Please note: This article is as of 2019!
By Claudio Schermi and Antonio De Lucia.
Claudio & Antonio:
Two Pioneers in the Long Journey of Dragon Boat in Italy
Nine crews competed at the 1st Italian National Championships in Rome on October 23rd, 1988, at the Lake of EUR. Two years prior, in 1986, the Reale Circolo Canottieri Tevere Remo, one of the ancient rowing clubs in Rome, founded in 1872, and the Canottieri Roma received the first two dragon boats from the Hong Kong Tourist Association. The Assodragon, the first Italian national association, was founded in 1987 and Massimo Guerrieri was elected President. The Assodragon was launched in 1988, the lunar year of the Dragon, by Professor Sergio Orsi (President of the Italian Canoe Federation), President of the International Canoe Federation, and Stuart Webb-Johnson (representative of Hong Kong at the European Union).
Professor Sergio Orsi was always a supporter of dragon boat as an independent sport and he encouraged Mike Haslam to found an independent international federation for positive cooperation between canoe and dragon boat. Italy was one of the founding members of the EDBF on May 5th, 1990 and also one of the founding members of the IDBF in 1991.
Enrico Tonali, one of the pillars in the development of the discipline, choose the lake of EUR for the Italian Championships at the end of the Canoe/Kayak and Rowing season in 1988, after the Olympic Games took place in Seoul.
The race was just one Open class, in the traditional distance in Hong Kong: 700 yards, or 640 meters.
Claudio Schermi and Antonio De Lucia organized a dream team for Mariner Canoa Club (today Canottieri EUR) with: Francesco La Macchia, canoeist silver medalist at the 1960 Olympic Games; Klaus Dibiasi, the legend of diving, 3-time gold medalist and 2-time silver medalist in 4 different Olympic Games (Tokyo, Mexico City, Munich and Montreal); Antonio Mastrandrea, finalist in kayak in Moscow 1980; Paolo Luschi, 5th in kayak in Barcelona 1992; and Daniele Scarpa, just back from the finals in Seoul 1988 and future gold medalist in Atlanta 1996. The drummer was Giovanni Greco, former Vice President of the Italian Canoe Kayak Federation and team leader of the Italian Team in Atlanta 1984. They wanted to paddle for gold! They got the best times in their heats, but at the end of the day, they were second to a club from the Tiber River in Rome, the Tirrenia Todaro, lead by Marcello Tilli. With a difference of only thirty hundredths of a second (2’37”06 against 2’37”36), bronze was taken by the Reale Circolo Canottieri Tevere Remo.
“We couldn’t believe it; I still remember how hard it was,” Claudio says. “We were twenty individuals paddling alone, ignoring the idea of teamwork. At the end I thought, ‘what sport is this? Never again!’ ” But never say never; Massimo Guerrieri invited Claudio Schermi to stand as Executive Committee Member and because the fire and excitement of the very first years of dragon boat in Italy had ended, the Assodragon would not be able to field a team at the 1st IDBF World Championships in Yue Yang. No money, no team! Claudio called in Antonio De Lucia as National Chief Coach. Antonio was his friend and coach since the early 70’s, when he was a kayaker. During his career, Antonio was also the Coach of the Women’s Olympic Kayak Team and the Junior and Under-23 National Teams.
After a mere four months, the team for the 1st IDBF World Championships was ready. They traveled to Yue Yang with Claudio Schermi as Team Leader, Antonio De Lucia as National Chief Coach, and Fabio Masi as IDBF Race Official.
Back in Italy after the championships, Massimo Guerrieri resigned and Renzo Matteucci, one of the original founders of the Assodragon, was elected the new Assodragon President. Claudio was then elected Vice President.
Matteucci was a superb sportsman and a great artist; his dragon boat paintings are in his wife’s collection.
At the 1st European Nations Championships in Silkeborg, Germany, the Italian team won the 1st Italian gold medal ever in the Premier Mixed 250m race, and silver in the Premier Open 250m and 500m races.
Unfortunately, Renzo Matteucci died, and Claudio took the position of acting president. Coming back from a very tough meeting in Florence, Claudio and Antonio stopped for dinner in a traditional restaurant in Monte San Savino in Tuscany. During the dinner, Claudio was very upset with the difficulties of opening a new deal for Italian dragon boat. Antonio said, “Claudio, let’s found a new Italian Federation!” Claudio replied, “Yes, we can do it!”
On the 10th May 2007, fourteen clubs joined together and founded the Federazione Italiana Dragon Boat (FIDB).
