers.
So your own, your own, your own Kiwi waka, boat in, in China, in Foshan, in Foshan. And how did you go?
Um, we thought all good. Like, um, the race was crazy. Like thousands of people. Like our supporters couldn't even watch us 'cause it's just packed, eh? It's just so many people. Um, and we nailed it. Like we, we made the turns, we did it.
I think we were around, um, I think we were in the middle, um, for our time. Um, it's just a one-off go. We did have to kind of slow down a little bit around the turns. Um, and then the other thing is around turning round. Like you gotta stop, put the brakes on, and then swap, s- swap around. So I mean that was something
And then swing around and come back.
Yeah. So you have to do two or one, two, three, three times you're braking and, and turning, and going paddling back through, through the canal. Um, so you know, we just had to learn that on the go and, and figure that one out as well.
And, and you, you, you're going back about the locals, so let's talk about, again, the culture of the MÄori.
The, the-- my sister actually was just in, uh, Christchurch up there, and she had the, the traditional canoe with the, the, the feathers. She, she went through a whole cultural respect of the, of the, um, I suppose it was, it's the traditional Kiwi, uh, outrigger. And then to go and do what you did in China with their culture, where, where we're bringing East meets West and West meets East, it, it, it must have been, Dougie, it, it's, it's, the timing's just perfect for what we're talking about, and you've gone and done it.
Um, where did, where did you feel-- Was it, was it, you know, was it you getting chills when you sat in that boat, in the old big teak wooden boats?
Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, that is their tradition that's been going for thousands of years. And so yeah, when you sit in it and, and the people are like, man, it, it's such a big deal for them.
So you just gotta keep remembering that and, and, and kinda connect it to the traditions we have with, with waka and stuff there, and know how important it is for them, um, and just how serious they t- they take it, you know? Um, uh, yeah, it was pretty cool. And even seeing their top teams training and racing, you're like, "Wow," like, "These guys, these guys are awesome."
Um, that's- Right ...
that's what we noticed. Yeah, so that's what we noticed when we went to the Worlds last year, that in Brandenburg, you know, you're watching where, you know, you, you're seeing the Canadians, you're seeing the Americans, we're seeing the Aussies, we're seeing the Kiwis, and then guess who jumps out of the box?
The Chinese team And it was, uh, uh, the, the pace was just serious on that Hando. Yeah, 39 seconds. It was just crazy. And we're calling it and, uh, I was calling it like a five-year-old in a candy shop. I could, I didn't, it was just crazy. It was absolutely crazy. But anyway, listen, um, Mitch, what is the biggest misconception people have about outrigger canoeing, do you feel?
I think, well, and every country's different, but in New Zealand, um, I mean, outrigger is, is much more popular than dragon boating. Um, so we, we really try to encourage our dragon boaters, and especially because it's, it's easier to get out, especially when it's winter and stuff, so going out on a single or s- or a six-person canoe.
So we really encourage our dragon boaters to do both, um, and that will really, really help them develop their dragon boating. And you can hide less, you know? So we're like, "Hey, jump in a, jump in a waka and, and it will help you out." So we're trying to really push that in New Zealand. Um, and to do both, you know, it's, it's, there's so much similarities.
Um, and, and we've seen massive strides in paddlers that have done that. So I don't know if that's a misconception or, or what, but.
Well, saying that, um, doing both, what, what do you feel do you have to prepare more mentally for an ocean race or dragon boat racing, or completely two different scenarios of preparedness, I guess?
Um, probably long distance open ocean canoe racing 'cause there's, um, you know, you're, you're in the canoe. Yeah, so many factors and stuff. Um, and then for me, 'cause I mean, I've only been dragon boating for maybe three years, so it's just trying to learn and experience. Like in Germany it was a massive learning curve to figure things out, how it rolls, how the stroke is a little bit different, and watching different teams.
Um, so yeah, just being a- Were you in Brandenburg? Yeah, yeah. Yep. Ah, right. So funny story about the Chinese. We were, they were out warming up and they were going hard, you know, making all these noises and I'm going, "Oh, they're wasting their energy. Don't worry about them team." And then they come out, smoke us.
We were like, "Oh."
