Brittany's recap

I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to go on this  
trip!  I got to know some truly amazing people whom I will never  
forget.  I loved going to visit Prague for a couple of reasons.   
First, I had never been there before in my life!  There was so much to  
see and learn about everywhere we went.  It was neat to see that there  
were almost no paved roads or sidewalks in the city.  They were all  
made of cobblestones, and they had really cool designs and patterns.   
Second, this area is part of my heritage.  My last name mens bird in  
Czech :)  Third, I had never been in a mirror maze before, and we  
found one in Prague.  We had a great time laughing at our elongated  
and morphed reflections.  And, finally, it had such amazing views and  
things to see!  After the mirror maze, some of us went up in this huge  
tower that overlooked all of Prague. 

1/2 of our team got this treatment/pedicure type thing done (I don't
really know what it is called) where fish ate the dead skin off of
their feet!!! The other half of the team went shopping and to watch
the show at the bell tower.

In Slovenia, we did the hamster balls...So fun! I was able to do a
couple cartwheels, but they didn't end up too pretty. I fell a bunch
of times :)

We also jumped off of the diving board...
In Croatia, we got to play some amazing teams. Some of them were much
older than us too.

We went to the beach and got food at the market down the street though
it wasn't always the healthiest food I must admit.

As far as the playing goes, I thought that we improved a ton as a team
throughout the tournament. It was so much fun to beat Pula and
Northern California. I also enjoyed taking a game off of the Romanian
team whom we had made friends with on the bus the previous night.

I had so much fun going to see Harry Potter in the ancient colosseum in
Pula. We drew lightning scars on our faces and some of us carried
around sticks that we broke off of a tree as wands.
After Croatia, we went to Venice. Taylor, Willow, Emily, and I met up
with Emily's parents and went to the top of a tower in Saint Mark's
Square and got an amazing view of the city!

After that we went shopping and out to eat dinner at a restaurant called S. Stefano.
Our time in Venice ended all to quickly though, and before we knew it,
we were back at our hotel and packing for our flight home the next
day. This experience is truly something that I will never forget, and
I know that I have our coaches, Hava, Brock, and Val, to thank for
that! We met some incredible people that I will treasure for the rest
of my life! I look forward to staying in touch with the girls!!
Thanks again to everyone :)

Emily's recap

This trip was an incredible experience. From meeting and playing with most of the girls in L.A. to our last game in Pula, our volleyball team improved so much! I had a lot of fun traveling and sightseeing. Prague was really unique. The thunderstorm we experienced was exciting and helped the team bond. All of us girls really meshed well together and got along well. I wish we had more time in the beautiful city of Bled. The lake was amazing and another day there would have been great. Once we reached Croatia we were all ready to play and go swimming in the clear ocean. Pula was amazing and watching Harry Potter in the colosseum was super cool. Venice was a good place to finish the trip. I cannot wait to go back to Venice to ride a gondola. I am really glad I had the opportunity to travel with this team and experience this once in a lifetime opportunity. I personally appreciate all of the coaches' hard work to make this happen.

Thanks so much,

Emily Newton

 

McKenna's recap

I had an amazing experience on the high performance global challenge trip. Starting in Czech we were greeted by a huge thunder and lightning storm on the first day there after practice. On our days there, it was great to see the castle, towers and the clock show in the city. Other than the sightseeing, we had the chance to play the Czech team and actually get close to beating them, which is crazy since they practice all year, and some have been playing for twelve years or more. We had the honor of eating at an authentic Czech restaurant and tried new foods, like fried cheese. Our bus ride to Slovenia was beautiful, driving through Austria and seeing all the green mountains and villages. In Slovenia, we had such a fun time in the lake, swimming and for some walking on the hamster balls on the water and trying to catch balance.

(on Lake Bled)

 Afterwards we had a scrimmage game against the younger Czech girls (Czech Youth National Team) who we rode on the bus with, which was another good practice as a team before we played in the global challenge. The next morning, we woke up and packed our bags for Croatia and went in the ocean first thing once we got settled in our hotel. The water was pretty and clear and afterwards were covered in salt. We played the next day for day one of the tournament and won our first match on our third attempt. We got our candy and extra snacks from the Market down the street, which we visited often. We had a great time playing each day and getting more experience and better as the days progressed. We were excited to learn that there would be a movie showing of the new Harry Potter in the Colosseum and got the okay to go.

