Bring It Live

Brooke Rundle

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Four Continents in 24 Hours

May 17, 2018 was a record breaking day for BIP. We hosted 9 teams on 4 different continents in single day. From Brazil to Botswana and Costa Rica to Europe, never before have we had so many teams traveling and playing volleyball in such diverse locations at the same time.

Cory Solomon was traveling with Washington State University’s volleyball tour in Vienna, Austria.

Paige Hill lead Loyola Chicago’s volleyball team in Venice, Italy.

Sarah Ammerman guided the Texas A&M women’s volleyball team on bikes through Maribor, Slovenia. Bikes have become the preferred form of transportation on European summer tours, especially in Slovenia. In Slovenia we believe that traveling, and life, is better on two wheels.

Kiki Kocar of Slovenia hosted the University of North Carolina volleyball in Milan, Italy.

Jirka Honzik and Goran Jovanovic lead the Ball State women’s volleyball team through cultural tour in Prague, Czech Republic. Here’s 5 reasons Prague should be on your travel bucket list.

In the Far East Erin Leaser and Joe Trinsey lead the BIP USA team in Vietnam to compete in the 12th Annual Binh Dien Tournament.  The team played against top clubs from China, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Read their tour blog to see tournament results.

photo credit // Brittany Bell Surratt

Meanwhile in the Southern hemisphere Radovan Gacic hosted the Howard University women’s volleyball team on a 12 day tour through Botswana and Zimbabwe. They hosting youth volleyball clinics, connected with local leaders, visited the embassy and did a safari drive through the Mokolodi natural resort in Botswana.

This trip was life changing for many.  Junior middle blocker Olubunmi Okunade, reflects upon the adventure, “This was my first time going to Africa really and really experiencing and seeing how parallel cultures are from Nigeria to Zimbabwe and Botswana, seeing how everybody in Africa is really one. It was a great learning experience for me because I got to compare it to what I grew up with, which was a Nigerian strict household. Even though I was in Houston, my parents didn’t take away any of the culture from me.”

Brooke Rundle hosted Cornell College women’s volleyball team in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. The team surfed, hosted youth volleyball clinics and played the Costa Rica national team. This was the first of several Costa Rica volleyball tours for BIP in the summer of 2018.

Jeff Meeker, the head women’s volleyball coach at Cornell College had this to say about his team’s experience in Costa Rica, “It is hard to put into words the positive impact these tours have on our program and our players. Being able to blend the joys of international travel with competitive volleyball, service, learning different cultures and spreading our passion for volleyball is truly special.”

And finally Paty Figueiredo took the BYU men’s team on boat trip in Arraial do Cabo during their volleyball tour in Brazil. Head coach Shawn Olmstead reflects upon his team’s trip to Brazil, “both of our programs here at BYU have had the fortune of traveling with Bring It and Tim Kelly.  Each trip has been a once in a lifetime trip for our student-athletes and staff.”

 

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Highlights from Stanford Tour


The Stanford Women’s volleyball team traveled to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy with BIP this summer. As Stanford approaches the 2018 season ranked #1 in the AVCA preseason coaches poll, head volleyball coach Kevin Hambly reflects upon the purpose and impact of the trip.

“It was significant in several ways”, Hambly reflects, “first, it was exciting to get the freshmen involved. It’s a good step for them to get around the team and get integrated socially, but also volleyball-wise for team bonding in general. You always grow closer as a team when you travel. And to have this extended amount of time, it was great for the team to be around each other and grow closer.”

“The competition I thought was also very good”, explains Hambly,  “it was nice to play without worrying about winning and losing on some level because we could play a lot of players that haven’t really gotten the chance to play a lot. We did two separate teams.”

For the players it was a trip of many first experiences.  It was the first time traveling outside of the United States for some.  For many it was the first time playing volleyball in Europe. Getting to see new countries, experience a variety of cultures and get exposed to a very different style of volleyball were all listed among the team’s highlights. Getting to play the national teams of each country was the experience of a lifetime.

