THE COSTA RICA BLOG -- For nine days, the Virginia Tech Women's Soccer team was in the Central American country of Costa Rica. During that time, the team played a couple of friendlies against Costa Rica teams, while also focusing on building on its team culture and relationships within the group. Players teamed up for the trip and each group wrote a blog post for the website (one a day posted the next morning, and can be viewed below). Head Coach
Chugger Adair recently added his final thoughts on the trip.
FINAL THOUGHTS (Coach Adair)
It was a great experience for the players and the team overall. This was a really good opportunity for us to spend time together in a different setting, in a different environment and just traveling together was great for building our team as whole. Soccer-wise, we really played an exceptional first game against the Costa Rica National Team. It was a very challenging game at their national training facility. It was a great environment for our student-athletes to be in and for us as a team. They had a handful of very special players on their side playing against us, professional-quality players, so it was good for us to experience that. The last game we played was against the country's top women's program and they rested a few players, but the opportunity for us to play in a nice stadium and to have that experience and to come out with a win was great. Overall, it was a difficult, busy, fun-filled activity week. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many of our players and as a group, and it turned out great for us.
Once we left and got back to the states, we all went our separate ways and for the team, the players are getting into their summer with a feeling of a better connection with the group and getting themselves even more prepared and excited for the fall season. I think we are really going to transition from this trip – from the experiences and the culture – into the fall season. As a staff, we're really looking forward to having a really good group of student-athletes back who have gained some more experience and are battle-tested from their experiences from last year and with this trip. So, we're really looking forward to the fall.
DAY 9 (
Alexa Anderson,
Jordan Hemmen,
Kiersten Hening)
Hello Hokie Nation! Alexa, Jordan, and Kiersten coming at you with the last blog of our Costa Rica trip.
We started out our final day with three options. We could either go to the local animal sanctuary to see some cool animals, take a stroll to the beach and shop downtown, or just sleep in. We all needed to pack and meet back at the hotel to check out at 12 p.m. By mid-morning, we all flocked to the lobby to checkout and head back to San Jose.
We trekked three hours on our last scenic bus ride stopping midway through to grab some pregame smoothies and snacks. We arrived at the stadium about an hour early, did our pregame locker room rituals, warmed up, and were ready to play at game time around 6 p.m.
We came out on top with a 6-1 victory tonight! The highlight of the game was
Mathilda Lindström's goal. Mathilda has been such a good teammate and addition to our team this past year. After this trip, she will be heading back to Sweden to study and continue her soccer career and we will miss her so much. She went out with a bang! After the game, we headed back to the first hotel we stayed at in San Jose. This hotel is the closest to the airport and we will be checking out around 4:30 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. flight. Rise and shine!
Our experience in Costa Rica has been amazing. Thanks to our amazing tour guides, Billy Kingsley and Lucie Sanchez, we have been able to submerge ourselves in the culture and traditions of this beautiful country. Every single day led to a new adventure and ended with an unforgettable memory. We are very thankful and blessed to have had the opportunity to visit such a memorable place as we travel back to our home country with heavy hearts!
Thank you Hokie Nation for following along with all of our activities and adventures. We will be back in Blacksburg early August to start the grind for the fall season. Until then, Pura Vida and go Hokies!
DAY 8 (
Nicole Kozlova,
Olivia Odle)
Hola Hokie Nation,
As we woke up this morning, we came to the realization that we only have one last full day in the beautiful Dominical, Costa Rica before heading back to San Jose for our final match. What better way to spend our day than with the local kids at la escuela Dominical de Osa, paint some of their classroom buildings and pick up trash along the river down the street from the school.
As we stepped off the bus, we were welcomed with wide eyes and smiling faces in light blue collared shirt and navy pants uniforms that we were told signified the kids were in elementary school. Apart from the uniforms, some were dressed up in long, ruffled, Costa Rican colored dresses. As we gathered around, with upbeat music in the background, a group of students performed a few typical Costa Rican dances for us to enjoy. Following the performance, we all indulged in a little taste of culture, provided by the staff of the school as we took pictures and got organized in our task groups.
'Teamwork makes the dream work' literally applied as we tackled repainting two school buildings in just a couple of hours. The coaches' kids helped paint all the cracks and crevices, behind and in between iron rods, while the rest used rollers leaving about a foot and a half left at the top of each wall for our coaches to finish up. Besides the humidity, insects and avoiding painting yourself on accident, the most challenging part of the task was not getting the two shades of beige mixed up. While a group of us channeled our inner Picasso, another group from our team helped to continue erasing the carbon footprint from Costa Rica by picking up trash along the river just down the road from the school.
