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SCVA HP Blue, Southern California
Trip Summary, A Players Perspective
By Courtney Cook
My trip to Europe was the experience of a lifetime! Not only was the trip beautiful, but it brought my game to a whole new level.
From the moment that we stepped off the plane in Switzerland, we immediately knew we weren't in the USA anymore. The stares that we got from the other Swiss travelers were unexplainable. "American" might as well have been written on our foreheads. It was almost like we were from another planet. We were all wearing the same outfit, and all the girls on our team were a shade of blonde (except our Hawaiian teammate Hannah J). We felt like we were being watched wherever we went.
After taking the train to from Zurich to where we trained in Fiesch, we waited to get our dorm assignments. We were so excited to get our rooms so we could just relax! We had been traveling for more than 24 hours, and we were so pumped to get a break - until it happened. The Swiss coach told us that our rooms were at the top of the mountain!! We had to carry ALL of our luggage all the way up the mountain! Can you imagine all these Americans without the technological advantage of an elevator? It was not a pretty situation. With the help of some friendly Swiss players, we finally got to our dorms. Once we stepped foot in the rooms, we suddenly realized that the hike had all been worth it. The view of the Swiss Alps from our bedroom window was, without a doubt, the prettiest thing we had ever seen! As a person from Nebraska, I felt like the view was something that I could've only seen on a postcard. Now, I got to wake up to it in the morning!
Over the next few days, we trained with the Swiss team. It was really interesting to get to know the girls and Martin (their coach). We taught the girls how to "Jerk" and the Soulja Boy dance. They seemed so interested in what America was like, and we all asked them about how things were like in Switzerland. The best thing about the Swiss: they incorporate chocolate into EVERY single meal! They served hot milk with chocolate Ovaltine and chocolate Nutella on bread for breakfast, chocolate bars in our lunch, and chocolate deserts at dinner time. We thought we had died and gone to heaven!
We said our goodbyes to the Swiss and then traveled to Pula, Croatia, where the Global Challenge was held. The bus ride to Pula was ten hours long, but it didn't seem too bad because our team had a bunch of fun along the way.
Once we got there, we went straight to opening ceremonies. They introduced each team and took pictures. Our young team was in awe of how much taller some of the European teams were, but we were ready to compete! We played for the next couple days. The girls on the European teams were RIDICULOUS. They were all such amazing athletes. Some of them even hit over our block! I was shocked about how different their level of play was. Once our team got used to the tempo of the game, we started to figure it all out. We ended up playing pretty well! We got the championship in the Istra Division, which was a really cool.
The championship game was extremely intense! We played down to the wire in the 5th game, and lost by four points. It was disappointing, but we knew that we gave it our all. We were very proud to receive our silver medals in closing ceremonies. The tournament was probably the best learning experience of my career. It brought my play to a whole different level. It was extremely helpful in preparing me for college ball.
When we weren't playing in Pula, we went to the beach by our hotel. It was absolutely gorgeous! The water was Caribbean blue and there was never a cloud in sight! Once we got hungry, we had to go to the market to get some food. There was only one market in Pula close to our hotel. It had the weirdest name: The Super Pu! With an appealing name like that, we knew we just had to get our food there. After we hit the Pu, we would go into town. The shops at the Center were awesome. They had a lot of handmade gifts and beautiful jewelry. Our team bought everyone back home a lot of unique things.
After the last day in Pula, we took a bus ride to Venice, Italy. We drove through Slovenia. The ride was extremely scenic and our team desperately tried to snap pictures through the bus window. Once we got to our hotel in Venice, we were soon out the door to go to town. We got to the main city, and couldn't believe our eyes. Venice was unbelievable. There were no streets, only water canals. The buildings and architecture were fascinating. I have never taken so many pictures in my life! Some of my teammates and I were fortunate enough to ride a gondola. We caught a ride right as the sun was setting, so it was perfect for pictures!
The next day, we headed to airport to go home. We were all excited to get home, but knew we were going to miss Europe! The plane ride from Venice to Atlanta took almost eleven hours! It seemed like forever! We finally arrived to LAX around 10:45 at night.
My trip to Europe was great! I loved the girls and the coaches. We all seemed to get along extremely well, and we helped each other to become our best on the court. I will never forget the awesome times we had in Europe, and I can't wait to go back someday! |
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