Fuel the Journey of Valentina and Maximiliano

2024

Our names are Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez, Team USA Pair Figure Skaters. We have been skating together for 4 years now and have had the honor of representing Team USA internationally and on the World Stage. We are currently 3rd in the country and 8th in world standings.

With being elite athletes, comes lots of financial responsibility towards the village behind our success. Our training schedule ranges from 7-8 hours daily with on ice and off ice work. We take a total of almost 4 hours of lessons with our coaches, 1-2 hours of fitness/ballet/ or pilates. With the longevity of our training days we are only able to coach for 2 hours a day. Coaching the future generation is our only way to find income and be able to balance training, work, and recovery to be at our best during our season and training.

We are each responsible for paying:

Our living expenses like Rent, Water, Electric, and Groceries

Our Ice Bill, Figure Skating Coaches, Off Ice coaching, Sports Psychologist, Physical Therapist, and Costume designer

These expenses add up to over $2,000 a month- which is far more than our job and funding provide for us.

Although we are part of Team USA our funding is minimal and only partial throughout the year. Right now we are looking to you for help in our ability to pay our coaches and ice time.

Our main goal is to make it to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games and represent Team USA in Italy- Our coaching team is the key to our success and ask for support to aid us as we reach our Olympic goal.

UPDATE FEB 2025

As this 24/25 season comes to an end, we begin planning and preparing not just our Olympic season, but our comeback. Due to Max’s injury, surgery, and recovery we were forced to sit this season out. This was not only devastating emotionally and physically but also financially. We missed competitions that offered opportunities, and most importantly US Championships- a competition that sets up our funds for the coming season. We are not sure what our future funding will look like and are looking for help in any way.

With Max’s medical bills-surgery, recovery, psychology, etc.- but his inability to work, it has been a difficult 5 months for him. With Max’s absence, I (Valentina) have been responsible for living expenses, coaching fees, and my own medical expenses as I continue to skate and work on myself.

As we begin our journey during the off season: costumes, programs, training, and continued recovery - we ask for your support. Any little helps us continue, whether a share or a donation, it goes a long way and means the world to us. We are excited to get back to training and take every step forward to make everyone proud and make this 25/26 season special.

*all donations go towards our skating*

UPDATE APRIL 2025

The time has come! Max will be coming back home and we are preparing to tackle these next few months to prepare as much as we can. We have music picked, measurements done for costumes, and a plan for our first bit of the season. We will be training hard May, June and July in preparation for Champs Camp in August and with the aim to get back to competition at Skate Detroit. We hope to see you soon and show you guys our wonderful work with our team all back together ❤️