Northern Lights U18's in Italy

25th Torneo International Volleyball Tournament
Pordenone, Italy

Day 1: Pordenone
Day 2: Pordenone
Day 3: Pordenone
Day 4: Pordenone

Day 1-Pordenone
By Susan and Tawny

We started off the morning with a bang.  For breakfast the hotel set out one basket of nine rolls and coffee, and being the Americans we are, we thought it was a snack before the meal.  Once we figured out no meal was coming, Nicole asked for more rolls, and the waiter responded…. “HUNGRY?”  Once again….fat Americans.  After the breakfast rolls we headed off to scrimmage the Swiss team.  The floor was slippery, but luckily both teams had fun and switched up the line-ups.  The team was younger than us so they made more mistakes, but it was still fun to meet new girls.  After the scrimmage we headed off to the lunch hall where we realized we really were going to eat thirteen straight meals of pasta, potatoes, and mystery meat.  Next we put on our Mizuno warm-ups and got ready for the opening ceremony.  Each team had their own sign of their team name and country, and everyone walked in a two mile parade from the lunch hall to “the square”.  This was an incredible experience as we walked with so many different countries as if we were in the Olympics.  When we got to the square “Imagine” by John Lennon was playing, and two players from each team went on stage with their sign while the rest mingled in the crowd.  Our team was given wine and a participation certificate on stage.  While on stage, Brook and Susan started talking to an Italian team as they translated the ceremony.  These boys soon became our favorites because they were gentlemen and two could speak English very well.  After the parade we went to eat dinner with all of the teams and it was packed.  Luckily we found our Italian friends and sat at their table with them.  Leah impressed them with all of her quirky talents, and represented the U.S well.