The first 2 signatures of the Constitution Act and the Statutes were signed by Claudio Schermi and Antonio De Lucia. Claudio was elected President and Antonio Vice President. The first decision was to name the FIDB National Club Cup of the Year the “Renzo Matteucci Cup,” which has continued to this day.
The IDBF Congress in Hong Kong accepted the membership of the new Italian Federation as the official governing body for Italy, as it represented the large majority of the Italian paddlers.
Since then, Italy has attended most EDBF European and IDBF World Championships.
The first challenge for Claudio and Antonio was the EDBF European Nations Championships in September 1998 in Rome. It was a fantastic experience that shaped both Claudio and Antonio to have a more international mindset.
“I remember the first international experience in Rome 1998 very well,” says Claudio. “It was great fun for everybody! They were great races, but we put a lot of effort towards the hospitality and the scenario, but we were never on time; we were either late in the morning or between races. That was our drama and weakness at the same time”.
In 1998, after the European Championships in Rome, Claudio was elected EDBF Vice President.
In 2002, the 3rd IDBF Club Crew World Championships in Rome was to occur, which was the greatest event ever at that time: fifty-five club crews, hailing from eighteen nations.
At the Championships, Orlanda Cappelli was the 1st Italian Breast Cancer Paddlers, and with the support of Claudio and Antonio, she was the Founder of the first Italian BCS Club and the pioneer of the Italian pink dragon boat movement.
In 2003 it was the time of Auronzo di Cadore for the EDBF European Club Crews Championships.
In 2005, there was a division in the Italian dragon boat movement when the Italian Canoe Kayak Federation (FICK) organized their own team for the World Games. The interference of FICK was neither beneficial for the sport nor for the paddlers; Italy, always running for medals, faced many difficulties putting together a strong team.
In 2005, Claudio was elected IDBF Vice President.
In 2008 there was another great event in Italy, the European Nations Championships in Sabaudia and then in 2014 it was the time for Ravenna, the World Club Crews Championships with twenty-five nations, 135 crews and 5400 paddlers.
Photos of Sabaudia: (by Henning Wiekhorst)
In 2016 after the European Nations Championships in Rome, Claudio left the presidency of the FIDB and Antonio was elected new President. Claudio had the new position within the Canoe Kayak Federation of Chair Holder of the Sport for All Commission and his first action was to step back to Sergio Orsi’s original vision in the mid-80s.
Claudio gave full autonomy back to the Federazione Italiana Dragon Boat, and he reunified the Dragon Boat Community of Italy, under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in March 2017 by the newly-elected President Antonio De Lucia and the President of the Federazione Italiana Canoa Kayak Luciano Buonfiglio. Claudio was also invited by Antonio and Luciano to sign this historical document. The FIDB was, from then on, fully in charge of governing dragon boat in Italy in cooperation with the Canoe Kayak Federation. After twelve years, the war had finally ended.
Claudio was then elected in Divonne-des-Baines, France as the President of the European Dragon Boat Federation and Antonio as the Chair Holder of the Medical Commission.
Antonio, the new FIDB President, led the newly-unified National Team to France in 2017 for the IDBF Junior World Championships for a new generation of paddlers, starting in 2016 at European Nations Championship in Rome. In France, the Italian Junior Team won four gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
At the EDBF European Nations Championships in Brandenburg, Germany in 2018, the Italian team won forty-one medals: six gold, eighteen silver, and seventeen bronze. The Italian team came back to gold also in the Premier Class after Silkeborg 1996 and Malmoe 2000. The Italian Junior Crew won the gold medal in the small boat open 200, 500 and 2000.
Photos of Brandenburg: (by Henning Wiekhorst)
On the 18th January 2019 Antonio organized the “Salone d’Onore,” the Honour Hall of the Italian Olympic Committee the prize giving ceremony of the year. As special guests Claudio, EDBF President, Luciano Buonfiglio FICK President and Franco Chimenti Vice President of the Italian Olympic Committee.
Antonio recounts that: “It was an extraordinary event, and for the first time, we have been accepted into the house of Italian sport: the site of the National Olympic Committee. Our next challenge this year is to go the IDBF World Nations Championships in Pattaya, Thailand with a team of younger athletes in the Premier and Under-24 classes. We also want to came back competitively in the standard boat class as soon as possible. United it is better! This is the lesson of our sport and we paid in Italy the cost of the division of the sport between canoe and dragon boat. Today, however, athletes of the Italian dragon boat community paddle together for our colours and our flag.”
Contact the Italian Dragon Boat Federation FIDB