To end our morning at the school, we had the chance to give each of the 30 students in attendance, a stocking filled with school supplies we collected. With excitement on their faces and gratefulness in their hugs, we said our hasta luegos and headed back toward our hotel.
After the morning volunteer work, sweat dripping down our backs, hands covered in paint, we were all starving and ready for some lunch. We had the freedom to eat anywhere we wanted in the little town next to our hotel. There was a great variety of what people decided to eat, from tacos to smoothie bowls.
Soon after, it was time for a soccer practice! We headed over to a turf futsal field. It was under an open style roof so we were lucky to have this to keep us dry during the daily downpour of Costa Rica. We had an intense, fun-filled practice. The small sided games got competitive with some players getting frustrated with their touch or their sunburns hurting and every team wanting to win.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a grocery store where most of us bought THE BEST ice cream sandwich in the world. Some people bought coffee beans as souvenirs and others bought lots of chocolate bars. At dinner, we got to enjoy some corn on the cob, wings, pasta and potatoes. And of course, we can't forget about dessert which was ice cream on a piece of chocolate cake. Tonight, we are all going to get a good night's rest in preparation for tomorrow's game. Wish us luck!
DAY 7 (
Grace Sklopan,
Karlie Johnson,
Lilly Weber)
Hello Hokie Nation...Grace, Karlie and Lilly here!
Today, we spent the day on a Catamaran, which is a giant floating bloat! The Catamaran had water slides, Jacuzzis and two nets that you could lay on! We began our adventure on the Pacific Ocean and took to the sea. As we hit a few bumps some of our teammates started to feel sick. The very nice crew made us a drink that may have tasted terrible but did the trick and we got our sea legs back!
Our journey took us to a wildlife area where a few films were made, including spy kids!! Our next stop was where the thrill of our day began! We got to jump off the top of the boat and slide down the water slides!! We had our lunch on the boat which was fish, pasta, rice, chips, salsa and vegetables. The meal was delicious and drinks were splendid! As we were docked, we got to see the fish and jellyfish swim by and look at the beautiful coastline of Costa Rica.
After eating, we started our voyage back to the dock where we then took the bus back to the town. Here, we had the option to buy souvenirs and bracelets as well as eat some of the indigenous foods. We have been allowed to adventure and try new foods that we are not given in the U.S., which is a new experience given by the opportunity of this trip. After the town, we headed back to our hotel for a chill afternoon where people napped and swam in the pool until dinner! Dinner was delicious and dessert was coffee flan! After that we went back to our rooms to rest up for the next big day!!
PURA VIDA!!!!!!!
DAY 6 (
Emily Gray,
Mathilda Lindström,
Bridget Patch)
What's up Hokie Nation?! It's Emily, Mathilda, and Bridget here catching you up on our adventures for the day. The time is flying and we are having so much fun that it's getting harder to keep track of the days!
From start to finish, today was a great day. First, we woke up to the beautiful sounds of the rainforest. Some of the creatures spooked us on our front porches as we left to begin our day, but we are slowly adapting to becoming one with nature of the land. Before we knew it we were embarking onto the bus for our beach day. On the way we stopped at the supermercado to purchase some fruits, water, and the essentials for pb&j. After the quick stop, we continued our journey toward the Pacific Ocean. Our professional braiders were fairly busy during this portion of the trip.
Finally, we made it to the beach! We put our things in the sand before the surfing instructions began. Everyone started taking turns on the surfboards in the water. A lot of us managed to stand up on our feet and catch a few waves. Even the kids got to try. We got lucky with the weather today which was perfect considering the activities. It only drizzled for half an hour. While some continued surfing others spent their time playing spike ball and soccer. When lunchtime came around our tour guides Lucy and Billy had prepared fresh fruit for us under the palm trees. We met some people from the U.S as well who are now locals of Costa Rica. By the end of the day many of us ended up with sunburns but nevertheless we will all go to bed tonight knowing that today was a success! Thanks for catching up with us, Pura Vida!
DAY 5 (
Emma Steigerwald,
Jaylyn Thompson and
Alice Hamel)
Pura vida!!
This morning started early with our first training session of the trip! We left the hotel at 6:50 in the morning saying goodbye to a foggy view of Arenal volcano. We went into the town of La Fortuna where we arrived to our pitch, beautiful green grass surrounded by a track. The volcano was in full view and it was breathtaking to be playing the sport we love in that atmosphere. Across from us, some of the locals were playing volleyball and it's so interesting to see how active the people of this country are. After arriving, we got in a good stretch and began our session with just a few drills before we got into some small-sided games. After practice we had to move quick! Only an hour at the hotel for last minute packing, showers, and most importantly: breakfast! Everyone was grateful to have gotten their legs moving again, especially with the ride to come.
