Our Team & Coaches
Dragonheart Vermont fields competitive, recreational and breast cancer survivor crews every season, from paddlers picking up a paddle for the first time to national champions training for worlds. Behind all of them is a coaching staff that believes in one thing above everything else: never leave a paddler on the dock.
Our Coaching Team
The people who put you in the boat, keep you on course and make sure you get faster every season.
Brett Haug — Head Coach
Brett came to Dragonheart Vermont with 15 years of experience in personal training and strength and conditioning — and he's put every bit of it to work. Since 2019, the teams he coaches have added four U.S. National Championships, four bronze medals at nationals, two Eastern Regional Championships, and a silver medal at the Club Crew World Championships.
He's coached at the international Bow Wave Dragon Boat Camp in Florida and the Bow Wave Race Camp in Pickering, Ontario. He builds programming for every paddler in the organization — competitive racers, recreational members, brand-new beginners — and makes sure each one has a path to get better at this sport. If you've been to a Dragonheart Vermont practice, you've felt his influence. The training is specific, the drills are varied and the bar is high — but the door is always open.
Coaches & Steers for 2026
Brett doesn't do this alone. Dragonheart Vermont's coaching and steering team is 17 people deep — coaches who run practices from the water and steers who keep the boats on course:
Coaches
- Linda Dyer
- John Dyer
- Lisa Stanton
- Nikki Hayes
- Mandy Fox
- Christina Allard
- Liz Alton
- Silas Saxer
- Lynn Bryan
- Justine Zolotas
- Julia Harrison
- Neal Hayes
- Kristen Mongomery
Steer
- Jeff Doolittle
- Lynn Griswold
- John Burnett
- Ann-Marie Plank
How We Train on Lake Champlain
Dragonheart Vermont's coaching blends exercise science with the kind of creative, varied training that keeps paddlers showing up season after season. The philosophy is layered — building physical capability alongside the technical skills that make a dragon boat fast: timing, power transfer, recovery, and above all, the ability to move as one crew.
What makes the program work is that it scales. A first-year paddler and a ten-year veteran improve in the same boat on the same night. The coaching meets people where they are — whether that's preparing for a world championship or just wanting to get stronger and have a good evening on the lake.
Our Dragon Boat Teams on Lake Champlain
Sisters — Breast Cancer Paddler Team
The team that started everything. The Sisters are Dragonheart Vermont's breast cancer survivor crew — the direct successors of the group that borrowed a boat in 2004 and never looked back. They compete nationally and internationally in the BCS class and have brought home national championships and world medals. If you're a breast cancer survivor and you want to paddle, this is your team.
Catch 22 — Where Every Paddler Starts
New to Dragonheart Vermont? You start here. Catch 22 meets once a week to teach the fundamentals of dragon boat paddling — proper technique, timing, and the habits that prevent injuries and make the sport more fun. Everyone goes through Catch 22, even experienced athletes from other sports. It's not remedial — it's the foundation.
Competitive Crews
Dragonheart Vermont fields competitive teams across multiple age and gender classes. These crews train hard, race regionally and nationally, and regularly send teams to the Club Crew World Championships.
Dragonflyers — Premier Mixed crew. This is a highly competitive class.
Fire — Premier/Senior A women
Forty North — Senior A mixed men and women
Green Mountain Girls (GMG) — Senior B women
Green Mountain Men (GMM) — Men's crew, all ages
Comets — Senior C women
Quicksilver — Senior C mixed men and women
Senior D — Paddlers 70+.
Open and Recreational Crews
Green Mountain Dragons — Paddlers not competing in the 2026 season.
Youth Team
Youth — Mixed crew, under 24.
Understanding Dragon Boat Competition Classes
New to the sport? Here's a quick reference for how dragon boat racing is organized — and why our teams are structured the way they are.
Age classes:
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Premier (any age), But typically paddlers under 40
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Senior A (40+),
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Senior B (50+),
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Senior C (60+),
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Senior D (70+).
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Youth (18 and under)
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University (under 24)
Gender classes:
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Women's
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Men's (open)
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Mixed — generally split roughly evenly by gender.
Special designations:
Breast Cancer Paddlers (BCP), All Cancer Paddlers, (ACP) and Paradragons (athletes with physical, neurological, psychological, or developmental impairments)
Not every Dragonheart Vermont team follows federation classifications. Some crews — like Green Mountain Dragons and Catch 22 — are open to anyone. The club builds its team roster each season based on who shows up, what they want, and where they'll thrive.