Coach Trish Ostlund
In the spring of 2001, the Robusters had just begun their first training season, paddling tandem canoes from a member’s beach at Christina Lake. Few of the team members had any paddling experience and while the group was enthusiastic, no one knew what was needed to become a dragon boat team. We had a volunteer coach, whose expertise was in canoeing and a manager who had some dragon boating experience, but pulling together the team of neophytes was proving a daunting task. One day, while these two individuals were having coffee in a Rossland shop, they were approached by a young woman who had overheard them talking about the team. She expressed interest in what they were doing and offered to help. As it turned out, the universe had delivered exactly the person the Robusters needed – a former member of the False Creek Women, a team that had been world champions during the nineties. Trish Ostlund became our coach, and for ten years she has worked tirelessly to transform each year’s mixture of experienced and beginner paddlers into a coherent force, ready to take on the world. She has consistently provided the motivation and training that has taken the team beyond what any of us could have expected. Trish helps us become the best we can be.Winter training: Robusters in each community develop their own winter training program, including workouts at the gym, use of an ergonometer (a machine that simulates the dragon boating stroke), snowshoeing, cardio classes (Zumba is a favourite) and other activities. Our coach has designed a progressive set of strength exercises to maintain and build fitness during the off season. Contact a Robuster in your community to join us for any or all of these sessions. Summer Training: Training takes place from Kay's place at Christina Lake. Please arrive 15 minutes early for our warm-up. Dates: With the exception of any changes, which will be noted below, the following are our training times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6pm | 
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