Join my journey to the Pan Am Games and Beyond!
Hello,
My name is Marissa Ponich and I am from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am passionate about fencing; my goal is to become one of the best athletes in my sport. I have just qualified as part of Team Canada for the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru!
This will be my second Games experience, after competing in the Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015.
These Games only happen once every four years and only the top three athletes have the opportunity to represent Canada in each of the fencing categories. I will leave for the Pan Am Games August 3 and return on August 12.
I have also qualified to be part of the National Team for the Pan American Championships in Toronto this season along with World Championships in Budapest (this is my 6th year in a row qualifying for the National Team). I will be heading to Montreal for a training camp on June 21 and then competing in the Pan American Championships on June 29 and July 2. I'll return home on July 3rd for only 4 days, and then I'll leave to Budapest for the World Championships (with another training camp beforehand). Both the Pan American Championships and World Championships are crucial to Olympic qualification. We're trying to qualify as a team and we are so close to making our goal! I have been working extremely hard to be in the best shape possible. I'm left to fund these competitions on my own, so I am humbly asking for your support.
This has been an intense season, and I thank all my supporters and contributors for all the encouragement. I have seen so much progress this past year and I know that I'm only continuing to improve. Your support (both financially and emotionally) has helped me achieve amazing results so far this season and has allowed me to attend competitions across the world (Iceland, France, USA, Greece, Belgium, Korea, Tunisia, and Russia); because of that I was able to qualify for the Pan American Championships, World Championships, and the Pan American Games. THANK YOU!
I started this small campaign specifically to help offset my costs for the Pan American Championships and World Championships. Please consider helping me with this next step towards Olympic qualification. My flight alone for Budapest was $1700, so every bit will help.
Please consider sharing and/or contributing to help me reach my goal and join this journey! This campaign will end right as I leave for World Championships!
Marissa
Hi! My name is Marissa Ponich and I am one of the top women's sabre fencers in Canada. I have been a national team member since 2013 (the same year I started fencing internationally). I started fencing at the late age of 19. I train at Sergei’s Sabre Club with Sergei Kazimirski and he’s been my coach since I started fencing in 2006. I have grown quickly and I am continuing to grow in this sport because it is a serious passion of mine.