These guys, they smoke us.
Got that one wrong.
Oh, yeah. You, you, you had a, you had a big contingent, um, in, in Germany and as, as you said, we commentating-wise when we went live with the live chat, we-- because obviously the Kiwis, they're, they're up early. They're, they're, they're two hours ahead of, of, of everything.
Uh, but no, that's great. That, that, that, that's awesome with that. But going back to the outrig and what you said where people can't hide, like you've got the likes of Danny Ching, Chang, Ching that we had, um, Tommy, the head of the US Dragon Boat Federation, and their stipulation for, for the USM is you're getting on an OC1 and, and you're doing the time trial because you can't hide You know, and that power, and they've got calculations that do that.
And I think countries all around the world are utilizing, uh, the phenomenal paddlers that we have globally. And, you know, Dougie, remember Tommy said that the outrigger guys love the dragon boat because suddenly they're right next to teams where if you're in a 42 kilometer in the middle of Molokai, sometimes you're by yourself for two hours and you-- there's no other, there's no other, no other canoe around you.
So the, the adrenaline at the start from a dragon boat compared to, uh, the start of a, a, an ocean series outrigging race is totally different.
Well, coming into, coming into the 20 th- we got the 2030 Paddle Sports coming up here in Brissy. Well, well, we haven't got it yet, but, uh, yeah, Gold Coast. There's good intel that we've got a good proposal there against the rest of the world, but then we've got the 2032 Olympics.
So could we see an event or a series where both outrigging paddling and dragon boating come together as a force and it be tied to the World Paddle Games and tied to the Olympics of some, you know, whether it's a demonstration, I'm not too sure. We've spoken about with Mike how the numbers of the dragon boat pretty much doesn't lend itself to being an Olympic sport, but there's got to be a way that we can merge these two sports as such or disciplines and bring in an event or a series similar to what I guess y- they're doing up in China.
Yeah, for sure. That Olympic one's a tough one. You know, you can see like, um, some random sports in there and stuff like that. Um, I know with outrigger we definitely don't have enough countries yet that are involved in it. Um, and then like our major countries like Tahiti would come under France, you know.
Um, but I saw, I reckon dragon boating, you know, that's probably got the best, best chance. I mean, there's outrigger and, um, Paralympics. We've got a Paralympian, um, that does outrigger, but that's coming under kayaking, um, under the kayaking scene, so. Yeah. That's,
that's the, that's the IC- the IOC, the ICF, the, that good old discussion that'll just keep coming round and round.
So what's, what's up next, Mitch? Where are you off to?
Yeah, where, where's next? Where's next? So we know you're, we know you're about to hop on a plane, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Group of us are heading over to The Gorge, which is a, um, downwind race. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it's in, um, Portland, America.
So it's, um, oh, it's unbelievable. They do surf ski as well, and it's down a river. Um, it's wind against tide, so you're actually going downwind into the, into the current, and it just stacks up and it's just a surf Surf for 20K. Oh, wicked. Um, so- Really? Or-
And, and
you're in a, you're in a
six-man? You're in a...
Um, six-man on the first day, and then the rest of the week you just practice and you just do downwinds, and they have shuttles, and then you race OC1 at the end.
Right. And do you take your own, uh, or it's all, all supplied?
All supplied, yeah. So you gotta, um, get a connection over there for, for the canoes, but we're all sorted.
Uh, you stay right on the campground, right on the river. These big mountains, and the wind just funnels down. Um- In Portland,
Oregon, is it?
Yeah. Yeah. Just out of Portland. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. We'll reach out to Tommy and see if he's got anybody, anybody going there.
Yeah, YouTube it. The Gorge. The Gorge is unreal, yeah.
And then I come back for a few weeks and then, um, off to Singapore.
Off to Singapore. That, that's exciting. We've been talking to some people there. They are super excited to have the, the World VAHA, um, Sprint Championships. Dougie, you were just in Singapore, uh, with the team up there and, uh, there's a fabulous club, uh, Singapore Paddle Club, SPC, that have been very dominant in, in both, uh, outriggers across Asia, but also dragon boating.
Uh, they've got a, a coach there, um, Hans, uh, and I probably pronounce it wrong.
