2019.05.17
On April 28, the Ca' Foscari University of Venice's select team, which includes Erika Tanaka, a third-year student at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, won the 2000m Italian National Dragon Boat Championship held in Sabaudia, near Rome.
Since September 2018, Ms. Tanaka has been studying abroad at Ca' Foscari University of Venice in Italy as a Keio-dispatched exchange student and has been active in the dragon boat racing club as an extracurricular activity. In this competition, Ms. Tanaka participated as a paddler in both the standard division (20 people) and the piccolo division (10 people), winning both divisions and earning two championship titles.
Dragon boat is a sport that takes place on the sea, rivers, or lakes, with teams consisting of 10 to 20 paddlers and one steerer. Ms. Tanaka is currently preparing for the World Championships to be held in China in June. Taking pride in being one of the Keio students, she is training hard with her teammates as a member of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice representative team.
A Comment from Erika Tanaka
I am very happy that my teammates and I were able to represent Ca' Foscari University of Venice and win the 2000m Italian National Championship. This is a strong team that consistently competes for second or third place in world championships. As someone with no prior boating experience, whose main sport was soccer for 15 years since the age of five, I joined the dragon boat racing club last September with a spirit of challenge, excited to see how much I could improve.
The environment and culture were different from the US and Japan where I have lived before, but by proactively seeking advice and exchanging opinions with my Italian teammates and coaches, I was able to grow closer to everyone, learn more about Italian culture, and also share Japanese culture.
In the precious time I have left, I will do my best to work together with my teammates to win the World Championships.
Dragon Boat Italian Championship Results
Source: General Affairs Section, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office