Women's Volleyball Day 1

Wow, what a first day. We started off with breakfast after our red eye, and were given the chance to nap for a little while before lunch. After lunch volleyball was off to our first clinic.

Our first clinic was held at St. Francis University, where they have kindergarten to eleventh grade. We had the pleasure of teaching girls from age six to fifteen the skills of volleyball. We went through fundamentals, drills, and then got to finish with playing six on six, even with their coach. It was such a great experience getting to see the joy and excitement the girls had through each and every point on the court.

These girls were so great! They went through every drill like a champ, and were such an entertainment to watch. These "muscolos" poses were their signature. Teaching us some spanish through the clinic, and acting each of them out. They look small, but they were defintely tough girls.

After getting to play some six on six Andi was given the chance to share her testimony, and pray over the girls sharing with them how beautiful Jesus sees them and the love that he has for them. They were such hard working girls and it was such a pleasure getting the spend the afternoon with them. While getting our gear off and getting ready to leave the friar/principal of the school came to thank us and speak with us. He was so funny in that he kept apologizing for not being able to speak Enlish, but at the same time none of us are able to speak Spanish. He was such a welcoming man, and seeing the love he has for the kids at the school was such a cool experience.

After having the clinic, we drove directly to the University of Costa Rica were we played a match against them. They were much scrappier than what we expected and lost the first game 21-25. We came back in the second game, getting our groove back and playing intense volleyball, we won 25-18. The third game we got down to where it was 1-10, and ended up getting the win, 28-26. The girls we played were intense, and in the end we were able to give them CCU sixth man t-shirts, and thank them for giving us the oppertunity to play with them.

After our match we met up with women's basketball and soccer, and just barely missed the ending point for the basketball's game. Our first day was defintely an adventure, and such an amazing time getting to work with the girls, and even getting to play the Costa Rican University team. We all are trying to get used to the fast pace driving of Costa Rica, you may think Colorado is bad, but you can not imagine it here, especially with no street signs to add to it. All the while the drivers communication being through their horns, BEEEEEP!!!!!, seriously.