For Mitch, for people who don't know who you are Who's Mitch, who's Mitch away from the paddle? What do you do when the paddle... not paddle's ready, when the paddles are down? What's something that, uh, you know, these paddlers around the world, they, they know, they see you at the elite level, they see you winning gold, they see you tearing up the course.
What's Mitch do when he's, uh, at home or, you know, are you watching the All Blacks? 'Cause you- there's not much to watch about them at the moment.
Yeah, I'm a, I'm a, um, avid, uh, rug- rugby fan, rugby league up the Waafs. Um, I'm a high school teacher, believe it or not. Um, I teach at my old school, Tauranga Boys.
Um, so they're really, really awesome. They, they support me, um, enormously. Um, so I teach PE, outdoor ed, and a bit of geography as well. Pretty much tell the kids where I'm traveling to and, uh, and then, um, I coach, I coach outrigger, um, the juniors, and I have my own nonprofit organization, um, where I have all my canoes and stuff so the, the kids can, can, um, get involved and don't have to pay to, to paddle.
Um, and I run programs for them during the school holidays and coach them, and taking a group to a Vaka Eva, which is a race in Rarotonga. Um, yeah.
And what island are you? Are you north or south?
I'm, uh, North Island, so Tauranga. Um, I'm on the coast there. Beautiful spot.
Is it right, right up north near, near
TaupĹ Bay or?
Oh, sorry, I'm like, um, two hours south of Auckland. I'm not sure if you've seen there was a, um, a, a mountain slipped, uh, earlier this year and people passed away. It was a big slippage on a... Yeah, so that's where, that's where I live.
So Mitch, uh, I, I mean, obviously you'd be a lot of mentoring being-- It, it probably leads into my next question where, you know, y- you had rugby t- you had your love of rugby taken away from you.
You know, we, we've touched briefly, you battled cancer, you've represented New Zealand, you've inspired a lot of people along your way on your journey. When you look back over that journey, what's the one lesson you keep teaching yourself about life and how to go forward?
Yeah, nice. Nice. Um- Well, first off, just always just grateful, eh, for, for the opportunities that I get.
Um, and, you know, I've had a lot of people pass away in my life as well, so I kinda look at it like, um, you know, you only got one opportunity, you only got one life. Um, so you can sit on the couch and, and, um, you know, be disheartened by things, or you can get up and represent the people that, uh, can't do it, you know, and, and people that have gone before me.
And, um, yeah, ever since like all those injuries and, and, and the cancer and stuff, man, I'm just like, "Oh, let's just go," you know? There's no point of waiting or, or, um, giving up opportunities that, that present themselves. And if, if I can go, I can go. If I can help other people, then, then so be it. So yeah, yeah, just, just always grateful.
Um, you know, enjoying, um, all these, all these opportunities that come. And I heard a good quote the other day on this-- on a, on a, um, on another podcast around just doing cool shit with cool people. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, hopefully, hope- hopefully we're cool, hopefully we're cool enough, Dougie, for, for, for Mitch Zanstra.
But, but it, but it's pretty cool, and that's, that's really important Where we saw Paddles Ready with our vision and our experience. Obviously, we've been in the sport a long, long time. And every time we either, um, tune in or go online and, and just the response that we're getting and we're, we're growing and we're loving to have people on it and tell their stories and be that global voice about, you know, about p- paddlers and having yourself on regarding outrigging and, and we're gonna be doing so many different, uh, episodes of different, different paddling sports and, and we're really, really loving what we do and, and I'm glad that you, you love what you do, obviously representing, uh, New Zealand and, and also you mentioned you went through cancer.
We had Mary Gibson, you should go back and have a look at that interview as well. Uh, she's doing a magical job, uh, with the breast cancer paddlers globally, and they, they get-- they've got 6,000 athletes in France in August next month.
Yeah, it's nuts. Hey, Mitch, it, it, it, um, your little saying that you just said there, it reminds, I used to, uh, paddle open skis, single ski, double skis, ocean races back in the day, back in the '90s.
I remember I had a, uh, paddling partner and I'd-- we'd jump on the back and just before we're about to go, he'd just look at me and go, "Dougie, don't be shit."
