It’s been ten long years and finally Betty Solley’s perseverance has paid off. With the establishment of a Breast Cancer sub-committee on United States Dragon Boat Federation (USDBF). This is a step in the right direction as these kinds of sub-committees exist under national federations in New Zealand (since 2007), Canada (Linda Kuska heads this up) Australia (in process).
Please let us know if your national federation also has a breast cancer paddler or special interest sub-committee.
From Betty Solley:
Breast cancer paddlers (BCP) across the United States will now be represented in the new BCP Committee, part of a new venture by the United States Dragon Boat Federation (USDBF). The USDBF has formed a Special Interest Committee to support and grow three groups of dragon boaters: all cancer paddlers (ACP); breast cancer paddlers (BCP) and Para Dragons (PD), those athletes who have some form of physical, psychological, neurological, sensory, developmental, physical or intellectual impairment.
The BCP committee represents 61 known breast cancer paddling teams across the US, 59 of which are IBCPC members. The committee is composed of breast cancer paddlers representing the four USDBF regions of the country. Betty Solley of Philadelphia, PA is BCP committee chair and the regional representatives are: Linda Dyer of Burlington, VT, Cheryl Lychwick of Fort Dodge, Iowa, JoAnn Moore of Sarasota, Florida and Annette Johnson of Portland, Oregon.
Our BCP committee is excited to begin work to improve communication among teams and collaborate with the other two committees to grow our sport in the US. You can see the new BCP webpage at https://www.usdbf.org/who-dragon-boats/breast-cancer-paddlers-bcp/
