Help Mikayla to grow Underwater Rugby in NZ!!!

Hi, my name is Mikayla Graham and I'm 16 years old. Earlier this year, I was given the opportunity to travel to Sydney, Australia to compete with the New Zealand Underwater Rugby Squad to play in the Australian Interstate competition and NZ vs AUS game.

During this, I was asked if I would be interested in going to Worlds in 2015, in Columbia with the Australian National Women's Team. Although this is a long shot because I'm not an Australian Citizen, we have to try get rules changed in order for me to be able to go. If worst comes to worst and I am unable to go, there is the Champions Cup in Berlin in 2015 that I would be able to go to.

Going with the Australians is my only option, as at the moment in New Zealand, UWR isn't big enough to send a team over.

I was the youngest and only female NZ player to go over to Australia, and to receive this news was amazing.

Since underwater rugby isn't very big at all in New Zealand, in order for me to continue learning more and training for these events I will need to travel to Australia every few months since it is bigger over there. All this is quite costly, without sponsorship, I simply alone, cannot afford to go over there.

It is vital for me to go to Australia if I am able to go to Worlds as this would be my only chance to train with the team. Even if Worlds has to get scratched on my part, going to Australia would be hugely beneficial, not just for me but UWR in NZ. The more knowledge I gain, the more I can share, the more I can share, the bigger it can get, and the more people can spread it around NZ.

If I do get sponsorship/donations to help me get to Australia and back, my plan of attack is to come back, hold seminars on what I've learnt and most of all GROW the sport, not just amongst Kiwis but specifically aiming at females to join the sport. I want to get more females involved, I want it to become a sport in secondary schools and I want it to be KNOWN.

Underwater rugby is a fantastic sport, and has helped me in many aspects of fitness for other sports. I would love for it to be bigger and for New Zealand to eventually hold our own national competitions, but we need to start somewhere, and I want to be the one to start it.