That was the one-liner. And I don't know what was worse. I was waiting for the gun to go or that was just ringing in my head. But anyway, kept me on the straight and narrow. Mitch, we'll just quickly wrap up. Um, mate, I've got one more question for you. When your paddling career is over- What do you hope your journey people will remember Mitch for, Mitch Andre for along the way and what you did?
You know, what-- how do you see-- how would you-- how do you want to be remembered after your career comes to an end?
Yeah. Well, I hope I can stay in this, um, this sport for both sports for, for a long, long time, eh? But, um, I guess, um, looking, looking back, you know, um, just, just a good guy, you know, that gives back and, um, you know, races with humility and, um, yeah, shares, shares the experience with other people.
Um, you know, I try to bring people along with my journey, so got all my mates to China this year. Um, bringing extra people to, to the Gorge race. Um, trying to bring up juniors into that space. Um, so yeah, just, just someone who, you know, is good to race with, good to-- good, uh, cool guy, me, that does cool things, you know?
Um, but yeah, like, um, always grateful, eh? Always grateful for, for everything and the opportunities I get and, um, if I can use my experience and people have given me some great opportunities, so if I can do that for others, you know, I think that's what's all of-- what it's all about.
That's what it's all about, isn't it?
That's what it's all about, just giving back. But mate, uh, well, Hando, I think, um, we've touched on everything there about Mitch. I know plenty more about Mitch, and I think you're a cool guy. So...
Mi-Mitch is cool. Well, mate, w- you're part of the Paddles Ready team now, Mitch, so, uh, we'll, we'll actually get-- we'll get you a, uh, we'll, we'll get you a, I'll, I'll send across a, uh, a Paddles Ready dragon boat, new carbon fibre one for you over there.
So, uh, we'll-- yeah, that'll-- you'll have to be, uh, giving a bit of a test to the power.
Look forward to catching up with you in person. We can have a couple, couple of Steinregades or something like that, whether it's, uh, up in, up in Asia or something. But mate, Mitch, thank you so much. Stay safe. Safe travels today, mate.
Um, Hando and I are definitely gonna be looking at that Portland, Oregon race. That sounds amazing, especially for me being an ex-single ski paddler. Um, but mate, stay safe. Stay, stay, um, yeah, stay close with us. Give us an update, let us know how it all goes, and, um, yeah, thank you for your time this morning.
Yeah, for sure. Um, just from me, just appreciate your guys' content, eh? And everyone loves to listen to more paddling stuff and, and whatever it is, interviews and stuff like that. So thanks for letting me jump on and, um, yeah, we'll definitely connect, um, next time, uh, we're in the same, same country. Mate, sounds great.
Thank you once again.
We'll, we'll, we'll see if you do... We, we do a bit of a sign-off u- usually, and we, we, uh, crank it up. But, uh, Mitch Danschaar, that was awesome. I'm Hando.
I'm Dougie. And I'm Mitch.
And we are Paddles Ready.
And there's Mitch. Oh, Mitch. Got that trophy as well. What's that one? What's that one?
Which is that one? That's China. There's China.
So we're down here at Varsity Lakes. This is Paddles Ready, your voice for paddlers, and we're here with Kim. Kim, what club are you from?
I'm from Gold Coast Dragons.
Worst excuse you've heard from someone to miss training?
Um, probably a sore toe.
A sore toe?
Yeah.
Whereabouts in the boat do you sit?
About seat three.
Downwind or grind?
Uh, downwind.
Early morning starts, training or a sleep in?
Early morning
starts. What's more important, fitness or technique?
Technique.
Okay. Carbon fibre or wooden paddle?
Carbon fibre.
Coffee before or after training?
Don't drink coffee.
Don't drink coffee, okay. Biggest talker on the boat?
Our coach, Cheryl.
Thank you, Cheryl. Sprint or distance?
Sprint.
Beers or lemonade on a Sunday after a regatta?
Ah, lemonade.
Favorite regatta you competed in around the globe?
Hafencity Brandenburg in, um, uh, last year in Germany.
Fantastic. That's my favorite too.
Yeah.
Your one tip that instantly makes someone a better paddler?