Breakfast was amazing as usual and we are still in awe of the beauty in all aspects of this place. Our every day life would be automatically upgraded if we could look up and see a beautiful volcano each day. We are so lucky to get this opportunity because I know it is one that comes once in a lifetime for most people. When we gathered our bags we headed to the bus to get to our next destination, the Villas Rio Mar. It seemed like we all napped up until we got to our tour guide Lucy's amazing hometown. Once we arrived, we felt so welcomed by the atmosphere. We sat down for lunch and a lot of the girls even got to try cows tongue and enjoyed it!! It has been an eye-opening experience trying new things and putting ourselves out there. During our next stop, I bought a fresh mango and I can honestly say that trying new things here has opened my eyes on how much I miss out on in the United States. I've never gone to the store and tried a mango and I don't know what I've been doing all these years. We got to overlook a river and see crocodiles and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Seeing the biodiversity all this place has to offer will be something I remember for the rest of my life. We've fully embraced the culture here and have definitely updated our Spanish vocabulary!
Lastly, we arrived at the hotel. We checked into our rooms in the rainforest. One side of our hotel is a river that leads into the ocean! There are many different types of animals in this part of Costa Rica and we are very excited to see what we will find. Some girls on the team walked downtown and got some chips and guacamole at a cute little bar and grill. The town is beautiful and it's hard to understand why anyone would ever leave this place. We came back to the hotel to eat dinner with the team and families. They were serving a buffet style with chicken, pork, rice and salad. Also, for dessert they had a light chocolate mousse. We have really enjoyed the family atmosphere that Costa Rica has and the fact that we get to spend it with our coaches and their families. Over these last few days, Costa Rica has welcomed us with open arms and we feel like we will save these memories for a lifetime. Tomorrow, we head to the beach for a day of surfing and, even though it can be unnerving to try something like that, we are so excited to try something so new!
DAY 4 (
Molly Feighan,
Allyson Brown and
Mandy McGlynn)
Hola! Molly, Allyson and Mandy here to tell you about day 4 in Costa Rica!
It started early for some who enjoyed a sunrise run around 5:30 a.m. in front of the beautiful volcano view. Others experienced a relaxing yoga session at 6:30 a.m. By the time 8:30 a.m. came around we were all ready to go, food in our bellies, on the bus to go ziplining! We went down seven zip lines starting 3,000 feet above sea level! The view was breathtaking, overlooking a man-made lake that the the Costa Rican's use for hydropower. The tour guides were very fun and helped all of our girls enjoy the one of a kind experience safely.
After the thrilled packed morning, we enjoyed lunch in the town where we all ventured off to find different kinds of
restaurants and foods to try. I (Mandy) ordered chicken fajitas, Allyson tried sweet and sour chicken with white rice, and Molly had a hamburger with mushrooms. But we all topped off our lunch with traditional Costa Rican ice cream! Straight from lunch we drove to this local, organic, family-run farm. This was one of my favorite experiences from this trip so far.
We learned how they grew and harvested the popular foods of Costa Rica such as pineapple, yuca, and papaya! Fun fact, they harvest their foods based of the phases of the moon! Mandy and Jaylyn (Thompson) volunteered to harvey yuca from the ground. Allyson volunteered to demonstrate the medical quality bullet ants provide by letting one latch on to her skin. They actually seal wounds and provide some anesthesia, who knew! A lot of the girls made sugar water from sugar canes by passing it through a grinder. Lastly, the family was so kind as to let us plant a tree on their land to mark our presence and to keep our memory of being there. We tied up the night by playing a fun pick-up game of soccer with the family's children, watching a traditional Costa Rican dance performance and enjoying a divine meal the family spent preparing for all of us. These memories we will forever be thankful for and we cannot wait to make many more!
DAY 3 (
Emmalee McCarter and
Caroline Cipolla)
Another day in the lives of VTWS by Emmalee and Caroline.
After spending two days in San Jose, the team got on the bus and headed to La Fortuna. During our three-hour commute, we stopped at some authentic Costa Rica road markets. When we first got off the bus, our tour guide Lucy gave us some fresh made cheese from the market. Some of the girls bought sour candy while others bought plantain chips. Next, we stopped at a beautiful old Catholic church in San Carlos. At the church, we discovered an old tale that said if couples walked one way they would get married and if they walked the other way they would get divorced. After that we got to stop for a quick lunch before heading to the La Fortuna Waterfall.
The hike to the waterfall is 1,000 steps down which equates to around 40 flights of stairs. The issue wasn't going down to see the waterfall, it was coming back up. One by one the team started to jump into the pool where the waterfall fell. The water was cold, but not as cold as our usual ice baths. There was a smaller pool trailing off of the larger one. The girls on the team and coaches' kids were trying to catch fish with their bare hands. We slowly made the realization that we had to make the trek back up the 1,000 stairs and continued to our next destination. The burn in our legs was able to subside for a minute because we spotted two howler monkeys in the trees off the path. The waterfall was worth the winding and sickening journey up the mountain.
