One Team – One Dream

Canada’s Olympic Athletes have a unique understanding of what it takes to be at that level, but it’s not without a cost, which is normally put on the shoulders of the Athletes alone.

They represent Canada and while there are several ways’ in which the Government can offer assistance, financially it’s often not enough.

We have had both Luke and Nikola on Delta TV’s “The Locker Room” and talked about the process of what it takes, to which they were extremely open.

As they hit the road to Rio, let’s see if we can offer them some assistance on the “Road to Gold” and be a part of the championship and share the memories.

Here is the story from Luke and Nikola:

We’ve both been sailing since we were about 8 years old and we sailed entirely different boats, we had never sailed together until after competing for Canada at the 2012 Olympics individually.

Now we are representing Canada together as a team at the 2016 Rio Olympics this summer.

Nikola is a 3-time Olympian in both a double-handed 470 dinghy and the RSX windsurfer, and she combines her experience with Luke’s mixed experience in the single men’s Laser and his 2012 Olympic debut in the double-handed 470 class.

The idea was born on the last night of the Olympics – at the after party, when Luke’s coach played match-maker on us – insisting to each of us individually that the other really wanted to sail with us in the newly introduced Nacra17 catamaran – the first ever mixed team category.

Windsurfing had just been ousted from the 2016 Olympic slate and thus for Nikola, this was a lucrative option in contrast to being forced to quit.

Luke on the other hand was sailing a double-handed boat, with a teammate that decided to retire after 2012.

This left the option to sail together wide open yet also opened to door to another huge and daunting goal.

After 3 years sailing (together) we are the defending North American Champions, have had numerous individual race wins at World Cup events and finished 15th at the World Championships.

We are still improving each day – having made huge jumps in the last few months.

Our momentum and our belief in ourselves and our ability makes 2016 the most exciting year for us.

Having just qualified to represent Canada at the Rio Olympics in January!!! – our ultimate goal is to bring home a medal.

With this as a target we have our work cut out for us, but with the goal of top 10 finishes at the World Cup events this spring, we are definitely on our way.

Our journey towards Rio as a mixed-team (mandatory male/female team) has challenged us and helped us grow both individually and together as a team.

Let’s just say, it’s not always been smooth sailing. Challenges came in all shapes and sizes and having to overcome them only made us a stronger team.

Plagued with an injury during the first year of sailing this radical boat Nikola as a crew had to face her fears of being injured daily, while losing much training time.

As a team both Luke and Nikola had to work out their roles, their communication and manage each others expectations for and of each other.

We’ve hit rock bottom as a team, but through that we’ve also established such a solid foundation that we know is indestructible.

We learned to work as a team. And teamwork makes the dream work!!! Not only have we had to learn to work with each other, but learn a whole new class of boat, but we’ve also had the burden of financing the whole campaign by ourselves while doing all of our own logistics.

The cost of equipment alone in preparation for the Olympics for us is $40,907.50!

To say it was easy would be crazy. But we don’t need easy, we just need possible.

Our team has grit – it’s something money can’t buy. Yet grit can only get us thus far, we need financial support to get to the podium.

As Canadian amateur athletes, we are definitely not in this sport for the money, we are in it to be the best in the world, represent our country and come home with a medal around our neck.

The funds that we raise here will go directly into helping us achieve that goal.

With less then 150 days until the Olympics we not only need to get ourselves to Rio, but also our boat, mast, coach boat and all the equipment that comes with this sport. We have heaps of logistics and details to plan, but without funding we can not make this happen.

This is how your donations can help:

• $50 Donation – Coach boat Gas for a day
• $100 Donation – Put a roof over our heads for the night in Rio
• $500 Donation – Pay for our entry fee into the next World Cup Event in France
• $700 Donation – Buy us a jib to use at the Olympics!
• $1000 Donation – Buy us a spinnaker to use at the Olympics!
• $2500 Donation – Buy us a Mainsail to use at the Olympics
• $5000 Donation – Pay for our shipping cost for us to get our boat and equipment to Rio and back!

Every little bit makes a big difference! If $10 is what you can afford to help us with – Great – thank you! $10’s add up quickly and great things can happen.

Not only that but we have a supporter that will match every dollar raised here.

Our budget requires far beyond the $18000 we are campaigning for (it’s $139K until the end of the Olympics), but if we raise $18K, having that matched already makes that $36K and that in itself will almost cover all of our equipment expenses – which is $40K!

Thank you so much for your consideration and for making a huge difference to us.

You will be on the #RoadToRio with us!