Uh, to drive hard.
And complete this sentence: If I wasn't a paddler, I'd be a...?
Sitting at home watching the couch.
Beautiful. Thanks, Kim. No worries. That's Paddles Ready.
Thank you. Bye.
How are you, Hando? Getting ready. I love the content that's been coming out.
Hando's hot take.
Oh, where's that timer?
I actually think you're gonna have an opinion on this. I don't know what your opinion's going to be.
Opinion or a thought?
I reckon you're gonna have an opinion.
Ooh.
Because you're a coach I notice- Try, try to be
over 30 years of us being in this sport-
Mm-hmm ...
there seems to be a lot of if you're a fast paddler, you're deemed a good paddler, therefore you should be a coach.
Oh.
And then I throw this to you. That fast paddler becomes a coach, and then a beginner starts and then quits because they're great paddlers, but you're not a coach.
Why do clubs endorse a fast paddler to be a coach? Why aren't they educating to be a coach, not just throw a fast... Do, do you know where I'm going with this? That's a- There should be, there should be, like, an education program, I should say. Well,
there is.
There is? Okay, I get that. This is a
hot take. Like, your, your-
You had to go and do, just recently you had to go and do your, um-
Oh, re-accreditation
re-accreditation
for, for, for sweeping ...
for sweeping, 100%.
For sweeping.
And we all know you can sweep. Around the world knows you can sweep. Mm. So yeah, there you go. But you still have to jump hoops. There's educating, you still have to do it. But why, why reward a fast paddler? And I'm, I'm, you know, I'm not saying everyone's good-
Is it a paddler or is it a leader?
Is it a coach? 100%. We've talked about this before, but you're nailing it right
there. A fast paddler doesn't need to be a coach just out of favoritism. That's what I'm saying.
No, but-
Because you're being
detrimental to the club ... to grow, to grow the sport. It's like you said, to grow sports, like, which we've seen in Dubai and also throughout Asia The experienced paddlers have their own friends network or their own that- Yeah You've seen it in all different types of sports that sometimes they don't agree with what's happening and then they go and do a, uh, sports accreditation level one or level two dragon boat coaching and now they think that they can do it better.
Well, that's it. I-
is that a question for you guys? Please send it in. Have you had experience where you're sitting next to a paddler-
Yep ...
that's doing a coach's course-
Yes ...
s- starting to tell a brand-new paddler how to do it-
Yep ...
when they actually can't, they haven't nailed it themselves. They haven't got, yeah.
I think, I think it's managing. Like we said before, w- you know, and I know-
Yeah ...
I know people, you know, I keep reverting back to some of the stuff that I used to teach but, you know, clubs do, they chop and cha- and paddlers change.
Yeah.
Paddlers change in and out of bo- and, and they travel as well.
Yeah. But I mean, you, you take a look at, um, say here in Australia, the NRL, our biggest rugby league, you know, probably the biggest rugby league in the world, comp in the world.
Well, yeah,
it is. It's pretty much it. You look at
the coaches there. The top coaches there have only played a handful of NRL games themselves. Yeah. You throw in a player who's been playing top, you know, okay, take Billy Slater out of the thing and maybe Frawley, but y- these pa- these coaches have only played, like, a handful of first grade, handful, and, and mainly reserve grade.
Mm. But they're leaders.
Yeah.
They're leaders. Um, they're leaders. Yeah, look, that's- I just think- It, it's a good question ... rewarding the fastest paddler and the best paddler to these, "Oh, you're a coach," I think it's detrimental to the club, I think it's detrimental to the boat, and it's detrimental to a beginner paddler.
A- and, and, and you know what? That's an interesting take because you could then throw it on the other, other foot, as they say, and well, you know what? You're actually not the best paddler, however, what we've seen what you're doing and how you talk and how you interact- Leadership ... and you sweep-
Yep ...
you'd actually be an awesome coach.
Just because I've represented Canada or Germany- Yep ... or America doesn't mean that
I'm a good coach. And that's my point. That is my point. Sometimes the best coach isn't the fastest or the best paddler.
No.
And I think clubs need to have a look at that and they need, once again, go through, know your paddlers.
