Anna Judge and Louisa Matthew realize they live in an ageist and sexist society — but, with generous spirits, they are paddling against the current.

The mother-daughter duo together coach a crew of dragon boat paddlers.

Matthew, the mother, is an art professor at Union College. Judge, her daughter, is a certified personal trainer who led her mother into the sport.

“A dragon boat is a 40-foot long, very narrow racing boat,” explains Matthew in this week’s Enterprise podcast. “That became standardized in the 20th Century but it’s based on a thousands-year-old Chinese tradition of racing the big rivers in China.”

A dragon boat has 20 paddlers, two to a seat, with a person in the stern who steers and a person in the bow signaling directions, traditionally by drumming.

“It’s the national sport of China,” said Judge “so it’s quite big in Asia and has subsequently spread to Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.”

It came to the United States through Canada, she said, citing the work of a doctor in British Columbia who changed prevailing medical opinion on exercise for breast-cancer survivors.

Dr. Donald McKenzie in 1995 did research that challenged the then-standard view that breast cancer survivors would suffer from lymphedema if they were physically active. The women in his Abreast in a Boat program paddled in a dragon boat for six months; none developed  lymphedema — rather, their health improved.

Now, regular physical exercise is standard medical advice for cancer survivors and mortality rates have improved by 35 percent.

Judge got involved in the sport because her stepmother is a cancer survivor. She and six other people started Dragonheart Vermont, a team based in Burlington that paddles on Lake Champlain, said Judge. “It was kind of unheard of,” she said, and now Dragonheart has over 200 members.

Judge not only paddled but did research on the subject. For her bachelor’s degree at Skidmore College, she wrote a thesis about it.

“The biggest thing is just that a disease such as breast cancer could be extremely isolating for somebody; it’s a very terrifying thing to go through …,” Judge said. “I think the positive impact has come from kind of bringing people out of isolation and bonding together and having equal roles in the boat.”

Judge explained, “Everybody contributes to the boat and there’s a real sense of teamship. And I think that’s done wonders for people that are going through something as significant as a disease like breast cancer so they can really support each other and band together.”

Matthew said she got involved because her daughter dragged her up to Burlington to try the sport. Since there was then nothing like it in the Capital Region, Matthew figured it would be fun for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I loved it,” she said, and she right away signed up for an intensive camp to learn how to paddle.

“I was absolutely terrified but I actually survived it and I’ve been hooked ever since,” said Matthew.

She went on, “I’ve never been a team player; I’ve always liked solitary sports but dragon boating has a couple of special things. One is that you have an intensely demanding learning curve in terms of learning the stroke … you and your body and your brain have to figure it out.

“But, on the other hand, it has probably one of the most intensely team-oriented aspects to it because the secret to dragon boating is that you all have to be exactly in sync … all the paddles go into the water at exactly the same time and they all come out of the water at exactly the same time.”

The other thing Matthew said she loves about the sport is, “No one’s ever going to tell you you can’t do it because you’re too old.” There is a division for paddlers over 70.

“It’s liberating. It’s wonderful,” said Matthew. “We paddle with all different ages and that’s fun but the idea that it’s for everyone is really special.”

“A lot of people don’t feel like they can be athletic or be on a team or be an athlete past a certain age because there’s obviously, we all know, a lot of ageism in our culture,” said Judge. “So it’s really nice to open that door for people that gives them a chance to be athletes and then find that camaraderie and it’s pretty fun.”

Matthew said of paddling, “It’s also taught me a lot about getting along with other people.” Although she is used to her role of teaching others, Matthew said, “Being on a team is different and I found it both challenging and rewarding in ways that I had ignored from my life.”

The first Capital Region dragon boat program, Hope in the Boat, had been formed in 2008 for breast cancer survivors and, in 2012, Matthew said, the Hope in the Boat paddlers decided to restrict their membership solely to cancer survivors.

“A bunch of us decided that this was the opportunity to expand the sport to offer it to more people,” Matthew said. “And that’s when Dragons Alive was started.” It is open to anyone who is 18 or older.

Both Hope in the Boat and Dragons Alive now operate out of the same marina in Alplaus on the Mohawk River.

“I love being outdoors,” said Matthew. “Being on the river is beautiful.”

Judge agreed, contrasting it to Lake Champlain, “which is almost like the ocean” and is “quite tricky” to navigate.

“But on the Mohawk,” Judge went on, “Usually the water’s like glass and there’s lots of wildlife, nature … You can see the sunset.”

Dragons Alive which, like most teams, is rebuilding after the pandemic, is always open to welcoming new paddlers, both coaches said. “If they’re coming to the second practice, it usually means they’re hooked,” said Judge.

For both teams that she’s been on, she said, it’s the companionship that draws people in. “So that’s really important for us to kind of foster that kind of environment,” she said.

After “a pretty extensive warm-up” at the start of each practice, the team members paddle for an hour or so on the Mohawk.

The coaches set “mini goals” throughout the season, choosing various festivals to compete in. “So we might travel to Hartford, Connecticut or Montreal to get some racing experience,” said Judge.

The two women coach from the boat. Judge serves as the stroke, setting the pace while Matthew is typically in the bow, calling out directions.

The timing, said Mathew, depends on “being sensitive to everything in the boat: other people, the sound, the feel … the back paddlers are different from the ones in the middle who are different from the strokes in the front.”

It is only during the festivals that a drum is used just as it is only during festivals that a dragon’s head and tail are affixed to the boat. The painted head and tail, said Matthew, “are special — you don’t leave them on all the time because they get ruined by weather; so they’re only for special occasions.”

Another thing that’s special, said Judge, is coaching with her mother. “It’s pretty neat,” she said.

Judge went on, “I never thought we would be coaching together. But it’s also cool for me to see my mom get a chance to be an athlete and to believe that she’s not past that.” She again referenced the ageism in our culture and said that her mother had also gotten her aunt, Matthew’s sister, involved in the sport. “So it’s really a family affair,” said Judge.

Matthew, for her part, praised Judge’s expertise on body mechanics as well as her athletic prowess. 

“She’s put her heart and soul into the team,” said Matthew. “And so I’m just kind of following in her footsteps.”

She added, “It provides for some comic relief in the boat as well when she tells me I talk too much, which is actually true. So, I’ve learned something about myself just because Anna’s in a position to say, ‘Hey, Mom’ and does it nicely. The team gets a kick out of the banter between us.”

She concluded, “We’re very different and we have different approaches.”

Judge urged others to try the sport. Newcomers have just showed up, she said and “found this amazing community of people and this chance to be out on the water and really enjoy what little of summer we have here in the Northeast,”

“People who never thought of themselves as athletes,” her mother said, “have turned into athletes.”

****

More information on Dragons Alive is available online at dragonsalive.org. Both coaches also said that anyone who might be interested in pursuing the sport may contact them through email: Matthew at MatthewL@union.edu or Judge at bWellAndFit@gmail.com.