Nadia Calore, an athlete from Lambton, is living her dreams in the United State by studying at the University of Charleston, West Virginia.

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The former Jeppe High School for Girls and Assumption Convent School learner is studying psychology and political science.

She continues to play sports and chase after her dreams, hoping that one day her story will be a motivation to young athletes.

Her goal is to make it into the squad that will compete at the athletics conference in the USA.

The athletics conference is a collection of sports teams playing competitively against each other in a sports league.

In many cases, conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions with the best teams competing at successively higher levels.

Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region.

“We play conference, then we get rated and picked to qualify to compete into the regionals. You have to be in the top three to qualify for the nationals,” said Calore.

“Last year we came close to competing at the nationals. If we qualify this year, I can at least say I played in the nationals in the USA,” she said.

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To keep in shape she engages in different forms of exercise.

“We are now focusing on upcoming cross-country competitions and we have indoor track and field because of the winter season in America,” said Calore.

“Indoor competition is slightly different from outdoor. Indoors there is less flow circulation of air so you dry up quickly. What I would do is that I would drink a lot of liquid and train on the treadmill,” said Calore.

Calore said she was in Grade 11 when an international company visited her school to offer learners a talk.

“They helped me build a profile to send out to USA and Canada. I was lucky to be part of that programme.

“My agent knew my coach in the USA, as they went to college together. They had a conversation because he knew what I needed and what my goals are.

“Domestically I was part of Cool Running Athletics Club by Thulani Sibeko. My father was a good long-distance runner and he became my coach until recently.“I was doing exercises that my dad used to give to me.

“Thulani gave me a few tips on how to run the first 1km that formed part of the exercises that my father used to give to me. Soon after that I joined his club and started training with him.”

Calore also managed to be part of the team that competed at the district level at Jeppe High School for Girls for five consecutive years.

She competed in inter-Catholic competitions when she moved to Assumption Convent School.

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She holds accolades as the most voted athlete of the year and sportswoman of the year in high school.

Calore ran her first 6km cross-country race in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, USA. Her time was 27:00.

“I am working towards lowering my personal best time. This year would also like to make conference track and field and cross-country as well.

“I also did the 800m preliminary rounds at the Mountain Eastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

“I placed fourth in a new PB of 2:27.59, securing a spot in the finals (top eight) the next day where I finished in sixth place.”