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Melanie’s journey to elite para sport

  • Thank you Community Trust!

      18 July 2022
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    One more camp to go, this weekend, then we are on the countdown to departure!

    In the last camp we started to play around with some team combinations using two W6 waka ama’s. Until all the new paddlers get officially classified when we arrive, we won’t know what the final team combinations are, because each team has to add up to 18 (and must have two women), numbers are based on the classifications given to each paddler.

    Massive thanks to Te Piritahi a Rua Waka ama (my local club) for getting the boat back out for a few more weeks so I could practice some of the skills needed for my back up seating position (seat 2, which helps to turn the boat). I won’t know till after classification if I am in seat 4 or 2. I think seat 4 (powerhouse!) is more likely, but we will see.

    We fly out of NZ on 5 August, and are based in Slough for the two weeks that the championships are on. If anyone I know in the UK wants to catch up with me, message me on Facebook!

    I think I am almost all sorted now. The packing will commence in the next week or so… 30kg is all I get and that includes my spare leg!

    FUND RAISING UPDATE

    My thanks this month goes to the Community Trust (www.communitytrustsouth.nz) for awarding me a sports scholarship. This means that I am now just $500 short of my $8k total!

    Thank you to all the organizations who have awarded me grants and the individuals who have sponsored me. Without all of your help, this just would not have been possible.

    $500 to go, so go on, please share my page one more time!

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  • Thank You ILT Foundation!

      29 June 2022
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    I have been back to Rotorua for Camp number 2, and here’s some of the Para crew! I am in the foreground 3rd seat from the left.

    We have been experimenting with various seating positions and for the first time I was sitting for a while in a different seat to my usual power house position! Because we do not have any classifiers in the Southern Hemisphere the management team have to guess what we might be classed as and make sure they have a number of possible 6 man team combinations.

    In Waka ama a mixed para team must add up to 18. They are expecting me to be classified as a 4. So in basic terms, if we assume everyone is 3 (3x6=18) then for every person who is higher than 3, someone else needs to be lower than 3. It’s certainly not a maths game I would want to be in charge of! And no, you can’t be lower (or higher) you must have exactly 18!!

    So on camp #2 we started playing with team combinations in w6 canoes (pictured is a w12) and finished with turns practice. Sprint waka ama courses are 250m so there are a lot of tactics that go into the turns. The races will be 500m and 1000m.

    The lane is a specific width and if you cock up the turn and don’t stay within your lane, it is an instant DQ! Hence its quite important!

    At the weekend just gone My local club (TE PIRITAHI A RUA) went out on the river with me and we did an hour of turns practice, they are loving the things they are also learning from me via the Para coaches.

    My biggest piece of news recently is that The ILT Foundation awarded me an athlete sports scholarship! This is amazing news for me and goes a long way to helping me reach that funding target. I am now only around $2000 short. If we include ALL the run up costs mentioned in my last update, overall the costs total around $8k.

    Once again thank you to each and every one of you who have sponsored me up till now. I ask that you share the page again on your social media accounts, because I am so close to reaching the target, which in the short time I have had is pretty amazing!

    For those of you who do not know, the ILT Foundation (Invercargill Licensing Trust) was incorporated under the charitable trust act in 2005. It distributes gaming machine profits back to community organisations that fall within the definition of authorised purposes. The trustees are comprised of 6 who are publicly elected and 2 additional trustees.

    I want to thank the ILT Foundation for assisting me to fund this trip and will be incredibly proud to represent my newly adopted nation, on the shores of my birth nation! What a fabulous opportunity you have all helped me to realise!

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  • training and fundraising update June 22

      10 June 2022
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    Next week I head back to Rotorua for another training camp: the 2nd of 3 before we head to England for the world champs.

    There are a few people I want to thank so far for helping me raise funds. Aside from all my wonderful donors on Givealittle, I have also been given a grant from IWMC (invercargill working mens club) and my waka ama club (Te Piritahi a Rua) have also given me some $ towards bills. So thank you to both of those organisations too. As you will see, the bill for the flights to UK is only a small part of the cost incurred for the trip, so please share this page - because every little really does help.

    I have recently purchased a rowing machine - which was kinda essential to allow me to continue training down here in the south through winter. I use it without the slide, keeping my legs straight and using arms only.

    I was also told I had to buy my own paddle, so I did that last week when the club went to Dunedin for the Icebreaker challenge (10km waka ama race in Dunedin harbour.)

    This was my first waka ama race, cool i got the opportunity - the world champs being the first would have been slightly terrifying! We had a blast, worked our asses off and bettered the clubs time last year in this race by 13 minutes! Everyone was stoked!

    Next up: two more camps in North island. I am the only team member that has to fly up there, the rest are all from North island.

    I got some suitcases this week, my next job is a cash passport and sort out cell coverage for Europe while I am there!

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