Colleges and universities are a setting of growth, both in and out of the classroom.

To be fair, it’s highly unlikely that Chelmsford native Maya Brunet envisioned some of her largest learnings taking place on the water.

Studying Wildlife Biology and Conservation at the University of Guelph, Brunet and a few friends checked out the dragon boat team at their school, just as something fun to do, back in her first post-secondary year in 2022-2023.

This May, the only child with a sporting background but no prior experience in paddling was named to the Team Canada women’s 24U national team boat that will compete at the 17th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Brandenburg, Germany in July.

All this due to a confluence of events that the young woman who played houseleague hockey, some softball, a little roller derby (yes, in her early teens) and who was more than comfortable in a weight and fitness room could not have possibly foreseen.

“A bunch of the girls that paddled for Guelph were part of the club in Pickering – and they were also Team Canada members,” explained Brunet. “They got us more into it, invited us to paddle with their club and it kind of snowballed from there.”

Standing 5’6” and with no elite sporting history to speak of on her athletic resume, Brunet insisted that there is no magical pixie dust that transforms a junior paddler into an international competitor.

The formula is as common sense as it comes.

“My coach always says that you get out of this sport what you put into it,” stated the ultra-dedicated athlete who already has a diploma in Veterinarian Technology from Collège Boréal to lean upon. “Because I fell in love with dragon boating instantly, I put all of my times and energy into it.”

“I was putting so many hours into the boat, my technique built up pretty quickly after that.”

If there was an innate personal trait that flourished in the wonderful new world of paddling that unveiled itself to Brunet, it likely lie in that willingness to tackle new challenges, knowing there was a pretty good chance she would conquer that mountain in the end.

“My parents were always really open to me trying new things,” said Brunet. “I wasn’t super great at dragon boating when I started but I had done so many things, I knew that if I kept pushing, I would eventually get it.”

Truth be told, this graduate of Lockerby Composite School is just the latest in a notable line of Sudbury paddlers who have made their way to the world stage in the sport of dragon boating. And like those who came before, Brunet is quick to attest that excellence requires a razor-sharp focus on stroke details and an understanding that the majority of the training hours are not spent in a boat.

“For me, it was definitely the exit part of the stroke,” answered Brunet when asked about the single facet of her stroke that required the greatest attention. “That is probably the most technical part of your stroke. You’re going so fast through your stroke that sometimes your brain goes into auto-pilot and you don’t think about the fact that you have to exit in a very specific way to make this the smoothest transition possible.”

“Your exit is what slows down the boat in a race; that took me quite a bit to get the hang of.”

Like a handful of other campuses in Ontario, Guelph invites newbies to give dragon boating a try – early in the school year, which is pretty much the only time that initiative is practical. The pitch to stay involved is not necessarily the most compelling.

“Just stick it out for eight months and we can do this again,” said Brunet, with a laugh.

That is the reality, however, that university dragon boaters will face.

“Our off-season is pretty long, especially living in Canada,” stated Brunet. “It’s too cold much of the time to get on the water.”

For those who are smitten, gym sessions, pool paddling and time on the “perg” await (perg = a paddling ergometer, designed to mimic the paddling motion and resistance felt on the water).

“I did have a gym background, but it was mostly lower body, just because of the sports that I played,” said Brunet. “It took me a while to get in the gym and tweak my upper body strength.”

But as she had done many times before, the northern girl who finds her happy place in a dragon boat in the “engine”, typically seats six and seven as she explains, would put her head to the grindstone and persevere.

The plan is to continue her training, post-graduation from Guelph, looking to crack different levels of the national team. Given her three-year ascension to this point, do not count Maya Brunet out. Not by a longshot.