DBNSW Board

The DBNSW Board is a team of sports leaders who work continuously to improve all aspects of the sport.

Chair - Kathy Cummings

Kathy presently serves as the President of the Deepwater Dragon Boat Club on the Central Coast. She is passionate about the Dragon Boating community as a whole, having witnessed its positive impact on all those who participate in the sport over the years. Kathy first came across the sport in 2011. From her very first session, she was instantly convinced that it offered what she was looking for at the time: an opportunity to be active on the water within a Club/Community setting.

Shortly after becoming a member of the Club, Kathy accepted the position of Publicity Officer, a role she continues to assist with to this day. In 2013, Kathy was nominated for the role of President, since then the Club has seen significant growth and development. Kathy's contributions to the Sport also include two years on the DBNSW Advisory Group and three years as the NR1 Sweep Coordinator. Additionally, Kathy regularly volunteers recognising and appreciating the invaluable contributions made by all volunteers and officials and how their essential roles ensure the success of our events and the future of our sport.

Kathy is a L3 Accredited Coach, L5 Sweep and L1 Official. As a Chair of the Board, she wants to continue the vision of those before her, building on growth and development from community sport, and active recreation for all and to our high performance, including but not limited to providing high-standard events for all our dragon boat community including the successful pathway events of Region vs Region, State Championships to AusChamps and beyond for our Junior, U24, Premier and Senior Divisions.

Currently working as the Sales Operations Manager for an engineering firm on the Central Coast, with strong management and operational skills, her understanding of the importance of strong relationships and collaboration and her experience as a Director with Sports Central Coast will provide good foundations in achieving the vision.

Kathy feels we have no boundaries just so many opportunities as a Sport, our inclusiveness, diversity and the strength that we have between Regions, Clubs and members, the camaraderie between all put us in a prime position for growth and an energised dragon boat community engagement. Kathy also has a passion for mental health awareness, with studies in Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol and Suicide Intervention.
Kathy also has a passion for mental health awareness, with studies in Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol and Suicide Intervention and sees the important role that sports can play.

Director - Belinda Fowler

Belinda’s first introduction to Dragon Boating came in 2017 when she joined the Kempsey Macleay Dragon Boat Club – otherwise known as the River Rats!  She had watched the Rats for a couple of years often thinking it would be fun but couldn’t pluck up the courage to have a go until the family took on a French exchange student, so with the cover story of wanting to show the student the beautiful sites of the Macleay, she had her chance.  Ever since that first time on the water Belinda has been passionate about the sport and has sought to experience and learn as much as possible.

Belinda is an experienced events manager having coordinated many large-scale events and festivals in the Mid North Coast Region, which now includes regattas for her own Club, but that’s just for fun.  Belinda has a strong background in finance and compliance, working for many years as an Assistant Auditor in a regional practice specialising in working with Not-for-profits, Belinda is also qualified with the Australian Institute of Governance and holds a Certificate in Governance for-not-profit, and has served on several not-for-profit boards over the years.  For the past 18 years Belinda has been the Business Manager in a special assistance Independent School, the Macleay Vocational College.  Working closely with the Board and Principal, and with a staffing of 76, she works to ensure all areas of compliance are maintained at all levels; Local, State and Federal.  Belinda is also responsible for the overall financial management of the organisation, budgeting, strategic planning, facilities, HR, Grant application and management.  She is very passionate and 100% dedicated to her work and to her community.

Belinda has been co-coordinator of DBNSW Northern Region for the last two years and is really keen to give more to the sport and help in its development and growth, with a particular focus on widening its exposure and expanding the participant demographic.  As a person who is passionate, perhaps a little obsessive, about dragon boating, she is hopeful that the energy and passion she feels for the sport will be infectious and that her broad range of skills will be useful in helping Clubs and DBNSW grow the sport, empowering its profile and making it a sport of choice for everyone!

