Monday, June 1 - Notre Dame, Ind.
Head coach Debbie Brown

WOW! As I think back over the last two weeks I'm amazed at all we were able to experience. In every way imaginable the trip was a huge success. We were able to stay in big cities and in small communities. We enjoyed the beach as well as the mountains and hills. We traveled by bus, train, metro and plane ... and some of us even snuck in a ride on a gondola. And, we were able to play some great volleyball. My personal favorite was our time on the island of Sicily.

Flying into Palermo allowed us to see the beautiful coastline and beaches of that city. And on the way to the opposite side of the island we were able to see vast farmlands, beautiful mountains and hills, and even a great view of the mighty Mt. Etna. From our home base in the city of Modica (which is an architectural wonder) we were able to take day trips to the cities of Agrigento, Ragusa, as well as a couple different small beach cities. The Valley of the Temples in Agrigento was simply amazing. In America we think something is old when it's been around for more than 100 years, and we were seeing things that were two thousand years old!

The organizers of the tournament in Modica were wonderful hosts. They were eager for us to experience all that the island had to offer in addition to enjoying some good volleyball. They even made sure we had an ample supply of chocolate before each game (they are famous for their chocolates!) We were fired up to win the tournament, as we had to work hard to beat the host club for the championship.

Our goal going into this trip was to see all that we could; to learn firsthand about the history and culture of each of the cities we visited. We wanted to take in as much as we possibly could. In addition, we wanted to take advantage of competing again. We wanted to be competitive in every match we played. The volleyball in Italy is very good, and we didn't know how we would stack up against some of the teams. In most cases, we were forced to play at a high level. I was particularly pleased with how the team responded in our last two matches against the Italian Junior National Team. Not only was this the best team we had played throughout the tour, the matches also came at the very end, when we were most fatigued. The effort the team put forward was truly remarkable.

I think back to our last night there. We were having our last gelato together at the Trevi fountain. We had just lost our last competition in a hard fought five-set match. The word that best describes how I felt is "saturated". I'm not sure how many miles we walked throughout the 12 days we were there ... but I know it's a significant number. We played seven matches and had one practice throughout those 12 days. The days we didn't play were usually spent traveling. We didn't cut back on our sightseeing on match days, and in fact sometimes went straight to the match from wherever we might have been visiting. We saw all that we could see, we ate as much gelato as we could, we enjoyed every facet of the Italian culture, and we were ready to go home. Yes, we were saturated, but it was a great feeling.

We owe a huge thank you to Bring It Promotions for organizing a fantastic tour. This is the third time we've used this company to organize a tour for our program, and each time I think it can't get any better, but it does. Tim Kelly and Joanna Fielder were absolutely awesome hosts/guides for us. Thanks, Tim and Jo, for a wonderful experience.