Aerobic Gymnastics and the search for financial support with raffles and donations to compete in the World Cup in Portugal

His task before convincing the demanding judges was to persuade simple pedestrians. For the former, an impeccable 80-second routine; for the others, a great speech so that they accept a raffle of 10 soles. Thais Fernandeza 13-14 year old girl, paid for her trips to represent Peru.

Today, at 24 years old, the scene has not changed for the gymnast. An F5 to see if a new donor has joined the World Cup crusade. Thais has been competing internationally for a decade and always has to fight against the lack of support to go to her competitions. But this time it’s not just her, there are 21 girls who are waiting for the resources to be able to travel next June to the World Cup in Guimaraes, Portugal. For Thais it will be her sixth World Cup appearance — she finished 11th in the 2018 edition — but nothing is guaranteed.

When Thais started in the sport, one of his tasks was to go to the Jockey Plaza to sell raffles to get those resources. “At that time, social networks did not exist as much as now. It was something much more direct, I approached people and explained to them that I was from the national aerobics team and offered them raffles for 10 soles to be able to pay for my trip. I was a girl and I already had a whole speech designed to convince people to buy from me, although sometimes they didn’t “remember.

For this reason, now, her coach Natalia Balarezo, together with Luciana Bonifaz, have created the portal hoyxmi.pe, where they seek to raise funds for various high-performance athletes. The established objective is barely 30% with a month to go before the competition.

“I am training a lot for this competition and all my strength is 100% put into this”, Thais tells us. That’s three hours a day of intense training to perfect that 80-second routine. She is one of the four representatives that Peru will have in the Senior category. We also have 9 gymnasts in Age Group (15-17 years old) and 8 more in Junior (12-14).

These figures have been achieved thanks to the work of Jumping Jack, which has been in charge of training this sport for more than a decade, and although for now it only works in Lima, it is looking for a way to open up to the rest of the country to give it more opportunities for girls who bet on aerobic gymnastics. Natalia is precisely the founder of the club and she is the one who knows the most about how difficult it is to compete without financial support. “It is very difficult to get support to pay for the trips, that is why the parents always have to assume all the expenses; not only those that involve the trips themselves, but also all the expenses of being part of the competitive team”, details the coach. Registration, sports tights, clothing, travel expenses and other expenses are part of the investment made in search of top results. Without support, you can not demand more.

Jumping Jack continues betting on this discipline. Currently they have 52 girls between 9 and 24 years old, but they work with younger ages for complete training. For now they are only in Lima, but with projects to be able to connect girls from the provinces. It is the results that keep him betting despite the fact that the road has always been uphill: in the last Pan American in December, his athletes won 9 medals.

Thus, the talent exists, it is necessary to accompany it with that economic support that is vital. “I am super happy to be able to go to the World Cup this year with such a large delegation, it is the first time that so many gymnasts from Peru have qualified and that excites me a lot,” Thais tells us, and it is up to us that neither she nor any of the competitors Peruvians lose the joy of representing the country.

They currently have an active collection for these 21 athletes who dream of reaching the Aerobic Gymnastics World Cup representing our country. “For us, all help adds up, whether it is a raffle or a small donation, that often makes the difference to be able to go to a competition or not. And from now on we thank all the people who trust and believe in us because we promise that we will give it all”, reflects Thais. Aerobic gymnastics needs its space. The girls deserve them for their great effort.

If you want to support these gymnasts to reach the World Championship You can make your donations at the following link: https://hoyxmi.pe/causas/rumbo_al_mundial_2022/