Donate to Fuel Lillian's Journey to Wrestling Nationals, organized by Desiree Harned

Hi there! My name is Desirée and I am the mother of 15 year old wrestler here in Western Kentucky. Lillian has been wrestling for her school for the past 3 years and has wrestled previously with an area for profit Wrestling Club. This Go Fund Me is to benefit Lillian's pursuit of competing at Wrestling Nationals this summer in Fargo, ND. The competition and all female team to represent the state of Kentucky at the USA Wrestling event was finalized over the past couple of weeks. This year alone LIllian has grown not only as wrestler, but as a student making straight A's for her Freshman year, competing in the marching band playing instruments in the pit, playing the cello in Orchestra, and representing the high school by taking part in the trap shooting team. Lillian has worked hard this season for the state of Kentucky. This year was the first year that the Kentucky High School Athletic Association sanctioned the sport for females creating not only a season but a state tournament. Prior to this year female wrestlers competing alongside their male counterparts and within a state tournament that was designed and promoted by the coaches association. This gave female wrestlers the opportunity to promote their sport and to compete at a high level. Lillian qualified at regionals placing 2nd and then did not place high enough to medal at the state level. She then went on to compete at USA Wrestling tournament where she placed 1st in 16u and 3rd in Juniors. Then went on to place at the state level qualifying her for the state team to compete in Fargo, ND July 12th-15th. After this Lillian competed at a national regional event in Fort Wayne where she placed 4th. There are a couple of differences as to why this tournament at this level is important to Lillian. 1st- there are variations of wrestling styles. Competing for the high school and within the K12 athletic association in Kentucky female wrestlers compete using the folkstyle method. There are two other forms Greco-Roman and Freestyle. While wrestlers may compete using folkstyle, freestyle is what wrestlers use during college and at the higher levels including the Olympics. With that said having the opportunity to wrestler outside of the high school team means that female wrestlers could can that knowledge and skill to be competitive beyond high school. 2nd- these events help Lillian to develop social skills, help with anxiety, and have experiences that would not otherwise be gained by competing in Kentucky alone. You see, Lillian is autistic on the Autism Spectrum. Lillian has come a long way and having this means she can learn skills for the larger events that they are heading into and are going to experience in the future. Finally, 3rd- competing at this tournament gains points for the USA Wrestling organization and therefore can bring attention to complete her goal of possibly getting recruited at the collegiate level. I have had the unique opportunity to be an assistant coach for the high school team Lillian is on as well as the registered USA Wrestling coach this year. But this competition brings on the skill development of learning from other coaches. While in Fargo, Lillian will have 4 coaches that have not coached her prior to the event. Much like how it works when training for the Olympics so goes the format for the National tournament. Lillian learning this adaptability skill will help her later in life and since this is her first time that would be better regarding her chances and her anxiety versus a tournament like this when it is a matter of recruitment, scholarship opportunity, or more. So, with that we are here with hat in hand needing to raise money for her to compete with a fee of $300 for entry, money for overnight stays, food, gas and travel money as it is cheaper for us as a family to drive our Hybrid car, and other incidentals.It seems around $4,000 is needed to compete at this next level. Lillian is very excited for this opportunity and with it being during the summer it will not affect school work or the high school team. I am hoping we can count on you to help support her in this. Thank you! Read more

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