Day 4 - Basketball & Volleyball Tournaments & Church

March 11, 2019

First, sorry for the delay in posting and the weird formatting with the photos. We’ve had limited WiFi, so it has been hard to stay on top of posts!

Today we split up the guys and the girls and we played in a U-18 basketball and volleyball tournament! The girls played at the Lincoln School, one of the nicest schools in Costa Rica in which students earn both a Costa Rican and American High School Degree. The boys played at Tibas against two different high school. It was quite the experience for both groups, best told in their own words:

Basketball Tournament:

Ben - “It was great being good at basketball for once. A team of football players only lost to them by 1, so I am proud of us and it was a solid experience. 8/10.”

Tanner - “The tournament was the first time I got to play in Costa Rica because my ankle was feeling better, which was fun. I loved being able to experience the different rules and parts of the game.”

Kyle J - “It was amazing feeling to compete against some of the best players in Costa Rica and even though basketball isn’t my sport I was able to challenge myself. It was also fun having to learn different international rules as we played.”

Shane - “It was “fun” and interesting to learn the different rules of international basketball. It was awesome for me to be able to play my favorite sport in another country. I guess it is safe to say that it was as an amazing experience even though we didn’t win both games.”

Bryan - “As a coach it was an interesting experience to learn and adapt to a language barrier along with new rules. It was fun to see the boys get into the game and be competitive. They did a very good job of listening and working together to make the games close.”

Kyle R - “The Tournament was so much fun. The different rules made the game very interesting. The teams playing were good but I would say we did good for havwing never played together before.”

Vinnie - “The basketball tournament was a lot of fun. Not only did we compete against other teams but we also made some new friends. The rules were a little challenging to understand, but it was cool to have something different. For a bunch of football players playing basketball, we did very well.”

Justyn - “ In my first ever Varsity High School Basketball Game I scored 1 point and had a double double with 10+ rebounds & 10+ blocks and also I fouled out 😎”

Volleyball Tournament:

Diana - “The tournament was so much fun! It was a little different then expected but everyone did great and tried their best.”

Abby - “The volleyball tournament was so much fun even though we definitely weren’t the best team out there. It was so fun to see girls playing in the game that have never played before and just have a good time and learn the different rules they have in Costa Rica!”

Savannah - “The volleyball tournament was a ton of fun! Even though we were probably the worst team there, we made it super fun. We kept the energy up and tried to cheer and be crazy the whole time! When we were on a break Ally and I were sitting on the bleachers and a couple people asked us to play with them, it was super fun! It was a great day!”

Delany - “Playing in a Volleyball tournament was so much fun! It was so cool to see how all of us could come together and play as a team, even though we all play different sports! The other teams were super good and we were probably the worst team, but we made the most of it and had a lot of fun!!

Ally - “Even though we lost every game, the energy from our team and other teams made it so much fun. It was cool to see our team learn to work together, and in the end every team asked for a picture with us which was cool to know we had a small impact”

Macy - “We brought other teams joy with how bad we were. We kept smiles on our faces and laughed the whole time which made others team laugh too. I still don’t know if they were laughing with us or at us but hey they were laughing!

Kirsten - “It was so fun playing volleyball with everyone! Even though we lost every game, we kept on laughing, smiling and having fun with each other. The other teams could see that too and they laughed too! I had such a great time playing with everyone!!!”

After the game we went home for some down time then headed to church. We went to an English service at a church that primarily serves long term and short term missionaries from America. It was fun to see a small church operate with what they have, including worship songs played from a computer, and a small facility. The pastor was very passionate and challenged us to thinking about the reason behind why we are serving. He also used a really great analogy of Christ the cornerstone being like home plate. Everything inside the lines is permitted and everything outside the lines is not...where are we playing?