(note the lightning bolts)

After a long day of playing, we got ready with our lightning bolts drawn on our foreheads and wands, ready to go for the midnight showing. It was a great movie and really cool to see lightning and thunder as the backdrop in the huge colosseum. The next morning we had an early match and slept after to catch up on sleep, instead of going to the beach like we would normally do. On our final day, we braided our hair for the final game. Afterward, our team watched the USA girls win the match and the tournament. In closing ceremonies, we watched the "all tournament" awards be handed out and cheered and took pictures with other girls we had met. That night, everyone had fun doing different things from giving clothes and shoes to the young Pula girls, to playing beach volleyball with the Croatian boys. It was sad to leave, but we looked forward to Italy the next day. Once in Venice, we took the train ride and visited the beautiful city. We walked a cool long way through narrow alleys next to the water. Once in the square, we saw the church and beautiful architecture. We were able to go off on our own in groups for a few hours to walk around and shop, and eat pizza and gelato. On our last night, we played and hung out in our hotel and it was crazy to know we would be leaving for America the next day. The flights were great, the only negative was the insane heat on the plane from New York! Once in L.A., we were greeted by our parents and said our goodbyes, hoping to see each other soon, with the great friendships we made. I had a wonderful experience of volleyball, sightseeing, friendships, independence, and of course gelato.

McKenna Murphy

More Pics

SCVA - PULA shirt swap

Closing Ceremonies

All Tournament Team

July 22

Today the team left for Venice while I stayed behind and went to stay with friends in Maribor, Slovenia.  Everyone was off safe and sound, including the 2 moms that I apparently scared by telling them they were on the 6am van departure and don't be late.  Alka said she felt like she was in trouble ;) - nope, just cracking that whip!

I feel this has been a great trip with a great group of young ladies.  They have met some great people, played some tough volleyball and seen some incredible sights. 

I'm waiting for the blog from the girls and will post as soon as I have it.

Val

July 21 - Istra Division Finals/Allie Eason makes All Tournament Team

July 21

The day started with wake up at 7 because we played at 9. We got breakfast at 715 (there are no colons on this computer...). We ate the usual hotel breakfast of bread,eggs,and yogurt. Most of us are getting tired of the same meals every morning. At 8 we met in the lobby to walk to the gym for our first match of the day against Pula, who we had played on the second day. To gaurantee playing in the finals of the Istra Division, we had to beat Pula in 3 games. We started our 9 oclock match and lost the first game, though we had started off with a big lead. We fought for the next two games and won those. After our game was over, we waited to find out if we would play in the finals at two or for bronze at twelve. It came down to scores, but we pretty easily made it to the finals. We went back to the hotel to relax for a little and eat lunch, where Kayla, Amber, and the Maddies surprised us with some super cool hair styles. We decided that we would all do our hair and match each other for the last game we would play as a team. We put our hair into separate parts with little rubber bands, then braided the pieces and put them together into high pony tails. We looked like studs. We left the hotel to the gym, getting some interested looks due to our nifty hair styles. When we got to the gym, we saw some of the German kids we met at the hotel there to watch us play. We were playing the Pula team again, for the third time in the tournament and the second time of the day. Unfortunately, we werent able to come up with a win against the team we had beaten twice already, and we lost in the first three games out of five. Although we lost, it was amazing to see how much we improved as a team. Looking back on our first day and seeing how far we have come was crazy, and it is sad to know we wont play together again. We walked back to the hotel and had to shower and change in an hour to go back and watch the finals. We knew the game between the USA A2 team and the Czech team that we had scrimmaged in Bled. The Czech team won the first game, but the USA team won the next three with a lot of energy and incredible playing. Some of us had girl crushes on the setter, libero, and middle because they were SO talented. After the game, we had closing ceremonies and recieved tournament tshirts and Allie got the all tournament award for our team. Maddie built up the courage to ask the libero from the USA team for a picture. We left the gym for a pizza dinner, tired of the hotel food. We finished eating and were off to the hotel for some mingling and packing to leave. WE LEAVE FOR VENICE TOMORROW and we are all really excited.

