But it was that one volunteer effort that introduced her to the sport of dragon boat racing. She was hooked. Now, some 30 years or more later, Michaels is one of the latest inductees into the International Dragon Boat Hall of Fame.

Michaels collected the honor during the International Drag Boat Festival and World Championship Races in Brandenburg, Germany, this past summer.

“It was a very humbling experience, to think about the fact that you’re being recognized from amongst people from all over the world for your contribution to a sport,” Michaels said. “It’s a little overwhelming.”

Her Hall of Fame membership was awarded in the Sport Development Category, Michaels said.

“There are different categories; athlete, coach, sport development,” Michaels added. “We shape dragon boating within the federation and internationally. I’ve been involved almost since the beginning of the Dragon Boat Federation about 30 years ago.”

She was among six honorees inducted into the Hall of Fame during the festival in July; all but one representative from China were on hand for the presentation.

Looking back, it’s hard to imagine that helping clean a river could lead to a new passion. But, once in, Michaels tends to give her all to any endeavor.

“We had a festival in Fort Dodge for dragon boats, and then I got involved at the regional level, and I was asked to be involved on the U.S. level,” Michaels said.

She is not the kind of person to hesitate or say no to an opportunity.

“I have a lot of experience in non-profit organizations, that was my background, and so I got involved in board policy, board structure, committee structure with the United States Dragon Boat Federation,” Michaels said.

While she continues to compete as an athlete at the local level, it’s her work, often behind the scenes, at the upper levels of the sport that earned her the nomination and subsequent entrance into the Hall of Fame.

As noted in her Hall of Fame documentation, “She is currently serving as president of the American Dragon Boat Federation (ADBA) the Midwest region governing body of the sport in the United States. She has served on the ADBA board since 1999 and is completing her third term as president of the board of directors.”

Michaels was cited for her work on the group’s High Performance Committee and drafting the original charter for the coach selection process, among many other accomplishments at both the national and international level.

The sport is one that continues to grow, as seen by the fact that an extra day was added to the world championship races in Germany this year to allow time for all of the teams to compete.

“It’s just amazing to watch our sport grow,” Michaels said. “This was our largest championship ever, with over 7,000 athletes competing.”

During the week-long festival she served on the Protocol Committee helping to oversee medal presentations to the winners. It was a place she loved to be.

“It’s always great to be when you’re presenting medals to athletes,” Michaels said. “It was a wonderful experience.”

Dragon boating, according to Michaels, offers a spirit of cooperation and teamwork unique to the sport.

“It’s a whole different level of camaraderie involved when you’re on a team,” she said. “The success of the team is based on working together, having similar timing, all working together and having a common goal. It’s like having a whole other family.”

True to that spirit of cooperative effort, Michaels recognized those she has worked with in all these years as helping her earn her place in the Hall of Fame.

“When I was recognized, I said I was accepting the award, not just for me, but for all of the committee I work with in developing the sport here in the United States and internationally. It’s not just me, it’s all of us working together to advance the sport,” Michaels said.

She brings that same spirit of camaraderie with her in helping to promote the sport on every level of participation. But she could not have imagined on that long-ago day helping clean the river with her fellow Rotarians that it would lead to a whole new adventure in her own life.

Michaels simply followed the next step, and the next step, and found a passion within for a sport that few had even heard of in central Iowa at the time.

“For me, it’s finding your passion, whatever it is, and taking the skills that you have to enhance it,” she said. “We can all do that in our profession, our community, or just in the things we like to do.”