Ford Games I
n the sport of dragon-boat racing, 20 team members paddle in sync in a long boat, racing to the finish line against other vessels. It’s an inclusive sport; people of all sizes can compete. It’s also a test of teamwork, communication, and athleticism, and gives its competitors a sense of camaraderie. All that is what drew Thien Le ’05, P’24 to the sport back in 2011, when she was working for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong. She was raising two kids (one of whom was born while she was working toward her Haverford degree), and she wanted to find something that would help her get in shape and expand her network while living overseas. Happily, she discovered Morgan Stanley had a dragon boat team there. She immediately fell in love with the sport, and when she returned to the United States years later, she started a team with Morgan Stanley in New York in 2015 that competed in a corporate league against other companies and club teams. Le, a vice president and financial advisor in wealth management, is now the captain of the crew—called the Sea Warriors—that won the corporate league title in 2019, and as the 2021 winner of Haverford’s William E. Sheppard Award for services in alumni activities will explain, the sport for her goes beyond paddling and the synergy it takes to win races. There’s also a family connection that Le feels so much closer to now that she’s involved in dragon boating.
In the Race Thien Le ’05 raises money for charity and continues a family legacy as the captain of a dragon boat. BY CHARLES CURTIS ‘04
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Haverford Magazine
is: How much do you weigh? You have to balance the boat, and we want to make sure we match you with a partner to do just that. There are 20 paddlers on a dragon boat. The front group is called the pacers setting the pace for the rest of the team to follow, and they’re usually lighter in weight. The middle is the heavier paddlers known as “the engine.” They would typically not be sitting in front or back positions, otherwise the boat would tip forward or backward. It’s easy to tip a carbon fiber boat that’s really narrow. There’s also a drummer who makes the calls and keeps everyone in sync and someone who steers in back. The back and the front of the boat also need to be balanced in weight. I’m the captain and drummer of the Morgan Stanley
PHOTOS: HOLDEN BLANCO ‘17
The sport is all about balance and working together. When you join a team, the first question
