Maya Suzuki has the chance to represent Australia on the world stage in London later this year, but she needs your help.
Suzuki has been selected as a representative in the Australian under 23 women's ultimate frisbee team to compete in London in July.
But without a bit of support to attend the World Flying Disk Federation World Ultimate Championship, she might not even make it on to the plane.
Because it is not an Olympic sport, there is no government funding, meaning she will need to raise the $6750 required for the trip to London by herself.
As a full-time student trying to balance her studies with a part-time job, raising the money will not be an easy task.
Suzuki is from Mount Riverview and attended Lapstone Primary School and Penrith Academic Selective High School.
After finishing high school, she made the move to Canberra to study a Bachelor of Laws/Asia Pacific Security Studies degree at the Australian National University.
Here she was introduced to ultimate frisbee, a popular sport at university campuses, particularly in North America where it originated.
Coming from a netball background, she found she adapted to the sport quite quickly.
"The structure is quite similar to netball, but the field is the size of a soccer field and there are only seven players, so there's lots of running around," she said.
"It's similar to American football in the sense that players aim to get the disc from one end to the other and score points by catching it in an end zone, kind of like a touchdown," she added.
Suzuki had previously represented the NSW team and was fortunate enough to be invited to a selection camp in Melbourne for the world championships.
Unfortunately she was not able to make it to a second selection camp because she was working in Japan at the time.
She thought it would cost her a spot in the team, but she was in for a pleasant surprise.
"I got the email when I was in Japan and I was in total disbelief," she said.
"I was absolutely stoked, I was definitely not expecting it."
Suzuki said there are pretty high expectations for the Australian team, but they will face some stiff competition from the likes of the US, Canada and Colombia.
In the mean time, Suzuki will be looking to local businesses as well as holding events to help reach her fundraising goal.
She is planning to hold a trivia night, and the team, who are mostly students, will set up a fundraising webpage.
While she knows it is going to be difficult, Suzuki is determined to achieve her goal.
"I'm determined to be there, I don't want to have to miss out on such an amazing opportunity."
