Aisyah is Singapores first and only Olympic rower. Her MAKEACHAMP campaign raised $12,692 which was 141% of her total campaign goal. It was a large success.  She recently qualified for Rio thanks to her hard work, the funds she raised and the support she received. Her successful campaign was shared 1300 times and she had 132 supporters.

Why MAKEACHAMP? 

Aisyah began her MAKEACHAMP campaign while she was running low on funds while training in Sydney in preparation for the Olympic Qualifications. She had trained away from Singapore because she didnt have a coach back home or rowing partners. Training alone would not of permitted her to becoming an olympian. This was her first crowdfunding campaign and she chose MAKEACHAMP because of the easy use of the platform and she was impressed at other athletes campaigns. Furthermore, Aisyah herself is not tech savvy so this seemed rather easy.

Tips and Tricks of Success

For Aisyah to maximize her chances of success in her campaign she used social media a lot ( i.e Facebook, Instagram) to spread her MAKEACHAMP campaign. Also she got her friends to share the site too. What really helped Aisyah coincidentally was that some of her friends are journalists and so they did a story or two on her campaign. This helped spread the word even further and maximized Aiysahs outreach. A very important reason why the crowd would support an athlete according to Aisyah is that people are going to support you in your goals is when they see that you believe in your dreams.

At first Aisyah was a little apprehensive when she began her campaign and wasnt sure how much support she would get. Personally she doesnt like asking for money but she decided to go with it and the response she got was amazing. It felt good to know that even though she was in a foreign country she was not alone in her journey and people believed in her. It felt amazing to share this journey with amazing people.

Personal Challenges

For 12 years Aisyah has been rowing but the toughest journey she has had has been this Olympic one. Lack of funding, living overseas and not being able to work overseas , Aisyah has had to live off her savings and take a risk that has never been done in Singapore before. There was a low point when she went got the worst nervous jitters and it affected her performance terribly. She did not perform well and she stopped enjoying the whole idea of rowing and racing. She has had scholarships and sponsorship being rejected and people telling her she is not good enough for the Olympics.

Realizing how far she had come made her change her ways. She stopped being unhappy and stressed, she then started enjoying life. She let go of her expectations and with her mental skills coach was able to focus on the present and it worked for the better. She was less worried and even her friends noticed it. Now that she is happy she is rowing faster on the water.

Olympic Preparation

Aisyah is a nervous wreck when it comes to competitions, she is fit and strong but during competitions she got nervous and could not perform. Success during a race is not about visualizing the race the night before but it has to be built over time just like physical training. Mental strength takes months to build up.

So one valuable lesson she has learnt is to focus on the present. It sounds simple but it is definitely not easy. Our minds will tend to wonder into worrying about the results and the outcome and these are unnecessary stresses because all we have to do is to think
about what we can control, which is the present! To physically prepare, she gives her all during her trainings and make sure she gets quality rest so that she is ready to push again for the next training.

Qualifying for Rio was her biggest goal and she is still overwhelmed by the fact that she made it! Moving forward, she aims to do her best for the Olympics and continue to work hard and train hard! Inspiration is hope that Aisyah says can be found beyond ourselves.  

Check out her campaign here.