‘Help me to become an Olympic athlete’

A TEENAGER is crowdfunding to help her fulfil her ambition of becoming an Olympic athlete. Medal-winning Kyla Julien, of Dalton, dreams of representing Team GB at the Olympics as a taekwondo fighter. The 15-year-old has been training with Hillhousebased Premier Taekwondo since the age of seven. Three years ago, she attended Team GB’s trials and she was accepted onto the talent pathway programme, which has been developing her as a cadet and junior athlete.

Now Kyla is set to jet off to compete in Holland, Greece and Austria – but needs to raise money towards travel, accommodation, equipment and further training.

“It’s now time to start raising my profile internationally, but I need help to fund my dream of becoming a world-class athlete,” the Shelley College pupil said.

“I’m currently training really hard to represent my country in three major competitions this year. As you can imagine, keeping my ranking high and competing around the world is a highly costly process.

“If I place for a medal in any of the competitions I’ll be considered to represent Team GB in the European championships, which will be a true privilege to say the least.”

Kyla, who has achieved her second ‘dan’ black belt in the combat sport, currently trains six days per week.

The next step up for Kyla would be to progress onto the full-time ‘World Class Performance’ programme, which trains in the national academy in Manchester.

To donate to Kyla’s campaign, visit: https://www.pledgesports. org/projects/kylas-gbtaekwondo-journey/