The Bethel University volleyball team is traveling together in Costa Rica from May 25-June 1. While there, the team will be playing top level club teams on three different dates and serving the community in three different cities. In addition, they'll enjoy several group activities that showcase the beauty and culture of Costa Rica. Each day the group plans to compose a blog post from different members of the team, answering the questions "What was good?", "What was hard?", "What'd we learn?", and "What's next?" To see more photos follow the team on Facebook or @BethelRoyalVolleyball on Instagram.
From Sydnie Sybrant
What was good?
We got to play today!!! Playing internationally is a new experience for us as a team, but it was so much fun (even though we are a bit rusty). As a Spanish speaker, I have loved the opportunity to interact with the people we have met through volleyball here so far, but I've loved watching my teammates who don't speak Spanish interact with them even more. Yesterday while playing, I couldn't help but think about all of the barriers that were being broken. People often refer to language as a barrier because it doesn't allow for verbal communication and while this might be true, today it didn't matter. Using volleyball as a way to relate to one another and giving up the ability to communicate using words is so difficult, but today we got to see how amazing it can be.
What was hard? And what did we learn?
Something that we talk about often as a team is the idea that you must be comfortable being uncomfortable, whether that's in volleyball or not. This trip has been teaching us this every second of the day, as we have been thrown into a new culture that most of us are not familiar with. Yesterday, we spent about a total of eight
hours on a bus driving through windy roads and one-way bridges, spent our third day in a row without sunshine (it's been raining almost 24/7), and played our first match in conditions which with we were entirely unfamiliar. This was difficult both physically and mentally, but it was all about learning how to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. We learned to be adaptable, and to find consistency among chaos that could've easily taken over and led to complaints. It's been so cool to see the growth that's already been occurring on our team, and I can't wait to experience the rest of this trip with these amazing girls!
What's next? (from Coach Hunt)
After playing a close five-set match last night, we are excited to be staying at a pretty fabulous hotel called Magic Mountain, with a view of the Arenal Volcano from the swimming pool. Tomorrow we will visit the Chachagua Rainforest and plant endangered species of trees in a re-forestation project near the volcano. We will spend time at an organic chocolate farm and learn how to make chocolate. And I think maybe we'll eat some too?? We have no environmental science majors on the trip, so we'll all be stretched tomorrow as we learn a little about how global warming is affecting Costa Rica specifically, and what local organic farmers are doing to create sustainable solutions. We're also hoping for a little sun!