Yeah.
Know your paddlers.
KYP, know your paddler. Your
paddler. Or know your paddler in your boat and know a little bit more about them than Hando from, you know, Kelvin Grove.
Mm.
Learn, um, and I think, uh, you'll start seeing a whole ri- a whole range of new coaching, um, people coming through. But anyway.
Oh, a- and, and you look, you, you're talking about social media and, and how it is with these courses and influencers and, and, you know, you've- You, you got the OC paddlers out there, you know?
Yep. You've, you've- Yeah ... you got the Danny Tings. You got, you got Mitch- Yeah ... Zander. 100%. Unbelievable. They're, they're paddling everywhere. And then you've got your, your, your dragon boat coaches like Tech Lee-
Yeah ...
online following it, and then that. But look, mate, great, great question. I just think it's- I pose that to all the other- Yeah
viewers or, or tuning in out there.
You don't, this is, yeah.
What, what d- what does it take, the hot take- Hot take ... what does it take to be a great coach?
Coach. And
I- And, and, and, and, and- My belief is I- And do they fail? Yeah. Do some coaches... Like, what happens if you're the coach of the club? And I wonder if that happens, Dougie.
Yeah. Wonder if pa- paddlers switch clubs. Like, it's pretty d- Oh, 100%
that would happen ...
maybe, maybe... Oh, I don't know, because it's, it's, it's very geographical, right? You can't just, "Oh, I'd, I'd, I like the, the, the Sydney S- Sydney Tsunami coach or the, or the, the,
the-" No, but, but, but paddlers are like football players.
They'll jump with their coach without a shadow of a doubt.
Especially with t- touring teams.
Well, I mean, with touring teams, you know, we're, we're a semi-professional sport in a sense when we get to the big boys and the big girl, and the big ladies. Mm. But without a doubt. But paddlers are jumping ship, pardon the pun, because they're following the coach.
Um, and then clubs are losing paddlers, and guys are going, "You know what? I can't be arsed getting up at 7:00
in the morning." And, and, and, and it's interesting. You see actually different coaches' methodology come into a new club over a, a prems, a, a, a Senior A, a Senior B, and you see the club transforming.
Yep, 100%.
You, you
see- And that's leadership.
Yeah.
And that's direction.
That's direction.
And that comes down to even when you're running a company or running a business or us running our podcast. You know, we, we need some leadership. Sometimes I don't know what path we're going down, but, um, but that's, that's life.
That's okay. But
that's, that's, that's what we
wanna do. But if you're, if you're rudderless, I'm pulling out the puns today, aren't I? Um- Goodness me ... if you're
rudderless- I tell you what, we're gonna have to go back very soon and work out what we've actually talked about. I know. Because we, we need, we're, we're- But if you're rudderless and you don't have leaders- I don't know how many episodes we've done now, but they're going global, and they're- I know
that's a good hot take.
But I'm just saying, if you're rudderless and you don't have leadership, you're not gonna be a good coach. You're going to lose paddlers, and guess what? You're not gonna win
There you go.
All right, so that's, uh The hot take. That's Hando's hot take. Woo! We're into it today. All right, mate, see you later.
Oh, that's another one done and dusted. That was- And you took it out of me ...
that was awesome, wasn't it? There was some good content there. I loved it.
But you just keep flowing and flowing, and with that, talk about flowing, we need you to flow. We're signing off.
But hang on, did you know, just quickly, someone asked me the other day, "Do you guys have notes?"
I said, "No, we just talk." Notes? What are notes? What, like- Notes, yeah ... Post-it notes or?
Yeah, Post-it Notes.
But it just shows- No, we do just talk ... it just shows that we just talk about it. And we love it. And we love it, and we love you guys tuning in, and we love getting your content that you're sending us.
That's it.
So that's
another one. That's another one done, Hando, so don't forget to subscribe. You call it done and
dusted.
Done and dusted.
Like it, Instagram, send your email in.
Send your email in, get on, subscribe to YouTube. You know what you have to do. We don't have to pump it out to you. And have a great week.
I'm Dougie.
I'm Hando.
And we're Paddles Ready. Paddles
Ready. Bye for now.
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