Elle Sandbothe USWJNT Blog - Part 1
May 10, 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.
Sunday, May 6 - Wednesday, May 10
Hola from San Jose, Costa Rica!
We landed around 8 p.m. on May 6 in this tiny airport where we walked to our bus to drive to the hotel that was about 45 minutes away. We were pretty cramped on the bus, but this just helped us get a little closer as a team. A lot of us already knew each other from past years, club volleyball and the tryouts. Easily one of my favorite parts of this entire experience is the friends I have made. This team is truly awesome, we all get along so well and all have super goofy personalities.
When we arrived to our hotel, they had late-night snacks for us and other teams. They had rice, chicken and this drink that intimidated us all but it sure did taste good. This has been the motto for almost the entire trip so far. We all agreed that we had to step out of our comfort zones and try everything. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at our hotel everyday with all the other teams. I really can’t complain about our meals so far, lots of rice and meat, so much fresh pineapple and watermelon, and super sweet desserts. We thought of other things we could do and we figured out there was a Pizza Hut a couple blocks from our hotel. Our coaches got us four large pizzas and it was honestly one of the greatest moments of my life. This was for sure a highlight of the trip.
Something I noticed about looking over San Jose from the airplane is that the roads are always packed. At every hour, every single road is backed up. I sat next to a man from Costa Rica on the plane ride from Houston to San Jose. We chatted for a bit. He told us that for the past three weeks a volcano had been erupting. We hoped we would be able to visit but we came to realize that there would be no traveling aside from practice and back. This alone though was an experience in itself.
On these drives you got a nice taste of the culture here. The weather was so perfect. Unfortunately, when we looked at the forecast for the week, it is supposed to rain or storm every single day and it has so far but not all day luckily. We had our two first practices early on Sunday, May 7. Our gym was about 30 minutes away so it was a good opportunity to get a view of the city. They have stores side by side. It is a very lively city, always people out and about doing stuff. The roads would be packed but there were also tons of people walking and taking public buses to get from place to place.
Our first game was Tuesday night, May 9, against Argentina (we got the W). It was storming during our game so you could hear the thunder outside, as well as get a nice little mist from the rain. It was an exciting experience for sure. This was my first time playing international and getting the opportunity to represent our country and it is a huge honor. We play again today against the Dominican Republic so stay tuned!
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