Durban swimmer sets up Go Funding page for international swim champs

DURBAN swimmer, Sasha-Lee Nordengen-Corris is ready to pitch her swimming skills against the rest of the world, but first, she has to raise the necessary funds to get her to the FINA World Swimming Champs in Hungary, the Italian Champs in Italy and the Lifesaving Sanyo Cup in Japan.

Sasha-Lee has created a Go Get Funding page and a Dream Fuel Me page to encourage people to support her in her quest to take on the world in the swimming pool.

Her passion for swimming was nurtured at an early age. She was only 18 months old when she started swimming and since then, she has dedicated her young life to achieving success after success in the pool.

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Sasha-Lee has qualified to race the 10km Open Water event at the 2017 FINA World Swimming Championships on 16 July, and in preparation for this race, her coach, Graham Hill, the appointed South African coach, has requested that she race the 10km and 5km events at the Italian Champs on 16 and 17 June.

“In addition to this qualification, I have also been selected to represent South Africa Lifesaving at this year’s Sanyo Cup which will be held in Japan on 23 and 25 June.”

“After representing my country in numerous events as a junior in both swimming and lifesaving, this is my first year where I receive my senior national colours in both the sports I compete in, but this was no easy feat as I had to overcome sickness,” she said.

After battling with hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue for the past six years, Sasha-Lee’s national selection in two sports is more than a dream come true. The thyroid condition resulted in low energy levels, as well as abnormal weight gain, which resulted in her being unable to train or race optimally.

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“With medical help, God’s help and much perseverance and dedication, I have attained my goal of racing at world class level, however I now face a further set back, the cost of flights, accommodation and food abroad with a weakened currency,” she said.

While the Sanyo Cup and Italian Champs is self-funded, world champs is only partially subsidised which means Sasha-Lee will have to raise vast amounts of funds to compete with the rest of the world and better herself.

Anyone able to contribute and help make this young swimmer’s dreams come true can visit Sasha-Lee’s pages – www.dreamfuel.me/campaigns/188 and https://gogetfunding.com/help-sash-get-to-fina-world-swimming-champs-hungary-italian-champs-italy-lifesaving-sanyo-cup-japan/ to help her raise the necessary funds.

“I bake brownies to help raise funds, but I need to make and sell 12 000 in order to raise the necessary funds which is not entirely possible with my training schedule!” she said.

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