John Heller, Post-Gazette Heading to the world championships of the International Dragon Boat Federation are "grand master" paddlers, from left: Steffi Danes, Lisa Kennard, Judy Lesniewicz and Jw Schoyer. Click photo for larger image.

As a young girl, Stefani Danes was never much of an athlete, and in fact spent much of her time avoiding the gym. She still remembers that humiliating day at Princeton University when, as a member of the first coed class, she tried out for the girls basketball team and was promptly shown the door.

"The coach said to me, 'You don't belong here,' " she said.

What a difference 34 years makes.

Today, Danes has made the cut after all -- but for a different kind of slam-dunk sport. She, along with three other Pittsburgh women, has qualified for the International Dragon Boat Federation's world championships in Berlin on Aug. 6 after paddling 500 meters -- about a third of a mile -- in under three minutes.

"I'm astounded," said Danes. "I feel terrific. Not only do I feel wonderful, I think it's such a privilege to have this opportunity when it was never a part of my life or my self-image at all."

Danes, 52, an architect who lives in Friendship, will be heading to the internationals with teammates Judy Lesniewicz, 61, of South Oakland and Lisa Kennard, 65, of Oakland, all of them members of the Pittsburgh Paddlefish dragon boat team, sponsored by the Three Rivers Rowing Association. The fourth Pittsburgher to qualify, Jw Schoyer, 52, of Forest Hills, is a member of the Steel City Dragons, based at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club marina.

The women will join 24 others from all over the country, many of them mothers and grandmothers, to compete in the newly created "Grand Masters" division for dragon boaters age 50 and over. Besides Pittsburgh, four other cities across the country are fielding women members for the Team USA Grand Masters: Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego and Portland, Ore.

"They're an inspiration," said Kit Ayars, captain of the Pittsburgh Paddlefish. "These 'grand masters' came of age before Title IX, and they're shattering any dated notions about what it means to be a strong woman. Like many of the paddlers on our local teams, these women have overcome personal challenges and health problems, some quite significant, and have become stronger through training and competing."

Kennard, who is on the research faculty at the University of Pittsburgh's department of epidemiology, described herself as "pretty athletic in high school, but not frantically so," playing on teams while in college but mainly sticking to an occasional tennis game, plus some aerobics and running.

But once a friend urged her to try dragon boating, Kennard was hooked.

"I was just overwhelmed to be on the river, you know? To think that there are so many in Pittsburgh who've never seen the city that way. It's such a shame."

Lesniewicz, a teacher at Martin Luther King Elementary School, noted that she had never done any team sports before taking up dragon boating, "just a lot of dancing, tai chi and yoga." But she's found that she loves "the team aspects of working out, paddling in perfect unison and doing it in a group, while meeting certain goals set by the coach."

Schoyer, a job trainer at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, has always been a fitness buff, enjoying biking and mountain climbing, but international competition is new to her.

Being over 50 doesn't bring with it any special problems, as long as she stretches beforehand, she noted.

The one common dragon boat ailment is sore "butt bones, you know, those bones that you sit on?" She laughed, adding that paddlers tend to develop "some tenderness back there and so many of our number sit on cushions or pads to paddle or wear padded shorts. After practicing hard in Philadelphia, my cohorts and I are sitting a little gingerly!"

Schoyer was amused to discover, at that recent training session in Philadelphia, that there is a bit of rivalry between devotees of the more established, traditional culture of rowing and the relatively new sport of dragon boat racing.

"It's not much of a problem here in Pittsburgh between rowers and paddlers, but in Philadelphia, it's like the Hatfields and the McCoys. I mean, they go out of their way not to go out of each other's ways, which results in creating as much havoc as possible."

Schoyer said that the Team USA coach is highly skilled at looking over a boat of two dozen people "and spotting what you're doing that isn't contributing to the team pull. We worked hard and pretty steadily," she said, although she said she expects some strong competition in Berlin.

"I did get a look at some of the German teams, and they look pretty impressive in the photos. But we could come in first, last or anywhere in between, and it's still going to be OK, because it's such a wonderful opportunity and experience."

Ben Ledewitz, the Paddlefish coach -- and Danes' son -- called the women's selection a defining moment for dragon boating in Pittsburgh, which has grown steadily since 2002, when the Urban Redevelopment Authority, with funding from various groups and individuals, purchased two $10,000 dragon boats for two different rowing clubs: Three Rivers and Steel City. The URA wanted to commemorate Pittsburgh's 20-year relationship with its sister city of Wuhan, China, where dragon boating originated centuries ago.

Despite being a city that boasts three rivers, getting the word out about dragon boat racing in Pittsburgh took some time. While it's a popular sport worldwide, and in North America has a major presence in such cities as Toronto and Philadelphia, fewer than 20 paddlers participated in the Pittsburgh Paddlers' first out-of-town race in May 2004 in Washington, D.C. A year later, though, more had joined, making it possible to rotate paddlers in different heats. Today, there are two full competitive teams plus several recreational teams.

Ultimately, Ledewitz says, the team hopes to compete not only in the mixed men/women division, but in separate men's, women's, master's and youth divisions.

"These four women may be the first from Pittsburgh, but they will not be the last," said Ledewitz, 23, a nationally ranked canoe-kayaker who has been coaching the team since 2003. "Every year and every month we're getting new members, and they're getting younger, and they're trying out for the premier national teams. This is just the beginning."

Ledewitz says the moment is especially sweet given the doubts by his older team members.

"For these women, it's a whole brand new thing. They're still nervous about it, that this is even something they can do. They're constantly asking themselves, 'How can I possibly compete at a national level with other people doing this stuff? What are my limits?'

"I just keep telling them, you have to do it. I don't care if you're nervous, you're going to do it."