The Woodstock High School dragon boat team gears up for one of the largest youth festivals with 41 teams across the province attending.  

Thirty-four high school and community paddlers will compete in The Greater Moncton Dragon Boat Festival on May 31st.  

Woodstock High School launched its inaugural dragon boat team in late September. What was once a small group of students has since expanded into a large crew. During September, the group went to St. Andrews for their debut event.  

The dragon boat team resumed activities in early May following a hiatus throughout the winter seasons. 

To ensure that sure everyone is capable of swimming, there is a basic swim test that you must pass before being able to join the team.  

There are no limitations for who can join the team, contrary to other sports. “We encourage anyone to join. It is an inclusive sport which is the reason I like it.” Mrs. Porter, one of the teams’ coaches, said. There are now three coaches for the dragon boat team: Ms. Acott, Mrs. Porter, and Mr. O'Leary. 

The team has been preparing for the Greater Moncton Dragon Boat Festival by spending time in the pool and understanding what it's like to paddle against the resistance of the water. Along with learning new commands and strokes, the team is also practicing techniques they might have to use during competition. 

The objective of their training is to improve their endurance and core strength while educating them the safetyprecautions that come with being on open water. 

The team will be venturing outside in the coming weeks to start paddling the St. John River in its two-forty-foot-long boats: This Is How We Row, and In Deep Ship. The boats can accommodate twenty paddlers, including a drummer at the front and a steersperson at the back. 

After Moncton, the dragon boat team will have a few more spots available and will be accepting new members, just in time for their next competition.  

The town of Woodstock is planning to hold a dragon boat competition called "July 1st Floats."  

Students from the community and the high school have been putting in effort to arrange fundraisers for various organizations while creating a dragon boat team.  

The team consists of current WHS students and members of the nonprofit dragon boat team, Woodstock Paddling Club.  A Toll Road fundraiser was recently held by the group since then. The team raised money from fundraising on May 18th. Forty percent of the proceeds were used to help support the school with prom expenses of the graduating class, with the remaining sixty percent going to the Lion's Sick Children's Fund in Moncton.

On May 31, 2024, Woodstock High School’s rugby team went to Sussex Regional High School to play for their tournament.  

The Team left at 12 pm for their long drive to Sussex. On the long drive to Sussex they stopped once for food about halfway there. The team got to Sussex at around 4 with the 1st game starting at 4:20, they put on their uniforms for the tournament. They started warming up for their first game which was game 2. With only 11 players they were the smallest team, and they were the John. They ended up losing but they didn’t hold a grudge because they knew it was their first game.   

After Woodstock’s game, Sussex played Rothsay and Sussex won making that their 2nd win for the tournament  

 For Woodstock’s 2nd game They played Mathieu Martain. Woodstock tried their best, but they ended up losing their 2nd game as well. Playing their 2nd and 3rd game back-to-back Woodstock was tired and beaten. For Woodstock’s 3rd they played Rothsay again and ended up losing. 

As they played their 4th, game they played Sussex and after a very long tournament they lost making it their final game. 

Even though they lost this tournament, they had a good time and are excited about the prospect of playing rugby next season.