Two UF students were invited to attend a USA rugby academy this summer at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., but funding the trip could prove a hurdle for the Gator athletes.
Gabrielle Zablan and Stephanie Browne were invited to the training center after attending a high-performance training camp in Georgia two weeks ago.
Together, the athletes are working on ideas for fundraising money to finance the high cost of the trip.
Zablan, a 19-year-old UF athletic training sophomore, began a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe earlier this week. As of press time, it had raised about $250 of her $1,700 goal.
Eric Keys, head coach of the UF women’s rugby club team, said he was not shocked by the nomination of the two players due to their strong athletic abilities.
Keys, an assistant professor of geography at UF, said he considers the nominations a big deal for the rugby club team and said they should be seen as a pathway toward bigger goals.
“This is a way for athletes to get on the Olympic team,” he said.
Zablan said attending the camp is a step toward reaching her dreams.
She began playing in October and said the first rugby game she ever watched was the first match she played in.
“Ideally, I would like to go to the Olympics,” she said. “I don’t know if 2016 is a possibility, but 2020 would be awesome.”
Browne, a 20-year-old UF statistics junior, said she is excited to share this experience alongside a teammate.
“It helps develop our players and make our team better as a whole,” she said.
Her long-term goals are similar to Zablan’s. She hopes to represent the U.S. at the Olympics in the future.
“I think I have a pretty good shot at playing in the (Rugby) World Cup one day or the Olympics maybe, if everything works out,” she said. “That’s the goal, but I know it won’t be easy at all.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 2/27/2014 under the headline "UF Olympic hopefuls crowdfund"]
