Picam's Dragons is a team of Dragon Boat breast cancer survivors, created in February 2019 with great enthusiasm but with little success since the beginning, and it had very few participants, then with the arrival of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the training had to be suspended.
After almost two years of forced break, the team resumed training in September 2021 in the port of Badalona, but some of the former participants did not return. There were only four left from the first team, so we needed to push for the team to grow so that we could continue training, consolidate ourselves as a team and, why not, compete in the future with others BCS teams.
So, it was decided to make we well known and the benefits of Dragon Boat practice that is known to breast cancer survivors through social media and distributing flyers in hospitals.
Although Barcelona is a city by the sea, hardly anyone had heard of the Dragon Boat, but little by little the news spread through social networks and newsletters about the benefits (physical and emotional) of practicing this sport in patients who have had a diagnosis of breast cancer.
Slowly, women from the different Hospitals in Barcelona began to be interested and participate in the practice of the Dragon Boat.
After a few months, the new team was proposed to spend a weekend at Lake Banyoles to practice the Dragon Boat. Banyoles is in one of the most beautiful and natural surroundings of Catalonia and there, we could feel the energy and joy with which the team was growing.
Picam's Dragons was beginning to grow rapidly and went from being a single team to two full boats on Saturday’s training.
As the time went by the girls got to know each other and shared experiences, trained with a lot of enthusiasm, and motivation. They felt the impact of learning the Dragon Boat technique better and better each time they tried.
As there were two full boats, the coaches found a way to encourage the teams by competing against each other, which was fun and exciting at the same time.
Thus, we arrived at May 2022, where Picam's Dragons and their women participated at the Festival Dragon Boat in Castelldefels and were able to meet other Dragonas BCS teams. They could see themselves reflected in them, being able to feel the energy and joy with which they paddled. Two boats participated and one of them was a finalist, which gave us more energy and made it clear that, despite being a very new team, we had many chances of one day winning a medal.
Picam's Dragons team continues to grow up and has had to open a new training on Sundays. Our aim is to make this great sport known to other women who, like us, have lived through the experience of cancer and continue their path with a big smile and the desire to feel ALIVE, motivated, and energetic.