Love, Emily and Allie

PS  the whole part where they looked like "studs" due to the braids, well....you be the judge ;)  coulda just been that they looked like studs?! (Val)

More GC Competition and Harry Potter in the Colosseum

*** I am leaving this typed as is since it is sooo special with the typos-Val***

Hello! It is Taylor and Brittany here! This morning we woke up super tired and here is why: A few days ago Allie and I were obsessed with finding a place that we could see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II! (PS this computer won"t let me type regularly> I can"t type periods only exclamation marks! and question marks? and i have to turn on the caps lock to type with capital letters) anyway allie and i went to the front desk and asked if there were any cinemas nearby (they dont call them movie theaters here)> She said that there werent any> She did say though that harry potter was playing at eleven PM in the colosseum!!!!!! we got super excited but we didnt think that Hava and VAL WOULD LET US SEE IT (OKAY THE COMPUTER DECIDED TO ONLY TYPE IN CAPITAL LETTERS! I HAVE NO CONTROLR IGHT NOW!) BUT WHEN WE BROUGHT IT UP THEY SAID THAT WE COULD BECAUSE IT WOULD BE A GOOD CULTURAL EXPERIENCE SINCE IT IS IN THE COLOSSEUM! SO AFTER OUR MATCHES that night (okay it went back to normal) we all took showers and goto ready to go> Allie and I drew lightning bolt shaped scars on almost everyones forheads and then we went outside and broke sticks off of the trees so that we could have wands> then at nine pm we got into some cars thaT hava and brock borrowed and drove to the end of one of thE market streets> we walked down the street and shopped and took pictures and ate pizza> as we were waiting for pizza tWo canadian teenagers were walkingg by and staring at us> Emily was the first to break the awkward silence by exclaiming "hello!" They replied with "Englissh?" and then we started talking to them> Their names were Brady and Marco (POLO!) and they ended up sneaking into the colosseum to see the movie> After pizza we finished the walk to the colosseum and got in line> None of us have probably ever inhaled more secondhand smoke than on this trip! The line took a while to get through but we stuck together by holding hands and linking arms and we passed the time by singing songs and talking to Marco and Brady> they didnt have cool Canadian accents though :( finally we made it into the colosseum> It was already really crowded and we had to split our team in half so thaT we could find seats> Emily and i (it is brittany who is typing this btw) really had to pee so we went into the line while taylor saved our seats> The line probably had like thirty people in it but there were only two stalls and surprisingly the mens line had just as many but we made friends with some girls from germany> we had to watch the firist couple of minutes of the movie from the bathroom line> The movie was incredible though and Allie definitely shed some tears> I got the chills (not from thE cold) seveRal times> Some people didnt want to see the movie as much as some of us did though> Tall Maddie fell asleep within the first half hour and kayla and Little Maddie fell alseep cuddling in a blanket (so precious! I wish I could seen it!)> The weather was perfect for the movie! TheRe was lightning going off in the sky in the nearby cities but never did it come near us luckily> it was also peRfect becausE the wind would pick up at the really intense parts of the movie! When it was oveR we all met outside at a predeterned spot and started walking toward the main street where Hava and Brock were going to pick us up> Unfortunately as we werE walking Anjali slipped on the stony sidewalk and landed on heR tailbone> she was really sore the next day and was thEreforoE unable to play the next day :( By the time we it back to thE hotel and went to bed it was three AM!!!! We had to get up at seven to go to breakfast so that we could leave by eight and play by nine> Our first match was against OK Galeb (i believe that they are from montenegro) we lost in three and we played a little sluggishly> but we made up for lost sleep in between matches> for most of us we slept once we got to the hotel> we only woke up to go lunch but then we fell asleep again> it felt nice and by the next match we were more awake and ready to go> we played ncva (northern california) and beat them in three> this made us feel better because it gave us a chance to be in the finals of the Istra division> after the match we showered and got ready for dinner> we were extremely tired of the hotel food so we were treated to pizza by the ptaks as a special treat> it was really good and we were very satisfied after> we were still tired from the lack of sleep so most of us went straight to bed after doing our laundry for the next day of play> this whole trip has been such an incredible experience and we can"t believe that it is almost over! it is really cool to meet all of these foreign people and realize that though we live so far away from eachother we are still very much the same> it is also really cool to leave our mark in such an amazing place> a couple of us were asked to take pictures with girls from other countries and we saw two girls wearing some of taylors old mission viejo high school jerseys> anyway we are having a ton of fun! but we miss everyone a lot too!!

this is taylor and brittany signing out again!