Gibsons’ Brandy Perry is hoping to represent Canada on the world wrestling stage, but in order to compete, Perry – who is a full-time student athlete at the University of Alberta – will need to raise money to cover the costs of travel and training camps.
“The gofundme campaign I started about a month ago is to help me fundraise to go to the World Championships in France,” Perry said. “There will also be a [training] camp – so it won’t just be a tournament – which is really nice because you get to train with a bunch of other people that you never train with and they all have different styles. It makes it a little bit more worth the trip.”
Perry is trying to raise $6,500 by July 18 for all of the competitions and training camps she plans to attend.
Before going to Worlds, Perry is planning to compete in the Nordhagen Classic in Calgary from May 14 to 19, then the Pan American Jr. Championships in Venezuela, June 8 to 12. After Pan Am, Perry is looking at the training camp and Canada Cup in St. Catherine’s, Ont., June 18 to 25, then a training camp in Italy from July 27 to Aug. 3 before the World Championships in France from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4.
Perry started her wrestling career at Elphinstone Secondary when she was in Grade 8. At the time, Perry said, she was joining as many high school athletic teams as she could. It wasn’t until the summer after Grade 9 when she lost the spot to compete in the Western Canada Games to one person.
Perry asked her coach if she could challenge the girl who had placed ahead of her; she was told that if she participated in training camps over the summer and proved that she was serious, she could be considered.
“So I worked hard all summer and realized that this was actually what I really wanted. I really wanted to be on this team,” Perry said. “The girl hurt her knee – not bad enough to not participate in the competition – but I couldn’t challenge her.”
Maybe next time, is what she was told.
“I want to be the best, this is what I want,” Perry said. “So from that training in Grade 10, I got second in provincials and then the next two years I won first. Since then I’ve just kept on going.”
Perry’s gofundme campaign is online at www.gofundme.com/BrandyPerry, and there is another way to support her this weekend. Perry, along with a few of her old teammates and friends, are doing a car wash and barbecue on Saturday, April 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gibsons IGA to help with her fundraising.
