Former Olds resident and current female wrestler Danielle Lappage, who is training to represent Canada at the Olympic Games in Rio this summer, says she's overwhelmed with the support she's received from this community.
“I just keep getting blown away, I guess, by the support from everybody in this town; it's crazy,” she said during an interview with the Albertan.
“It's just incredible how many people care -- want to help you. Even if they can't help you, but they voice how proud they are,” she said.
“I have been working so hard to get to this point, obviously, and it has been my dream for a very long time, but to see that people are acknowledging the hard work more than making the team, right? They're acknowledging the hard work that went up to that point.
“They say, ‘we're so proud of you,' ‘you've always been a hard worker; we're glad it's finally paid off,' stuff like that.”
“There are six girls on our team and I'm getting so much more love,” Lappage said.
“I took it for granted when I lived here, but it's full of some of the most amazing people, some of the kindest people, some of the most generous people, the coolest people, the most unique people.
“I guess I kind of knew that, right? But by going to this and having so many people behind me and talk to me and getting to know them more, it just truly makes me realize that and makes me thankful that I did grow up here and grew up in such a great town,” she added.
During the Spring Fling fundraiser at the Cow Palace this past Friday, the Olds High School leadership team presented Lappage with a cheque for $1,064.70, representing money donated during the school's boys and girls basketball tournaments and during a visit by motivational speaker Chris Koch at the school last month.
“As Danielle is an OHS alumnus and shows excellence in sports, we wanted to support her with that,” a spokesperson said.
“We would just like to wish her all the best, and we know that she will be a great ambassador for Olds High and the town of Olds. Good luck in Rio, and I'm sure she'll be back to tell us all about her adventures.”
Lappage thanked the group for that money, saying how overwhelmed she is by the community's support.
“That was incredible. That was a lot of money they raised, and very, very generous and kind of them to give that to me.”
When interviewed, Lappage did not know how much money had been raised in total to cover her living and training expenses. She hasn't been working since September because she's training full-time for Rio.
“It would be nice to obviously get money to pay for it. But, if not, it's only a year of my life, regardless if I'm in a lot of debt or if I'm not,” Lappage said.
“I'm just trying to not really stress too much about it because I know it's going to work out,” she added. “It just shows you tonight that there's so many people supporting me; so many people who want to support me.”
Lappage was named as Spring Fling's first-ever ambassador.
During that event, she sat behind a table draped with a flag featuring the logos of Spring Fling organizers/sponsors. People attending the occasion were invited to sign that flag. It was absolutely covered with felt pen signatures and best wishes.
“Look at this flag, it honestly makes me really emotional (to see all that support),” she said. “I've said that before, but it truly does, because like, who am I, you know?”
Lappage said she's also grateful for the fact that she was introduced to female wrestling while living in Olds.
“When I first started wrestling, it was kind of like, ‘you wrestle?' It was weird. So I'm just lucky it was offered in Olds, because I probably wouldn't have been where I am if it wasn't obviously offered at the middle school or the high school,” she said.
She trains hard.
“(We) wrestle five days a week. Three days a week we have conditioning and three days we have weight training,” she said. “We just take Sundays off.”
Lappage leaves for Rio on Aug. 3.
“I compete on August 15, so I hope you all watch and I hope I make you all proud,” she told the Spring Fling crowd.
