Germany

Ladybugs – that’s one of the first pink paddler teams that
were formed in Germany. It was founded in 2011, supported by a nearby
hospital specialized on breast cancer treatment. Our name ‘Ladybugs’ is a
play of words. Ladybugs in German: that’s ‘Marienkäfer’ – and the hospital that
initiated our foundation is the Marienhospital Luenen, named after Virgin Mary.
With Luenen Lions, we found a great support team. They have experienced
trainers, who worked a lot to adapt the training to specific needs of breast
cancer survivors. We started having a joined training with them, which was a
great experience, but sometimes really challenging for some of us. In 2016,
we welcomed our own five bench dragon boat. So we have the chance to
do our own training – always supported by the Lions. It was definitely an
exciting and emotional moment when our own boat was baptised with a flower ceremony in July 2016.
Ladybugs is just a small team, not having enough paddlers to fill a 10 bench boat. But from the first announcements, we all knew we wanted to be
part of the Florence Festival as a team. To make this happen, we found pink paddlers all over Germany who will join us and support our paddlers. Thank
you to Pink Paddling Team Tübingen, FSH Drachen Emden, and Team Phönika Kassel to be part of the Ladybugs in Florence.