Posted: 05/02/07

Girls soccer team goes abroad
Preseason in Europe

Kyla Waldron | contributing writer
kwaldron@smcvt.edu

This August the St. Michael’s College women’s soccer team is traveling to England, Germany, and the Czech Republic for 10 days.

Five years in the making

The trip started being planned last fall, says head coach Marcel Choquette. He had taken another team five years ago and was ready to go again; the current team is very excited to go, he says.

The trip abroad is a great experience for the team, Choquette says. The NCAA has a rule that allows teams to go outside the traditional season every five years. The team used fundraisers, raffle tickets, and payment programs to pay for the trip abroad.

“I took eight rising seniors before and when we got off the plane they said ‘thank you for the trip of a lifetime’,” Choquette says.

Harvard Sports Tours is the company developing the itinerary for the team, they will go site seeing, have daily training, play three matches, and go to a professional soccer game.

“Three other college coaches have taken their teams, it is already proven to be a successful trip,” Choquette says.

The team will leave August 6th and come back August 15th, their regularly scheduled preseason starts August 17th, thus, the trip allows for and extended preseason.

“Going on the trip gives the team more than double the time for preseason, which is a huge benefit,” Choquette says.

The team will be spending three days in England, three days in Prague, and the remainder of the trip in Germany, where they will travel to Regensburg and Munich.

“What previous teams have told me is how great it is to travel to soccer-rich countries; soccer is life there, soccer is completely wide spread,” Choquette says.

Bonding experience

Preseason starts 10 days before classes for the girl’s soccer team. It consists of double sessions, usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon, junior Katie Burdett says. Sometimes the team mixes it up with scrimmages or pool workouts. It is a great way to get some extra fitness and games in before preseason starts, Burdett says.

“I hope that this trip will be beneficial both for actual soccer and fitness as well as team chemistry. I think it will really get our team bonding started before actual preseason begins back here at St. Mike’s,” Burdett says.

The team will play one game in each city it visits in Europe and have morning fitness, so the team has time to have fun together. Some first-year players will be traveling with the team abroad as well, Burdett says.

“I am looking forward to how this trip will change our team dynamics for the better. I think since we will have ten days together before preseason even starts, we will have a good foundation as a team and we will be able to get right down to business once we are back for preseason,” Burdett says.

Something new

Alicia Baxter, a first-year on the women’s soccer team, has never done something like this for soccer, or ever gone abroad.

“I am so excited for the trip, I cannot wait just to go to another country,” Baxter says.

She says she hopes the trip will benefit the team by bringing them closer, Baxter says. The preseason this year was her first and she did not find it too hard, it was filled with scrimmages, drills, and conditioning.

“I am looking forward to how different it will be to play over there,” Baxter says.

Sophomore Kelley Ruch says the trip abroad will be beneficial for meeting the new players that are joining the team this coming year. The trip will also help with the fitness of the team so that when preseason starts the team will be in shape and ready to go.

“We've worked harder this spring on our fitness than ever before and as long as we keep that mentality to work hard and our competitive drive, we should be able to compete with any team we face next fall. I'm not saying it will be easy, but we will definitely come out and be ready to play the full 90 minutes,” Ruch says.

Ruch says she looks forward to traveling and exploring new countries with the team.

“It is important to keep it fun,” she says.