Ready to Go

We enjoyed our last practice Friday night. Herbie Passport came along to watch and Hannah Christie helped us with her setting and blocking prowess.

We are getting pretty excited now, packing today and meeting at the airport at O-Dark-thirty. Our route is a bit circuitous as we connect through Chicago and then onto Miami before heading south to Salvador and finally our first destination of Recife 21 hours after leaving Seattle.

We will be met at the airport by Maria who will lead our private bus to her beach house near Tamandaré.

After enjoying the tropical beaches and fresh foods of NE Brazil for two relaxing days we will head back to the airport in Recife for a 3+ hour flight to Belo Horizonte where we will be met at the airport by our friends and hosts from the Minas Tênis Clube.

The 6th Copa Minas Tênis Clube Torneio Internacional de Voleibol Feminino will begin with a formal opening ceremony on Thursday morning and conclude with a closing ceremony and award presentation on Sunday afternoon. We will play seven different teams from across Brazil over those four days.

While we are in Belo Horizonte we will be visiting the Curimim School, a school for underprivileged kids. We will be bringing gifts of clothing and school supplies to donate as well as play some volleyball with the kids there.


Minas Professional Team at Curimim School

We will end out trip with a quick stop in Rio de Janeiro before flying home overnight on 8/11. Our first stop will be at the spectacular Corcovado overlooking one of the world's most famous cities.


2009 WVBA Intl Team at Christ the Redeemer Statue

WVBA International Team Practice 2

The WVBA International Team had full attendance for its second practice on Tuesday night. We were able to practice some hitting and blocking as well as go through all serve-receive rotations.

We will have one final practice in the USA on Friday night before heading to Brazil on Sunday.

Herbie Passport is Joining Us
Herbie Passport will be joining us on our travel to Brazil. Herbie has traveled all over the world but has never visited South America. We are delighted that he will be along with us on this adventure. You can follow Herbie's posts and galleries through his facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/whereisherbie? You will need to send a friend request to view his galleries, but it will be worth it!

Leaving in less than a Week

2010 will mark the fourth year that the Washington Volleyball Acacademy will be sending a team to Brazil to compete in a volleyball tournament and enjoy an amazing cultural exchange opportunity. We have had the pleasure of hosting the Minas Tenis Clube in Seattle for the past six years. This year's team consists of the following eight players:

OH             Miah Diirell (WVBA Mizuno 15)
S/OPP       Taylor Dillard (WVBA Mizuno 17)
S/OPP       Jade Finau (WVBA Mizuno 15)
Libero         Kaitlin Lebon (WVBA 16-Chris)
DS/OPP     Melina Seabrook (WVBA Mizuno 15)
MB             Sarah Hill (ITVC 16 Asics)
OH             Cami Silverman (WVBA Mizuno 17)
MB             Lara Linden (PSVBA 15 National)

We are gathering our last items and beginning to pack our bags for a Sunday departure in less than one week.

We have two practices scheduled this week, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. We leave very early on Sunday morning and will be arriving into Recife, in the Northeast of Brazil, early Monday morning.

We will be met at the airport by Maria who has chartered a bus for us and will be allowing us to stay at her family's incredible beach house about 1-1/2 hours south of Recife. We will spend two glorious days and one night at the beach house to recover from our long trip and to begin to adjust to our new environment in Brazil.

Tuesday evening we will board a plane and travel to our destination city of Belo Horizonte where we will meet our hosts from the Minas Tenis Clube. The players will stay with their host families while Dave and Brock and Andrew and Linda will stay at a hotel 2 blocks from the main club facilities. The tournament will be played over four days from Thursday through Sunday.

After a couple of days in Belo Horizonte following the tournament we will fly early on Wednesday morning to Rio de Janeiro to spend a day in this glamorous city before boarding a plane for our return to Seattle on Wednesday evening.

We will arrive back into Seattle on Thursday, August 12th just prior to noon.