Corporate Teams Test the Waters

By Amber Hsiao | Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Kaiser Permanente San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival has seen an increase in the competition of employer-sponsored teams, particularly teams that represent major U.S. corporations. A large portion of the more than 100 teams in this year’s race has a corporate identity in their team name.

Kaiser Permanente has organized a San Francisco team, as well as a team in the East Bay. The San Francisco team—named the “Dragon Healers”—and East Bay team—“Oakland KP Dragons”—will be competing for the third year in a row.

Kathy Pollonais-Britt, a diversity trainer at the Geary Kaiser Permanente campus and captain of the Dragon Healers, explains the origins of Kaiser’s interest in the races. “One of our employees a couple of years ago was a paddler in Hong Kong, and he wanted to start a team here in the medical center. We thought one way we could get a team started was to get the organization to sponsor the event.”

Since then, there has been a steady increase in interest among Kaiser Permanente employees, building up to two crews in just a couple of years.

“This is right up my alley,” Pollonais-Britt said. “I’m very fascinated by the culture and what this has done for members of our team. We tried to instill in our team members the history of dragon boat racing. It wasn’t just about getting into a boat—there’s a whole cultural context and meaning for this.”

Starbucks teams have been part of the dragon boat community for over 12 years, with the first one formed in Seattle. District manager of Starbucks Silicon Valley Kyle Williams was pleasantly surprised by the response he got from his coworkers about participating in the races. “I read an article about [Starbucks’] dragon boat team in Seattle, and when I had heard that there was a chance to bring it to the Bay Area, I started asking people if there was any interest—and the response was amazing,” said Williams, who is captain of the local Starbucks team.

This will be the first Bay Area appearance of Team Starbucks, and they are looking forward to “the community, the camaraderie and spirit,” according to a Starbucks spokesperson.

Similarly, the Kaiser Permanente teams have found ways to further unite local employees, families and friends. For the Dragon Healers, naming the boat wasn’t just a matter of selecting a winning name (they had considered using “888” at one point), but also a name that was culturally appropriate.

“Our team has talked about bonding with our boat, and in naming our boat, we wanted a dragon,” Pollonais-Britt explained. “We all love the sport and are very much interested in its growth. It brings forth our organization’s message about diversity and a healthy lifestyle. They go hand in hand, and reaching out to the community is an important part of this.”

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Originally appeared in AsianWeek Newspaper, Sports section. See the original article.