So today we played in the finals and played Finland. The girls played a magnificient game and we were extremely proud. However, Finland won and we lost. Kaitlyn Ruplin scored an amazing header goal! Then we were off to the closing ceremonies. Coach Fran gave an uplifting speech on the bus about how proud he was of the girls and that they should hold up their heads. The teams we played during this tournament were elite and premier and semi-professional teams. The girls learned a great deal about soccer and are smarter players to have been playing games of this caliber. At the closing ceremonies we received a trophy as you can see from the photo. Nothing but smiles!!

Here are the key players in getting us to realize the dream of playing futbol in Italy. Their original dream helped in getting us here and kept us in the right direction. Patti arranged the details of travel and dealt with all of our personalities and our expectations. She was intstrumental in dealing with the tour company, booking excursions, and also collecting money! We appreciate all of her hard work and patience. Sherree and Vicki were always there to guide the girls on the field and also off. It was amazing that they were able to deal with all of the personalities. 13 seventeen year old girls can be trying. Grazie Mille!!!! Coach Fran was supportive on the field teaching them the game of futbol and more importantly the game of life and how parallel they are. He believed that we could obtain our dream of coming to Italy and he was proud of the girls' efforts. Without them there would have been no Italy and no VOLANTE! It is a long way from Boyle Road for sure!

Here is the fan club waiting for the afternoon game to take place. Of course we just finished eating gelato and cappucino. It became a habit quite quickly.......gelato and cappucino. The weather was spectacular as you can tell. Sunny and warm everyday, with a slight breeze. Nothing like sitting around a small table chatting about the day. We don't want it to end!

White Water Rafting

Friday we decided that we would get up late, hang around, and then go white water rafting. When we got up after breakfast, some went to town to do some shopping and have lunch. Then we boarded a bus and went white water rafting. We were told that it was going to be easy and not too fast. When we approached the site, we needed to get on our life jackets and wet suit jackets. That should have been an indication of how cold the water would be.......it wasn't......and we didn't get it until we actually dipped in a toe! Then we went back on the bus and they took us to the river. There we needed to add a helmet! At that point, some of us wished that we decided to go into town and sit and drink a cappucino with the locals! But we couldn't turn back as we had already paid and were outfitted with the correct equipment. Some smart people decided to go to the town and not go rafting.
We had to push the raft into the river and didn't have a choice but to jump in. BOY WAS IT COLD! After two seconds we had no feeling in our legs or feet. No wonder the guides had on full wet suits. The water proved to be calm with a few small bumps. It was beautiful just floating down the river and taking in the scenery. We don't want to mention any names, but someone from one boat stole a person from the other boat or should we say kidnapped her! You guys know who you are:) It was two hours of shear fun and beauty.

This is the scene that we passed on our way up to our restaurant La Lanterna in Chiesa in Valmalenco. You can Google this hotel and see what it is like. This is a photo of Lake Como......Bella!

Wednesday we had a late game so we decided to go up in a gondola to the top of the mountain. Looking at the cables that were to take us to the top, some of us were unsure if we wanted to actually go, but we did! It was worth the trip as you can see from this photo. The views from the trip up were breathtaking. We were 6,000 feet above sea level when all was said and done. Then we hiked down to a majestic lake and spent some time just hanging out. Some learned how to skip rocks from Coach Fran. Others walked all around the lake. The first picture was well worth the walk downhill and back uphill. We definitely lost some calories on this hike, which the moms were happy about.

Here we are at our second game today. But first we played a premier Italian team. This team has three girls who play on the National Team under 18 team. We lost to them, but you would have been amazed that we held them to only a few goals and really made them work hard. We challenged them and everyone came off the field feeling great for what they had accomplished as a team. They really dug deep to play with heart. Then the picture of this game during the afternoon was another story. We played this Germany team and WON! 3-2. Sarah Jansen scoered two goals with Andie Spano getting a header for our third goal. We were ecastic in the stands. The parents were yelling and screaming. Again, there were some tears from some parents.....:) The girls adjusted to the level of play in this tournament and again dug deep. We were so proud of them, they were proud of themselves and we awarded them with some gelato! WOW what a day!!!