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Blugold Volleyball 2016 Europe Tour Blog

PHOTOS

May 23-24, 2016 (by Keagan Kinsella, Kelsey Kowitz and Laney Lovell)

Read their entry HERE

May 25, 2016 (by Mackenzee Pierog, Mady Pashibin, and Emily Miller)

Read their entry HERE

May 26, 2016 (by Kasey Schumacher, Madi Suprise and Heather Sawchuk)

Read their entry HERE

May 27, 2016 (by Amber Karn, Katrina Raskie, and Talia Jaskulske)

Read their entry HERE

May 28, 2016 (by Keagan Kinsella and Mackenzee Pierog)

Read their entry HERE

May 29, 2016 (by Jessica Coyne, Hope Foss, and Lyndsey Bassler)

Read their entry HERE

May 30, 2016 (by Kelsey Kowitz, Madi Suprise and Emily Miller)

Read their entry HERE

May 31, 2016

Read their entry HERE

June 1, 2016 (by Heather Sawchuk, Jessica Coyne, Mady Pashibin and Kasey Schumacher)

Read their entry HERE

June 2, 2016 (by Lyndsey Bassler, Amber Karn, Talia Jaskulske, and Laney Lovell) 

Read their entry HERE

June 3, 2016 (by Coach Kim Wudi)

Ten days. Sixteen volleyball players. Countless memories. One amazing experience. When you wake up in the City of Lights and go to sleep in your own bed over 4,000 miles away, you can’t help but marvel at just how easy it is to travel the world in 2016. But for our team, our trip to Europe was anything but certain.

We have been planning our trip for three years – from seemingly endless fundraisers to selecting our destination to organizing all of the finite details. Over the past eighteen months, we seriously questioned whether it was appropriate to take our trip in light of the budget cuts at our university. Then in November 2015, we were at NCAA regionals when we learned of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Over spring break, Brussels was attacked, and anxious discussions ensued regarding the decision to travel with our student-athletes abroad. Needless to say, our student-athletes’ safety was our main concern, so we paid special attention to U.S. State Department travel alerts as well as advice from UW-Eau Claire’s Center for International Education.

In her blog shortly after the Brussels attacks, Paige Smith wrote: “We cannot allow fear to dictate our travels. If we took into account every moment of violence that’s ever taken place in any given destination, we’d never leave our bedrooms. The world is unsafe, this we know… But for all the danger and senseless violence that occurs around the globe, there is ten times as much love and generosity present. There are kind strangers in every corner of the world ready to share their homes and cities with us, ready to dispense advice about the best breakfast joints in town or the prettiest viewpoints, ready to offer directions to a lost tourist, ready to lend a hand in a crisis, ready to prove — with their thoughtful gestures and their encouraging words and their kind hearts — that humanity is inherently good.” (Visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paige-smith/why-its-more-important-than-ever-to-travel_b_9527082.html for the full post.)

Thankfully, we departed May 23rd without incident, and in our ten days abroad, we interacted with many wonderful people in the three countries we visited. Post-match conversations with opposing players and coaches, questions and answers with multilingual tour guides, defying language barriers to engage in small talk with locals, and ordering food and drinks from waiters, waitresses and bartenders in cafes and pubs – some of whom spoke English and some of whom did not. Each conversation was not only an opportunity to experience the “inherent goodness of humanity,” but also for our college students to grow in their confidence to thrive in an increasingly global society. 
 
Our team represented UW-Eau Claire and Blugold Athletics with class and pride, and returned home with souvenirs, clothing from European designers, over 1500 photos (and counting), and countless memories with teammates. And yet, my hope for the trip is that each student-athlete learned a little something about herself, grew in her appreciation for history, culture and art, and gained an understanding of just how small the world really is and how important it is that we have the courage to explore it. 

I would be remiss not to mention a few people who were instrumental in planning and administering the tour. Thanks to Chad Wilkinson of AIST for putting up with dozens of phone calls and emails as we sorted through trip details and payments. Throughout the trip, we were in good hands with our AIST tour guide, Jenny Hess (who incidentally played softball at UW-Eau Claire), as well as our multilingual guide Francesca and our fearless driver, Norman. From start to finish, these three worked tirelessly to ensure that our needs were met throughout the trip. We are so grateful to them for taking such good care of our group!

We now turn our attention to summer camps and getting ready for our fall 2016 season! Thanks for following our team's adventures and we hope to see you (whether in person or online) at our matches this fall! GO BLUGOLDS!!!