Making the Traveling Team
In March, several teams are going on pilgrimages. The women’s soccer, women’s rugby, and women’s water polo teams are trekking across oceans and continents to visit their respective meccas. There, they’ll watch matches, play games, and, of course, do a little team bonding.
Over spring break, rugby has planned a trip to Dublin, home to the headquarters of the International Rugby Board; women’s soccer is going to Italy, the land of Del Piero and Buffon; while water polo is making their yearly trip to California for fair-weather games against the sport’s best.
GETTING OUT OF DODGE
Each trip has several friendly games scheduled with local teams. Rachelle M. Calixte ’10, a member of the rugby team’s planning committee, says of playing Irish teams, “It’s going to be a little intimidating, but luckily our training has already been underway—we’ve been practicing for about a month now.”
The water polo team will be playing six games in California, more than either international trip. “Water polo on the East Coast is a whole tier level down from the water polo in California,” says water polo team member Devan M. Kennifer ’12. “It’s probably not worth their while to come over here to play teams.”
When not competing, there’s plenty of time for the players to just be together. “One week straight with just the team is going to be incredible,” says soccer team captain Gina A. Wideroff ’11. “We have our mornings, our afternoons, and our evenings planned out on this itinerary that they sent us, and the afternoons are just ‘free time in Milan,’ or ‘free time in Venice.’”
The rugby team, meanwhile, will be in Ireland during a very opportune week. “It’s St. Patrick’s Day while we’re there,” says Calixte. “Also Six Nations, which is a huge rugby tournament in Europe.” Though they couldn’t get tickets to the home games, they’ll still be able to experience Irish sports fanaticism at its best. “I’m sure we can find tons of places to watch the game with local fans.”
California has its charms as well. “I’m looking forward to playing in outdoor pools again, because all of the pools over here are indoor,” Kennifer says. “And being home,” she adds. She’s not the only one; many of the team’s players are Californians. “We stay at usually team members’ houses, and they give us awesome food and cook for us,” she explains. “We usually don’t use our per diem much, and so we usually go shopping with that money.”
Though water polo players will probably be the only ones meeting each other’s siblings and pets, it turns out the soccer team has some Italian connections. “Our coach is very Italian, too, so I think he’s very excited to go,” says forward Katherine M. Sheeleigh ’11.
“I’m half Italian,” says Wideroff. “I have family in Bologna and I think in Milan. I have two cousins Mario and Luigi who live over there. I’m not kidding,” she adds. “Hopefully I’ll get together with them.”
CLEARING THE HURDLES
These trips, however, don’t appear out of nowhere. Rugby, a club team without direct support from the athletic department, appointed a board of players to work out the details. Calixte, who was in charge of arranging games, says, “People are busy—we’re all still Harvard kids. The actual planning is sometimes really difficult.”
Varsity teams like soccer and water polo, on the other hand, were aided by the administration. Water polo, backed by funding from Friends of Harvard, used their coach’s contacts and players’ homes. The soccer team hired an external company, XL Soccer Tours, to arrange the trip. Forward and midfielder Christina L. L. Hagner ’10, hadn’t realized until fairly recently that the soccer trip, which was originally slated for last year, was on the schedule. “I had no idea this trip was going to happen and then just about three months ago it got announced that it would,” she explains.
That might have been because finances were the soccer team’s only responsibility. “We’ve done nothing except for fundraise. We sold T-shirts, I believe, championship T-shirts. Each player is just responsible for coming up with a certain amount of money,” Wideroff says.
Calixte says, “[Rugby] is doing several Dorm Crew fundraisers, and everyone on the trip has to do a minimum of five hours.” As a destination, Dublin turned out to be the most reasonable option. “It’s actually one of the cheaper alternatives that we looked into—cheaper plane tickets than Spain and places in the Caribbean,” she says. A priority for the team was that all players could go. “We wanted everyone who wanted to go on this trip to be able to come,” explains Calixte.
STAYING IN FOCUS
Though the athletes can’t wait for spring break, their minds are still focused on the games beyond. The soccer team’s trip to Italy gives them more time to practice in their off season. “Every spring in general—it’s an Ivy League rule—you’re given 10 practices but because we’re going on this trip we’re given five extra practices,” Wideroff explained. “We come out of Italy and start our 10 practices and we’re already playing like a team. We won’t waste any time.”
For rugby, the two games abroad will be their first of the season, but Calixte has other plans for their nights off. “Our team loves to dance. We just like to have a good time wherever we go.”