Watch the full highlight video of Stanford Women’s Volleyball tour to Europe below.

 

 

 

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Remember Puerto Rico

As you wander through the cobblestone streets of old town San Juan lined with pastel colored colonial buildings and Puerto Rican flags proudly waiving from balconies, it’s tempting for a visiting tourist to forget, or ignore, the aftermath of hurricane Maria. It’s easy to get carried away by the lively music, ice-cold frappes (fruit smoothies) and deliciously rich seafood cuisine on offer. Puerto Rico’s sandy white beaches and surrounding teal blue Caribbean Sea have a way of making you feel the presence of paradise.

However if you talk to anyone on the island who lived through the experience, there is no forgetting when the lights went out on September 20, 2017 –  the night that Hurricane Maria, a category 5 storm, made direct landfall on Puerto Rico. Winds reaching 175 mph lashed out on the island for over 30 consecutive hours tearing down power lines, ripping apart rooftops and shattering windows in homes, restaurants, churches and commercial office buildings. Maria’s fingerprints are everywhere; among trees with amputated branches, bent sign posts, crushed cars and collapsed rooftops. Bridges were washed away. Power lines were torn and left dangerously dangling. A coastal surge filled homes with several feet of muddy water leaving behind dangerous mold and an eery trail of dark water stains. [Read more…] about Remember Puerto Rico

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Texas Volleyball European Tour

The University of Texas Women’s volleyball team traveled to Slovenia and Italy this summer to play volleyball against top European professional clubs, bond as a team with their incoming freshmen and expand their world view through exposure to different cultures.  In this video the Longhorns reflect upon their team trip to Europe, its value and how it prepared them for their upcoming season.

“We use this trip also to connect, to build trust, to learn lines of communication and to establish our culture and make it stronger. They played against a bunch of national teams with some older players that have played this game a lot longer than they have. To see the different styles of volleyball, the different speeds of volleyball, really is a huge benefit to our program. Also for them [the freshmen] to be able to interact and get some of the nerves out, to understand the intensity of the game, the speed of the game and to build that trust with our captains in knowing that they’re an important facet to this year’s success is priceless.” – Jerritt Elliott, University of Texas Volleyball Head Coach.

“Being able to play the pro teams there was something that was really unique for all of us and I think it gave us a different type of challenge.” – Ashley Shook, Sophomore Setter

“It’s really nice to get put in uncomfortable situations very early so we can see how we respond to them. Being able to go play European teams that play a lot differently than teams in the US was very helpful.”- Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani, Senior Outside Hitter

 

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Let the Games Begin

Global Challenge 2018 Opening Ceremonies

As nationals are winding down and summer is heating up, volleyball teams from all over the world are making their way to Pula, Croatia for the start of BIP’s 14th annual Global Challenge. The United States will be represented by U17 and U23 select teams from all over the country including the USA College National Team and the Mountain West Conference All-Star Team. International competition will include Junior National and club teams from 9 different countries: Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, England, China, Sweden and Finland. [Read more…] about Let the Games Begin

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Costa Rica Volleyball Tours

As the eco-tourism and adventure capital of Central America, Costa Rica is not typically thought of as a big volleyball destination.  All of that is changing.  In 2016 Karen Cope and Natalia Alfaro were the first duo to ever represent Costa Rica at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero. In June, 2018 FECOVOL, the Federation of Costa Rica Volleyball, hosted the NORCECA U-19 boys Continental Championship at Costa Rica’s national sports complex in La Sabana.

In addition to the Costa Rica women’s and mens national teams, the capital city of San Jose is also home to top club teams eager and ready to play competitive volleyball matches for visiting DI, DII and DIII level college teams.  However beyond the volleyball, there’s several other compelling reasons teams are traveling to Costa Rica on their foreign tours. [Read more…] about Costa Rica Volleyball Tours