US doctor is a master of dragons
Doctor Robert McNamara is in charge of emergency medicine at the distinguished Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia.
He is also head of the city’s dragon boat racing team, which was competing in last week’s international championships in China.
The doctor has participated in the ancient Chinese sport since the 1980s, and credits it with helping him get through medical school. Since 1986, he has served as head coach of the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association, whose 60 to 70 members practice weekly on the Schuylkill River.
McNamara is leading the team at the 13th Internation- al Dragon Boat Federation World Nations Championships in Kunming, Yunnan province.
The races were contested on Dianchi Lake, in the city’s Xishan district, from Wednesday to Sunday.
In addition to teams from the United States, the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, there were teams from Australia, Britain, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Guam, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Myanmar, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and Ukraine.
McNamara first boarded a dragon boat in 1984, when he saw a chance to represent the US in the international races in Hong Kong, which he learned about through a newspaper advertisement.
He was a resident at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia at the time, according to the Temple News, the university’s newspaper.
He has led the team in major competitions including the world championships, which began in 1995. The team won gold in the 500 meters at the 1997 championships in Hong Kong, and has captured 23 gold medals overall at the annual event.
“(It’s) seeing other people get better, become world champions,” McNamara said of the satisfaction he gets from the sport. “(They) go from people who never paddled anything (to) world champions. It’s kind of cool. We try to focus on the longer events because the strength of our team is a little more aerobic.
“Basically you teach (the team) the technique, and then whoever works the hardest wins, which is kind of like the way the world is supposed to be,” the doctor told the newspaper.
McNamara’s daughter Colleen has been involved in dragon boating since 2003, when she was 13 years old. Now 27, she has been in more championship competitions than any other female US dragon boat paddler and is the Philadelphia club’s women’s team coach.
“I think he’s really direct and transparent and, you know, I’ve been cut (from races) before and I’m his daughter,” she said of her father.
Dragon boating has been good to the doctor. “I believe my rowing experience in college helped me get into medical school by necessitating a disciplined approach to studying and schoolwork, given the time commitment of rowing,” he said. “I still feel indebted to my coaches, and this is a way of giving back.”
Contact the writer at williamhennelly@ chinadailyusa.com