Bio

Sportmanship

Team Spirit

Respect

Tenacity

Our Mission

Our mission is to cultivate a team environment that is conductive to each member's discovery of his or her own personal best. Besides having fun, making friends, exercising our butts off, and working together to beat the living daylights out of the competition while promoting the international sport of dragon boating, we are here to develop at our highest levels.

Puff is a community of individuals with a common goal: to better ourselves as athletes while contributing to team unity and excellence. We do so by adhering to the following values:

SportSmanship

We compete to win, but in the process, we play fair and display courtesy.

Team Spirit

We give 110%. We are only as strong as our weakest link. We paddle together - in sync and as a team - and in return we learn that together, we are more than the sum of our individual strengths.

Respect

We appreciate and maintain high regard for one another. The pacers, the engine room, the rockets, the drummer, the steersman, the captain, the coach ... everyone counts; everyone matters.

Tenacity

As buoyant as our boat, we recover quickly from our "off" practices and races and continue focusing on future wins. We brave the rough currents, wind, and rain and even brave the power boaters and jet skiers, for nothing will stop us from training our bodies and our minds (except lightning, of course!).

Who we are?

We come from all walks of life, all ages, and all backgrounds. We are made up of different shapes and sizes, and we all have distinct personalities. Some of us have been paddling for years, and some of us are relative newbies. Even so, we treat each other as equals and celebrate our unique strengths. Currently we have 60 members, 8 of them representing Puff internationally as US Team members!

Captain and Coaches

Captain AND HEAD COACH: Marc Applewhite

Coach

Executive Committee Member

President

Race Committee Head

Research Committee Member

Best Abs 2006

Most Valuable Puffer 2009

Best Body Male 2010

Most Valuable Puffer 2011

Best Recruiter 2012

Most Valuable Puffer 2013

Team USA Paddler 2009

Team USA Paddler 2011

Team USA Paddler 2013

Team USA Paddler 2015

Coaches: AIXA - HELENA - John

Board of Directors & Cabinet

Executive Committee: stana jergova, OLGA WERNER, mariann szucs, John Sheehan, Marc Applewhite

Treasurer: MARK APPLEWHITE

Secretary: stana jergova

HEAD OF Committees AND FUNCTIONS

Executive: Aixa Ramos - John SheeHan - marC applewhite (PRESIDENT)

Meet to debate team issues and provide overall direction to the team. Executive Committee members are expected to contribute extra time as needed to resolve critical issues for the team. Regular meetings should be planned to prepare for monthly team meetings and otherwise as needed.
Consult committee heads, captain, coach, and any other members as needed to guide their decisions.

Equipment: peter l sutphen

Review team equipment requirements
Research equipment options, prices, and sources
Make purchases on behalf of the entire team or individuals
Coordinate with the treasurer to recover costs or collect money up front for team-funded purchases
Coordinate with other team members for uniform designs and purchases

Fundraising: Stana jergova

Determine fundraising goals and comes up with a plan involving team participation to reach such goals. Examples would be carwashes, EBay sales, parties or other events involving members, family or friends in which a cover charge may be involved for the purpose of raising funds.
Compose a fundraising package for the purpose of meeting with and presenting options to potential sponsors in an ongoing effort to expand our base of corporate support.
Organize meetings with other committee members so that new ideas on fundraising can be shared, put into a plan and into working action.
Send out invoices to sponsors who are on a month-to-month pay program as well as continued follow up with sponsors to maintain a constant open line of communication. Examples will be sending race results, photos, thank you letters or emails to sponsor representative.
Make sure that all agreements with sponsors are carried out to the full extent of the terms in the sponsorship agreement. Examples are displaying banners, posters, signs or other advertisement materials at all race locations or otherwise agreed upon. It is also important to be sure that materials are available for display prior to an event. If such materials are not available then it must be arranged to have said materials available prior to event or time to have items displayed.

Marketing: Aixa Ramos

Determine overall strategy for use of Website and any other digital media to best meet the needs of the team.
Update Website to add new features, update current information, etc.
Interact with team members as needed to acquire profile information.
Important changes such as overall appearance of the site, mission statement, etc., are submitted to the Executive Committee for review before being published.
Keep all platforms updated
Printed materials

Membership: Aixa Ramos

While recruiting new members should be everyone’s goal, this committee goes further by seeking out the most effective means of finding and retaining good paddlers, and providing tools and guidelines for the entire team to do so.
Maintain Meetup.com site for the team.
Organize participation in effective recruiting events, such as obtaining a booth at local Chinese New Year festivals, etc.

Race: Marc Applewhite

Research racing options and guide the team in selecting races for the coming year.
Share responsibility with the captain and coach to complete race registration and related paperwork, including payment. It is important that both parties be involved in this process and maintain communication, as both parties may be in contact with the organizers.
Coordinate travel and lodging for out-of-town races.
Responsible for race-day food. Shopping may be delegated to other team members for various reasons, but ultimately it is the race committee’s responsibility to ensure that it gets done. A basic shopping list can be obtained from seasoned race-food shoppers.

Social: Jean hester

Take a leadership role in the organization of social events for the team. This may include house parties, dinners, festivals, cross-training events, etc.
Serves as the primary social liaison with other teams and organizations.

Race Results

March 11th 2023 super Synergy

1st Place - Mixed

February 4th 2023 NBP Classic

1st Place - Premier Open
2nd Place Premier Women
2nd Place Senior A Mixed

January 21st 2023 synergy series

1st Place - Elite Women
1st Place Elite Men
1st Place Elite Mixed
1st. Place Senior Mixed

2016 Synergy Series Dragon Boat Racing Festival

1st. Place - Mixed
1st. Place - Open
1st. Place Women's (Amazing)
3rd. Place Women's (Awesome)

2016 Long Beach (Tarpons)

1st. Place - Masters
3rd. Place - Mixed
1st. Place Women's (with PDBA)
1st. Place - Open (with PDBA)

2016 Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Series Races

1st. Place - Open (Tarpons)
3rd. Place - Mixed

2016 Synergy Series Dragon boat Racing Festival

1st. Place - Mixed
1st. Place - Men's
1st. Place Women's (Amazing)
3rd. Place Women's (Awesome)

Practice Schedule

Tuesday 6:00pm
Thursday 6:15pm
Saturday 9:30am
Sunday 8:00am
Meetup/Beginner either Saturday or Sunday after 1st practice, usually Sunday.
Times are subject to change due to other events, mainly weekends
Start time is launch time; be there at least 15 minutes prior to warm up on your own, and be part of getting the boat ready and in the water.