Director - Cassandra Ballebye

Cassandra has been an enthusiastic and avid paddler since the 2017 Lunar New Year Corporate Races, where she was immediately impressed with the camaraderie of the whole dragon boat community. Since then, she has been a member of the NSW State Crew and has represented the Pacific Dragons at many DBNSW regattas and Auschamps.

Cassandra is currently the coordinator for the Greater Sydney and Bank St Region and has been an active member of the PDs’ Committee. As the Macquarie Group Dragon Boat team manager, she is also dedicated to the promotion of the sport through corporate channels.

With an extensive and varied professional career spanning over 20 years, Cassandra has experience in delivering strategy and people enablement, transformation, and operations and business management. Her background as a Chartered Accountant and qualified Project Manager (Prince2) enables her to solve problems in a structured and risk-assessed way.

Cassandra’s commercial background and experience place her well to continue to push the growth trajectory of the sport, elevating awareness and ensuring it is relevant and enjoyable for everyone.

Director - Gillian McCallum

Gillian has been paddling since 2017, representing the Southern Region in 3 consecutive National Championships and Auroras Senior B in 2019.

Gill has been the President of Merimbula Water Dragons for the past 4 years and has grown the club from a low of 14 members to a current high of 52 members. With a loss of key members due to ill health and Covid the club was left with no coaches and minimal Sweeps.

During COVID, Gillian became a Level 1 Coach and Level 1 Race Official and as the race season began again achieved Level 3 Sweep.  Gill has now attained the Level 2 Coach accreditation and has acted as Assistant Coach for Southern Region on 2 occasions.

As a Coach and President of a ‘Masters’ team Gill has focused on creating an inclusive, friendly club that allows everyone to participate no matter their skill level.  Regional clubs face difficulties when trying to race and rely heavily on WARATAH teams to participate. 

Gill is a member of the Regional Committee and works with all southern regional clubs with racing opportunities and the development of Coaches and sweeps.

After many years of managing a large Shared Services division for a large engineering company and a retail communications business, Gill has retired and spends most of her time either paddling or thinking about paddling.  Gills skills in developing, working with small teams, and mentoring staff (paddlers) have helped a small dragon boat club to flourish.

Director - Felix Hamilton

Felix started dragon boating with the Dragon Sports Association (DSA) in late 2018. As a paddler, Felix enjoys racing with her team as well as endeavours new waters with a competitive streak., She represented the Metro Region squad in two consecutive years 20/21 and 21/22 seasons, and NSW State Team (Premier) in the 21/22 season.

Felix has been leading DSA, as Recruitment Director and currently as DSA President, efficiently and respectfully with a focus on member development (strength and well-being), strengthening the DSA branding, and relationship with the wider dragon boat community. She loves the friendship and comradery fostered through the years, both on and off the water. She hopes to empower the younger generation of the sport by engaging more youth (U24) to join in with a buddy/parent and collaborating more with schools and universities.

Professionally, Felix is head of research and evaluation at the NSW State Government agency. She will bring her strategic management and evaluation skillset from her day job to support data-driven and evidence-based decision making.

Director - Simon Lunn

While living in Hong Kong from 2010 to 2013, Simon participated annually in the Corporate Dragon Festival, where he fell in love with this amazing sport.

Since moving to Australia in 2010, Simon has become a recognised leader in the sport, actively contributing to the NSW Dragon Boat community. He is the current Captain of the Bank Street Region, Captain of NSW Senior A and recently represented Australia in the World Championships in Thailand as a Senior A Aurora, winning 5 bronze medals.

Paddling out of Bank Street with The Sloths, Simon also manages the Woolworths Corporate Dragon Boat team, which won the inaugural Corporate Tribe competition in ‘22 and recently won the Minor Championship Trophy at LNY ‘23.

Simon has over 20 years of leadership experience across a variety of roles in a professional, corporate environment. His understanding of commercial delivery, business development and financial planning will support the board in building a compelling strategy and clear goals for the future. Simon’s focus is on supporting our members to get the most out of the sport, whilst developing new membership pathways to ensure we have a sustainable business model for the future.