Danielle Lappage, Star Canadian Wrestler, Pride Of Alberta

Fundraisers are the gasoline that have fueled many stellar sports careers for years.

If you are going to be involved in one, you need to do it right.

It was fun watching Canadian super star wrestler Danielle Lappage relax on video at her fundraiser with family and friends which gave us a warm feeling about how life should be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlhrN5umh-E

What makes for a great fundraiser? At trust.guidestar.org they share the basics.

1. A gift for selling the dream

2. Outsized optimism

3. A flair for leadership

4. The courage to ignore convention

5. Energy on call

That is quite a list. Very impressive and you know what? Danielle deserves every bit of it. What she has done for Canada is amazing.

Let’s meet her.

She’s very friendly and an excellent communicator so a great story unfolds at her website daniellelappage.ca. “Danielle grew up in the small town of Olds, Alberta as the second oldest child of four siblings. She was involved in many different sports growing up, and as a result was always an athletic and competitive individual.

Danielle was first introduced to the sport of wrestling in sixth grade when a couple of her friends joined the school’s wrestling team and convinced her to come out to practice to try it out. Her love for the sport has been growing and evolving since this time, and in 2006, Danielle made her first Cadet national team. Since this time, she has been a member of Team Canada and has had the opportunity to represent Canada at many international events.

Danielle moved from Olds to Vancouver, BC in the fall of 2008 to attend Simon Fraser University (SFU) and to wrestle for SFU’s varsity wrestling team. Danielle graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Criminology in June 2013 and finished her university wrestling career as a three time WCWA national champion.

Danielle decided to continue her education at SFU, and enrolled in graduate school in the fall of 2013. In September 2015 she successfully defended her thesis which focused on the topic of “gender and policing”.

She is currently a full time athlete living in Vancouver and wrestling for the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club.”

Yes, one day she hopes to become a policewoman.

At team olympic.ca they update, “After just one international competition in late 2015, Lappage started 2016 with a gold medal at the Olympic test event in Rio and added another tournament win in May at the Grand Prix of Germany. Lappage made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 but sustained an injury in her opening match, putting an early end to her Games.”

That was very unfortunate but still, to be able to compete at the Olympics is a phenomenal lifetime achievement.

She won’t give up though.

In an interview with olympic.ca she expressed that one of her biggest fears in life is failure.

That attitude creates optimism.

At ckfm.ca they share the optimism. They encourage, “Despite the heartbreaking result – and not being able to add an Olympic medal to the gold she won at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – Chief Operating Officer for Olds, Doug Wagstaff, says Lappage is a great example of leadership for the town.

Dozens of community members took advantage of the occasion of having a hometown girl in the Rio Olympics by showing up to watch her match this morning at 7 o’clock at Mayfair Cinema in Uptowne Olds. University of Alberta wrestler, fellow former Olds High School Spartan and future Olympic hopeful Amber Maschke was among those rooting on Lappage.”

It makes perfect sense as to why Danielle has achieved great success. Hard work, effective fund raisers and a very supportive community are ideal ingredients for mastering an athletic pathway.

It’s time to visit her village that helped shape her.

Olds is a town in the Canadian province of Alberta.

**fciwomenswrestling.com article, olds college photo credit**

It is situated in central Alberta within Mountain View County and 56 miles north of Calgary.

The Canadian Pacific Railway‘s main Edmonton–Calgary line runs through the town.

Olds is home to a big box retail development that opened in 2008. It features a Walmart, Canadian Tire and other major retailers.

Olds is also home to Olds College, which is noted for its agricultural and fashion retail programs.

The great wonderful and roving travel site Lonely Planet expands on the region. “Alberta does lakes and mountains like Rome does cathedrals and chapels, but without the penance. For proof head west to Jasper and Banff, two of the world’s oldest national parks; despite their wild and rugged terrain, they remain untrammeled and easily accessible.

No one should leave this mortal coil without first laying eyes on Lake Louise and the Columbia Icefield – and think twice about dying before you’ve traveled east to the dinosaur-encrusted badlands around Drumheller, south to the Crypt Lake trail in Waterton Lakes National Park, and north to spot bison in the vast, empty northern parklands.

In the center of the province, the wheat blows and the cattle roam; here you’ll find historic ranches, sacred native sights and the eerie landscape of the hoodoos.

Alberta’s cities are of patchier interest; there are living people older than Calgary and Edmonton’s downtowns. But what these metropolises lack in history they make up for with their spirit: Calgary has become unexpectedly cool, with top museums and cocktail bars, while Edmonton’s fringe theater festival is the world’s second largest.”

Sounds cool and enticing.

So enticing that everyone who is anyone media wise wants a sit down with Danielle.

At the global information source news.nationalpost.com. when asking Danielle about what drives her, our north star smiled, “That’s a deep question. I love knowing that the work that I put in, no matter how much I put in or how little I put in, everything that I do is based on how hard and how much I want it. So the success that I see is solely based on myself and I love pushing myself and seeing and achieving those things.”

And you know what?