An original way to continue to skate. Sophie Wiedmer, a team member of the Swiss Senior Cool Dreams launched a fund-raising activity on Internet. Her goal is to find 9'000 Swiss francs in 80 days. The challenge is open !

Sophie Wiedmer is a 21 years old skater who lives in Burgdorf, a town close to Bern, Switzerland. She’s been skating with Cool Dreams Seniors from the Burgdorf Skating Club for 3 years. This team is training in Burgdorf and Hasle-Rüegsau with Eveliina Lundman, a coach from Finland. Last season, the team consisted of 18 skaters, aged 16 to 23. During the main season, they train 5 times per week on- and off-ice. Skaters are coming from all over Switzerland. This summer, Sophie is going to start an apprenticeship in Bern to become a dental hygienist. Her skating career is threatened.

A synchro season is expensive. In Switzerland, this is sometimes hard to have enough money to skate in a team, according to Sophie, « with my project presented on the crowdfunding platform I Believe In You, I am looking for individuals who can help me finance the upcoming skating season, as I won’t be able to pay my season for myself. As I will start my studies in September, I won’t earn enough money. This is my last chance », she regrets. During 80 days, Sophie will try to gather the required sum of 9’000 Swiss francs, which is about 8’100 EUR.

Cool Dreams Seniors is highly likely to be selected for the Worlds 2017 in Colorado Springs because they are the only senior team at this level in Switzerland. « There are only very few synchro skating teams that compete at an ISU level. Burgdorf is currently the only club with a junior and senior team skating at a proficiency level, and nevertheless, we are having difficulties finding enough dedicated and skilled skaters, » explains Sophie.

« In my country, synchronized skating on a proficiency level is extremely expensive. There aren’t a lot of sponsors because the sport is not very well-known and skaters have to pay most of the costs themselves, » Sophie notes, « I will have to stop skating. Maybe I will join another non-ISU senior team. I must confess that I’m pretty nervous. » And Sophie concludes : « My dream is that synchronized skating becomes a part of the Olympics. This sport deserves recognition in Switzerland and internationally. »