Help Zelda Reach Her Dream

Hello everyone,

My name is Zelda and I am a 13 year old girl with clear goals for what I do, figure skating, sewing, starting a business to support myself, baking, cooking and most importantly, helping others.

I come from a loving family who does its best to help me in many ways. I cannot believe how fortunate I have been to have food on the table everyday and a roof over my head with not much financial struggle.

We used to live in a small apartment but my parents moved us to a house where we planted a small garden to grow our own food.

I wish to become an expert in being an international figure skating coach who helps young disadvantaged girls learn to skate and derive confidence from skating, much as I have from achieving something so difficult to do. Before that can happen though, I must learn much more about skating.

My dream: becoming a figure skating coach

In 2013, when I was 6 years old, my mother took my older sister, Charlotte, and me ice skating and from that moment on I dreamed about being a figure skater.

Sometimes my dreams would keep me awake at night because we started to have financial problems paying for lessons and ice time; my mother was told that maybe my family was not one that could afford skating and not to expect to go far in it.

My older sister, Charlotte, who I am extremely close to, loved skating, too, but she put aside her desire to compete so that I could have lessons and ice time to work on my competitive spins and jumps.

Through much family sacrifice, I was able to continue to skate but with skates too small, hurting my feet, hand me down skating clothes, and not getting my blades sharpened until I was skidding around

In 2017, I gained my first National Championship title in Rizing Stars 2 Girls. It was then I decided that I was going to train harder and my goal became to make it to a Junior Grand Prix International event. In order to do that I would have to acquire several double jumps, including the double Axel, as well as move up five levels and pass more test

I won the national title again in 2019. Soon afterwards, I landed my double toe loop, double loop, double flip, and double Lutz.

Despite of Covid-19 restriction, I managed to train myself and win in the Advanced Novice category

In March 2020, the rinks shut down due to Covid-19. All during the shutdown, to access quality training, I would wake up between 1am-5am or stay up late at night till 11pm to attend a group Zoom lesson taught by a high level coach in a different country and time zone.

My family and I managed to make it through with quite a bit of financial struggle and sacrifices. We were careful to spend our scant funds only on what was necessary.

In December 2020, after the skating rinks reopened, I returned to the ice, trained for three hours a day on-ice and two hours off-ice. News came of the national Virtual Figure Skating Challenge which I then won in the Advanced Novice category.

I am deeply grateful for making it through all of this. I am humbled by the achievements and thankful to those who helped me. Junior Ladies is the next level!

The help you can give

But there is no getting around the fact that figure skating is an expensive sport. My family doesn't have the financial means for me to skate, and the Covid-19 pandemic has put us in an even tighter financial situation.

Right now I need to get to my next big milestone, to pass the Junior Ladies Free Skating Test. I need a double Axel and a triple jump to be able to take the Junior Ladies test which makes me eligible to compete at the Junior Ladies level with the possibility of qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix. The coaches who will help me with my training are excited to teach me, but due to Covid-19, they are unable to work with me for free and my family is running out of funds to pay for my lessons and ice time.

Please support me in continuing to learn more about the techniques of jumping, spinning, performing figure skating programs and to get my double Axel. I know I can do a double Axel because my coach believes in me and I have done it on the harness on the ice. I just need some help from you.

It costs my family $800 USD per week for lessons and $108 USD per week for ice time ($6/hour). I would love to take my Junior test in June (17 weeks from now), therefore I need $15,436 USD. That will also put me on track to compete in Junior Ladies. However Airfunding will only allow me to raise the goal from 1,500 USD to 15,436 USD, if I get three or more donations.

Giving Back

When I received help from other people, even if it was just a small gift, I was touched and overjoyed. I often think about the day when someone gave me a pair of blade guards to replace the broken and torn ones I had. I was so happy and touched I couldn't stop smiling. I remember these things and they always put a smile on my face.

When I become an international figure skating coach, I will help those little girls out there who are in the same position I am in now. I will give them the same gift of help to reach their goals. I know there are a lot of other people out there who need help, so when I can, I will help them, even if the help needed is outside of figure skating.

A donation made is a reminder for me to make a donation to help others when I am a strong capable woman. Each donation, no matter what size, is much appreciated. I will work hard and update you on my progress using this website.

Love,

Zelda.