Submitted by Lucia De Ranieri, Vicepresident of IBCPC
The breast cancer dragonboat movement is going from strength to strength, and the IBCPC family is growing more and more with teams from around the world.
In order to expand and continually improve the range of services and programs offered to meet the needs of paddlers affected by breast cancer around the globe, IBCPC provides Outreach Clinic programs identifying regions in the world where these clinics can support the formation of breast cancer paddling groups and teams. The activities, followed with a dragon boat clinic, not only raise a greater awareness of paddling in terms of technique and own health safeguarding for breast cancer paddlers but promotes health lifestyles for breast cancer survivors and the entire community, and show local survivors how they can feel stronger through the sport after experiencing breast cancer treatment.
The first mission of IBCPC is to encourage the establishment of breast cancer dragon boat teams and for this purpose the development of outreach programs is key to spreading breast cancer paddling.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, IBCPC carried out the last outreach in 2019, then for several years we were unable to do clinics so I was really excited and happy when we finally did another outreach clinic last August. Venue: Croatia!
As IBCPC Regional Coordinator for Europe, it was a great joy for me to be able to realise this outreach in the beautiful city of Zadar, I was thinking about this opportunity for two years. My wish was to hold this event in Croatia in order to involve and encourage the participation of breast cancer survivors in the sport of dragon boating first of all in Croatia but also in European countries where there are no dragon boat teams of breast cancer survivors - a European event to spread our mission beyond the Croatian borders in a European context with the participation of breast cancer paddlers from all over Europe. I was super happy that around 40 Europeans breast cancer paddlers replied to our call to action. We had paddlers from Serbia, England, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Italy.
Carrying out outreach clinics, IBCPC can support and movtivate local teams to make contacts with the medical community, institutions and the media in order to organize the clinic, allowing them to gain visibility and create important relationships for the growth of the team. This definitively happened in Zadar. Our aims were to support our member team, Dragon Boat Klub Zadar, and help them to reinforce their bond with the medical community and the greater population, and to expand the movement to other locations in the country so that new teams can be formed. There are, actuall, good chances that two new teams will be established in other two Croatian cities in the near future.
The IBCPC outreach clinic received a lot of media attention with articles in newspapers and a long TV news report, where we had the chance to present our outreach program and the IBCPC mission. Most importantly, it gave the local team maximum visibility through the interview with Buba Bacic, our national representative, to speak at length in Croatian about the team and breast cancer dragon boating.
Thanks to this clinic we had the opportunity to raise awereness about breast cancer and about breast cancer paddling. The highest aspiration was that dragon boating in Croatia could be included in the breast cancer survivor oncological rehabilitation pathway, and I am confident it will become a reality. At the meeting we held there was Dr Vesna Telesmanić Dobrić, a specialist in radiotherapy and oncology at the Zadar General Hospital. She was so impressed by the project and our testimony that she decided to propose dragon boating to all her patients. I cannot express my joy when I heard her words, my heart literally leapt. What an extraordinary result, exactly what we were looking for!
I wish to take also this occasion to sincerely thank our extraordinary Country Liason for Croatia, Buba Bacic, without whom this event would not have been possible and of course our Croatian sisters from Dragon Boat Klub Zadar who welcomed us so warmly. I would also like to thank the IDBF, EDBF and the EDBF Women in Sport Commission, as well as the Serbian Dragon Boat Federation for supporting this initiative.
Last but not least, I want to thank all the European sisters that accepted our invitation so enthusiastically. It was amazing to have this great experience all together.
I hope we will be able to realize many outreach clinics in the near future, we are already working for next year!
If any team is interested in this project please do not hesitate to contact us!
Always PADDLES UP!
