Australian Athletes Harness the Power of Crowdfunding
Australians create their own personal crowdfunding campaigns to make their sporting dreams a reality. Down Syndrome Swimming Australia launched a crowdfunding campaign to help their swim team get to the Trisome Games, while paralympian Jeremy McClure needed some help to get to Rio.
Down Syndrome Swimming Australia - Going for Gold in Italy
Many people are unaware that Australia has an award-winning swim team with Down Syndrome, which has been doing Australia proud and gathering accolades since 2008. The team has been winning international championships every year and desperately wanted to represent the country at the 2016 Trisome Games.
Down Syndrome Swimming Australia sent 22 of their absolute best swimmers to the Trisome Games, hosted in Italy. International travel is never cheap and despite their success in previous competitions, Down Syndrome Swimming Australia receives no government funding. People with Down Syndrome are also ineligible to compete in both the Olympics and the Paralympics, leaving them caught in-between.
President of DSSA, Simon Cox, told The Courier Mail that the ultimate goal is to prove that people with Down Syndrome deserve to compete at the Paralympics.
“There’s a fair number of people with Down Syndrome but because it affects physical as well as intellectual, they can’t compete with the one intellectual category in the Paralympics.”
In the lead up to World Down Syndrome Day, mycause and DSSA united to promote their campaign, Aussie Gold in Italy. The campaign ran for five weeks, with the aim of raising enough money to pay for the airfares for athletes. Aussie Gold in Italy was promoted across all of the mycause social media accounts, with the frequency of the posts increasing in the lead up to March 21. The campaign was also covered in The Courier Mail and on Sky News, with a profile article printed in The Examiner.
After an extensive social and media campaign, the campaign was able to raise over $27,000 for the Down Syndrome swim team, with donations pouring in from Australia and overseas.
Aussie Paralympian in Rio - Jeremy McClure
Jeremy went blind when he was 14-years-old after his vision rapidly declined, leaving Jeremy with only 2 per cent of his original sight.
Despite this shock diagnosis, Jeremy worked hard to become a strong, dedicated athlete, eager to compete at the 2016 Rio Games.
Jeremy would initially have to stop his swim set during each training session, get out of the pool and check his iPad to know his next set. Jeremy’s friends consequently decided to crowdfund for a waterproof ipad and expenses related to his training.
Unfortunately there isn’t much support for paralympians, leaving Jeremy no choice but to pay for his own coach while working as a masseuse to fund all his training. This work is physically draining for Jeremy - by the time he gets home, it is exhausting to hop in the pool for 2 hours.
It was Jeremy’s dream to represent Australia, as he was the only paralympian from WA that qualified for Rio. Thanks to the generosity of friends, family and Australians who saw Jeremy covered in the media, over $12,000 was raised to make Jeremy's dream a reality. Anyone who swims knows how dedicated you have to be - with the support Jeremy has now, he’s more motivated than ever.
The ambitions, success and contribution of the Australian Down Syndrome swim team and Jeremy McClure are fantastic examples of what people can achieve, regardless of any disabilities they may have.