Hope women heading to Italy for basketball, cultural immersion
HOLLAND — The national champions are going international.
Later this month, the Hope College women's basketball team will be taking an 11-day trip to play three games in and around Italy. It's a trip that has been planned for years but kept getting pushed back because of COVID and various other concerns with large group travel.
Brian Morehouse, the Flying Dutch's coach, will welcome his team back for a brief training camp next week to get ready for their three games in Europe. He doesn't quite know what to expect from the competition they'll face, but that's really not his biggest worry. He wants his team to develop as basketball players on the trip, sure. But most importantly, he just wants the group to have an incredible experience.
"It's a cultural immersion and basketball combination," Morehouse said. "My goal for every player at Hope is to have a number of transformational experiences and those can come in a variety of different ways."
Year in and year out the Morehouse's teams have been staples in the community, working side by side with the Miracle League and Special Olympics athletes in town. His players have gone on mission trips to Africa in their free time and have studied abroad on several different continents. Those are all things the two-time national championship coach views as transformational. He's hoping that this 11-day trip, spanning five Italian cities, will be another experience his players can add to the list.
The team's itinerary is jam-packed, touring Vatican City one morning before hitting the hardwood that same night. Morning excursions to Florence, taking an Italian cooking class in Tuscany, relaxing near Lake Como and exploring the Cinque Terre villages. The Flying Dutch will get a chance to do touristy things, but Morehouse is making a point to try and get off the beaten path to get his team to see things from a new perspective than just an American exploring the cliche places every tourist goes to. He hopes in doing that they'll get a better perspective of the world around them outside of Michigan
"It's critical, it's very difficult for anybody to understand worldly issues if you've never left Michigan," Morehouse said. "We have pride in the United States of America, so how do you understand how different countries view themselves, or how they view the U.S.? I think that's a critical component of maturity and growth."
The trip, which is being paid for out of pocket by the players and organized by Beyond Sports Tours, isn't just open to the current players on the roster. Since the trip had to be nixed several times due to the global pandemic, players who graduated were invited to come, though they won't be playing in the games.
Several of the seniors from last season's national championship team weren't able to make the trip after accepting jobs or starting graduate school in other parts of the country. However, recent grad Olivia Voskuil is slated to join the team in Italy, as will Kate Majerus. Though Majerus has officially decided to stick around one extra year and use her extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA before starting her teaching career.
Some parents will be attending too, bringing the total travel party to 32 players, staff and parents. They're all excited for this opportunity that basketball has granted them and are looking forward to hopefully racking ip a few international victories when they're overseas.
There might be a bit of a shock at first when the players see the vibe of their head coach once they land in Rome, though. Instead of hours of film study and meticulous scouting of the opponent, he just wants his group to have fun and soak in the whole experience.
"We could theoretically play women who are on their country's national team, we don't really know what we're getting into over there," Morehouse said. "Our team will not recognize me on this trip, this will be European coach Mo, this isn't about scouting reports, this is about playing a new style and meeting new people from different countries."
The Flying Dutch will leave for Rome on Aug. 8 and return to Holland on Aug. 18.
—Contact Assistant Sports Editor Will Kennedy at Will.Kennedy@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByWillKennedy and Facebook @Holland Sentinel Sports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hope women heading to Italy for basketball, cultural immersion
