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Good Morning!
Well, we're finally on our way to Nicaragua! We left Eau Claire this morning at 5:00 a.m., and after picking up the rest of the team in Madison, we are waiting to board our plane at O'Hare. While our journey is just beginning, let me fill you in on how we got to this point.
The NCAA allows Division III teams to participate in an international "tour" once every three years. The volleyball team's last trip was in 2006 when we toured Italy during spring break. Our team first started discussing our options for the 2010 trip last spring, and we began researching various destinations where we could compete, experience the culture of another country, and do some service projects.
As you can imagine, the girls were drawn to warm climates (we had already determined we would travel in January 2010), and most of the tour agencies we looked at had a lot of "tourist" activities, some volleyball and just a day or two of community service. Through a Google search, I found a company called "Bring It Promotions" (www.bringitusa.com) that had done tours to Europe, Central America and South America with several different volleyball programs. In a phone conversation with Tim Kelly, the owner of BIP, we discussed our options and he suggested that we consider Nicaragua. He talked about the beauty of the country, the opportunity to play competitive volleyball, and an abundance of service projects that we could take part in. I read several of the blogs from teams who had traveled to Nicaragua and I was sold, but I left the final decision up to the team.
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