Arenal hotel is definitely a unanimous favorite among the team. We were greeted with sat hand towels and virgin cocktails. As soon as we walked into the hotel you could see Arenal volcano (pictured above) surrounded by clouds. The team quickly sprinted to the naturally heated hot springs. We spent our time sitting around the hot springs snack bar and enjoying the warm water. We discovered there were multiple hot springs and the further you went up the hill, the hotter the water got. The highest hot spring could only be withstood for about 10 minutes. After exploring different hot springs, the girls relaxed and enjoyed time to themselves before dinner. All of the individual villas opened up to a panoramic view of the Arenal volcano.
We felt like today was the first day that we really got to experience Costa Rica because we got to see multiple elements. All of the girls are really excited for what the rest of the week has in store.
DAY 2 (
S.A. Phillips,
Mikayla Mance,
Kara Henderson)
Holá mis amigos!
So as you may know, we arrived in San Jose (Tuesday) night, and since then, we can safely say that the Costa Rican culture has embraced us well. Our day started with the traditional meal of rice and beans for breakfast before we headed out to tour the city. The sunscreen was applied, the sunglasses were packed, and we were fully prepared to take on the day. On the way to the city, our first stop was the Estadio National de Costa Rica: the national stadium of Costa Rica, which we then found out that it was a complete replica of a stadium in China although it was said to be unique. This is
where both the men and women's Costa Rican national soccer teams play, along with other highly qualified teams. After pictures were taken, and the kids ran half a mile around the track, we were in route to our journey by foot through the city of San Jose.
Once we parked our big green bus, our tour guide Michael sent us into the beautiful Metropolitan Cathedral de San Jose — where we got the full experience of the cathedral due to the fact that we walked straight into a church service full of singing Costa Ricans. Our next stop was a testament to our Spanish speaking skills as it was time to order our lunch and buy souvenirs. However, this route was not easy due to the blockage caused by a torrential downpour of pigeons. After we sprinted through the swarm, we entered the central market — to be greeted with none other than a giant chicken. Now you may think this would have just been a nice farlooking encounter, but Mikayla (pictured right) and Lilly had to stop and put the thing on their heads.
After this grand experience, we walked through the crowded market with smiles on our faces, still appalled that a giant chicken had found itself on top of our teammates' heads. When it was time for lunch, some girls found an adventurous side of themselves, while others played it safe at Quiznos (you know who you are). After lunch, the group made sure everyone was accounted for at our meeting spot, and we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the game.
On the bus to the FIFA Proyecto Goal, the practice fields for the Costa Rican national team, the weather took a turn for the worst, but good thing we had rain jackets!!!! The game was against the Full Costa Rican national team, a group of talented players that tested our abilities and gave us a great game of soccer. After a well fought 90 minutes, the team fell short with a 3-1 loss. Although the result didn't favor our side, it was a great experience for the group to carry over into our Fall 2019 season as well as the rest of their lives. Time to hit the hay, ready for another fun-filled day.
~SA, Mik, and Kara, out.
DAY 1 (
Kelsey Irwin and
Sarah Smith)
Hey Hokie Nation!
Sarah and Kelsey coming at ya live from San Jose, Costa Rica. We are so lucky to have this opportunity to visit this beautiful country.
We left Blacksburg at 6 a.m. (Tuesday morning) and began our adventure filled travel day! Our amazing director of ops,
Macaulay Soto, got us plenty of bagels from Panera to properly fuel us for our day. We then drove to Raleigh, N.C. to board our first flight to Kansas City (shoutout to Southwest Airlines for the hospitality). Once we arrived in Kansas City, we waited for more passengers to board the flight before we made our way onto Houston, Texas. After arriving in Houston we got to stretch our legs and even grab some food from Chick-fil-A (can't forget the Polynesian sauce).
We then boarded our last flight that got us safely to San Jose. We made our way through customs which everyone made it through smoothly! Luckily, no bags were lost and we were able to meet our awesome travel guides right outside the airport.
After boarding our bus we made our way to our first hotel, Barcelo Palacio. The hotel staff greeted us with a tasty warm buffet filled with rice, veggies, fruits, and delightful desserts. We are finally settling in for the night and looking forward to a good night sleep before our exhilarating match tomorrow evening. Big shoutout to our coaches' families who helped keep us laughing throughout our 16 hour day! Tune back in tomorrow to hear from Kara, Mikayla, and SA!
