Just Kicking around Europe 8/27/2008

MILLER, CROW, SHELDON, REDLINGER, HAUSLER, KATZ, WICK, RYAN, LUST, MOORE, PARRATT, SEGRE

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 6/21/2018 at 12:07:18

Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette 8/27/2008 Sports 1D-3D

Just Kicking Around Europe
I.C. girl's youth soccer team travels overseas for summer trip

By Tom Moore

Gubbio, Italy - It was a beautiful summer evening in the piazza, or public square, in Gubbio, Italy. Suddenly, the shouts of children playing soccer in the street echoed off the cobblestones.
What made this pick-up game unusual were the competitors. One side consisted of local boys from Gubbio, the other, girls from Eastern Iowa. The opponents did not speak each other's language, but the sport bonded them together.
The Iowa City Alliance Heatwave, a team consisting primarily of players under the age of 13, last month became the first team from the club to travel overseas to train and compete against foreign teams.
Two older players, Tori Lust, 13, and Mary Hausler, 14, both from Iowa City, helped fill out the roster.
"We felt strongly that this would be and ideal opportunity for one of our teams to go up against some strong competition, to train in world-class athletic facilities and to have an outstanding cultural experience at the same time," said Ian Parratt, a native of Great Britain and senior coach of the Iowa City Alliance. He coached the Heatwave on its travels in Italy.
The Heatwave members and their families decided about a year ago to take the trip. First, they had to find a way to pay for the trip, which cost about $2,700 per person. The team's fundraising activities included collecting beverage containers for the deposit, holding a pancake breakfast, and Italian dinner and a chili supper, selling Schwann's merchandise, holding a garage sale and a car wash.
As part of their preparation for the European sojourn, players researched and wrote a report on one of the sites they would visit on the trip. They bound all of the reports into the team's travel handbook. The girls also met with University of Iowa computer science professor Alberto Segre, a native of Italy, for his insights.
The players and their entourage of parents and siblings flew from Chicago via Madrid, Spain, to Rome on July 10. A three-hour bus ride to Cascia followed.
"The views were breathtaking," Heatwave goalkeeper Beth Crow said. "The pool overlooked the training fields, and there were locker rooms and a gym, which are all truly first class."
After a day devoted to light practices and rest, the Heatwave played its first game in Italy on July 12 against a girls' team from Cascia with players ranging in ages from 12 to 18. The alliance team won 6-1.
Following a short training session the next morning in Cascia, the group drove to Norcia for a guided tour of the city. There, it joined up with other soccer players from the United States who were attending a Boston College soccer camp for girls 13 to 17 years old.
Next, the Iowans traveled to Gubbio, their home for the remainder of the trip. On their way to Gubbio, they stopped in Spoleto, only 40 minutes from Cascia.
The group walked across the Ponte delle Torri in Spoleto, which spans the valley.
"The bridge in Spoleto was scary, but awesome," Anna Hausler said. "The hotel was unbelievable. It looked like a castle. There were all these private gardens and there was even a secret passageway outside our room."
July 15 brought the team's second game, this one against a squad of boys under the age of 11 from the Associazione Sportive Club based in Gubbio. The Iowa team lost the match in Pietro Barbetti Stadium, 4-3.
"We gave Alliance patches like we wear on our jerseys to the boys as gifts after the game. They were very excited to get them," said Eleni Katz, 12, of Iowa City.
The Heatwave didn't have long to rest; it had to travel back to Norcia for the second game of the day's double header that evening. The Iowans recruited five players from the Boston soccer camp contingent for their 11-on-11 game against a girls' team from Belgium.
"The Belgium side included three players from their national team," Parrett said. "After a scoreless first half, we eventually lost 4-0, but we gained some great experience by hanging in there against an outstanding team."
The players and their entourage then took a break from soccer.
They spent July 16 lounging on the shore along the Adriatic Sea, the body of water that separates the Italian peninsula from the Balkans. The players bartered for goods on the beach with local vendors.
Of course, nobody wanted to miss Rome, even if touring the Eternal City meant doing it in one day.
The Iowans took the three hour bus ride to the south-west back to Rome on July 17, where the driver dropped them off near the Coliseum and the Forum. Next, the group walked across the city to the Trevi Fountain and got in some shopping. They wrapped up the day with a stop in Vatican City, including visiting St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican Square.
The next day brought the final soccer game of the trip, a rematch against the Associazione Sportive Club U-11 boys' team, again in Gubbio's Pietro Barbetti Stadium. The Alliance Heatwave girls won, 6-2.
"After the game, the boys gave each girl on our team a puzzle of the city of Gubbio. It was so sweet" said Kattie Redlinger, 12, of Riverside.
On the last day of their stay, the Iowans traveled to Perugia for the Umbria Jazz Festival. They shopped along the streets of the town, listened to jazz and bought treats at the community's famed chocolate factory. They also toured the city of Assisi, visiting its basilica and the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi.
"This was certainly a trip of a lifetime," said David Ryan, a parent from Iowa City. "All of us had just a tremendous experience that we will always treasure.