Elle Sandbothe USWJNT Blog - Part 2
May 15, 2017 | Volleyball
K-State's Elle Sandbothe is currently with the U.S. Women's Junior National Team playing in the U20 Pan American Cup in San Jose, Costa Rica. She will check in with a two-part blog, sharing her experiences of not only high-level volleyball but the Costa Rican culture as well.
Thursday, May 11 - Sunday, May 14
Hey guys!
Well, we came out on top against the Dominicans! This meant we won our pool and got to move on to bracket play. Our next match would be against Uruguay in the quarterfinals. It was a good game but we swept them in three. Playing with this team has truly been so awesome. I’ve made 11 new best friends in a matter of 10 days, it doesn't get much better than that! This team was one of a kind, so many different personalities that fit so perfectly together to create the ultimate squad.
The last two days were easily my favorite of the entire trip. We had an early start on Friday, May 12. After practice, a wild storm came in. Everyone was telling us that this was a norm in Costa Rica, but it was rare for all of us. We found it very intriguing. We were waiting outside but the thunder was so intense and loud we went back inside the gym to be safe. While we were waiting, all the power shut off in the gym. It was a crazy but cool experience, it sounded like the thunder was directly next to us. We were all huddled together in the middle of the court goofing about how scared we were until finally our bus came and we rushed back to our hotel.
The sky cleared up and it was time to face Cuba in the semifinals. This game was a battle, not only of physical toughness but mental too. In the first set we were up, 20-15. My teammate, Khalia, went back to serve and right when the official blew her whistle, all the lights shut off again! It was another power outage. It was insane but spiced things up a little. The refs told us it could be another 30-45 minutes until they were on again. We stretched and rolled out our muscles while we waited. Tried to keep our bodies warm, but luckily they gave us an additional 10-minute warmup when the lights turned back on. Forty-five minutes later, we were up and going again. Both teams adapted and handled the situation with poise but USA got the victory in four! We were on to the finals baby!
The last day was by far the best. We were facing Argentina again, a very low-error and extremely talented crew. We were in for another fight. It was a very intense match, we didn’t perform at our best but we stayed together and played our hearts out. It was a hard-fought match on both sides but USA came out with the gold! After the game, we were swarmed by people asking for pictures. I had made a fan in the process too, this sweet little girl got me a red, white and blue necklace that I will keep forever. It was the nicest thing, the two necklaces I received made my trip extra special. One of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced was getting to belt our national anthem as loud and proud as we could with my teammates with the gold medal hanging around our necks.
Following the championship game, we soaked up every last minute we had as a team because we left at 3:30 a.m. to head to the airport. A tradition the tournament has is that you trade gear with other teams. I got a jersey from Argentina and Uruguay and was able to give them some of my USA gear. This part was super neat to me. We made so many new friends and I also got to learn a little Spanish in the process, too. We sat in my teammates’ room for maybe two hours with the Cuban team talking about all sorts of things. It was seriously a blast! My teammate Holly was fluent in Spanish, so with the help of her and Google translate we had some dysfunctional but goofy conversations. I gained many new Instagram followers from all over the world and we will be able to keep in touch. These girls were truly awesome. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will treasure forever!
Tuesday, May 26
Monday, April 27
Wednesday, April 01
Thursday, December 18
