Field Hockey Completes Winter Break Argentina Trip

TOWSON, Md. — There may only be a high of 38 degrees in Towson today, but Goucher's field hockey team has just returned from over a week of summer temperatures.

The Gophers landed at JFK Airport in New York this morning to complete a winter break trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trip was made possible through fundraising efforts over the past year, and the team blogged about their experiences throughout its eight days in South America.

A summary of those blog posts is listed below, while a photo gallery from the trip can be viewed here.

Day 1

Hola!

We've just completed our first full day here in Buenos Aires and we love the city! After our 11 hour flight and making it to our hostel, Play Hostel, we got some much needed beauty rest. We spent the later part of the morning exploring our neighborhood, Palermo, lunched at small cafes, and browsed many storefronts. After, we hopped aboard our tour bus and drove all through the city, learning about the rich and diverse history of Buenos Aires and Argentina. We visited the grave of Evita, tried the national dessert dulche de leche, and wandered the many shops of La Boca. After a brief siesta in our hostel, we walked through our lively and colorful neighborhood to have a traditional Argentinian steak dinner together. Now, after such a busy 24 hours of travel, we're ready to say "Buenos Noches" and we'll write again after our first field hockey clinic tomorrow morning!

Hasta Luego!

Erin, Justine, and Sarah (from Maine.)

Day 2

Buenos Noches from Argentina!

We just got back from an evening of tango dancing! We had a lesson with two dancers from the show we saw.  We learned an eight step tango dance with a partner.  After our lesson, our instructors danced in the show.  They also gave us dinner before; we enjoyed a lovely three course meal as a team.  The show was wonderful.

This morning we had our first field hockey clinic with former Argentinian national team coach Lalo and two goalie assistant coaches.  We worked on technical skills and precision passing during flow drills.  We played on a new surface–sand-based astro turf.  It's a lot faster and more slippery than we are used to, but we like it so far–despite two scraped knees.  We are looking forward to our next two clinics with Lalo and our three games this week.  Stay tuned for more about our time in Argentina!

Hasta Luega from Erica, Katie, and Olivia!

Day 3

Today was filled with adventures, hockey, and new friends! First, we packed lunch and walked to a beautiful Japanese garden, where we enjoyed a nice team lunch. The garden was filled with many vibrant flowers, large fish, and roaming cats. After, we visited an art museum. In the art museum, there was numerous works of art that expressed the culture of Argentina. Later in the evening, we played our first match against the hockey club,  Arquitectura. We won our first match 1-0 with a goal from Erin Field! The second match played was a hard fought battle against one of the elite teams from the club. After both matches, we ate empanadas and pizza with the members of the club. Many memories and friends were made! We look forward to another hockey skill session and going to the horse ranch tomorrow!

Buenos Noche!

-- Celia, Gilly and Ray

Day 4

¡Hola!

Today was an eventful day! We started off with our second early morning field hockey clinic with Coach Lalo. We worked on defensive positioning, thoughtful passing, and shaving. After two hours of practicing, we left directly for Pampas, a ranch. We were welcomed by several gauchos, who distributed muy delicioso empenadas and drinks. After going back for seconds, we were all led toward the horses. One by one we were helped onto our mighty steeds and traveled along a dusty trail at a steady pace. Once we finished our rides, the team was fed lunch while we enjoyed a performance of traditional Argentinian tango and samba and a gaucho performance. People were welcomed to dance to the folk music, and we broke out our new tango moves. Later on, the gauchos herded free range horses, and then offered rides to some members of the audience. Coach, Rachel, and Emily Gill were lucky enough to ride with one of the gauchos. After a long day of field hockey and horseback riding, we capped the day off with pizza and empenadas.

¡Ciao!

Day 5

¡Hola! 

This morning everyone was able to go and explore more of Buenos Aires. We went shopping, learned how to ride the subway, and visited old museums. After experiencing the city life, we started to get ready for our game. We got on the bus and rode for over an hour to play on a different type of surface. During our game, we played under the international regulations. We played four quarters of fifteen minutes instead of two thirty-five minute halves. We played a really experienced club team, which was good practice because we got to incorporate our new skills from the clinics. The club team that we played was coached by Lalo, our clinic instructor. After the game, we got together to have tea time with the other team. The girls enjoyed our gifts and we enjoyed their company. It was nice to share our different hockey and cultural experiences. We really appreciated how welcoming the other team was to us. After the ride back home, we all went out to enjoy a nice dinner in our neighborhood, Palermo.

¡Ciao!

Antonia, Erin, and Shannara

Day 6

¡Buenas Noches!

We started off the day with a morning clinic with Lalo, who was sporting his GCFH "Outwork" shirt. The focus of today's clinic was transitioning from defense to offense, we also got the opportunity to work one-on-one with the coaching staff to refine our reverse chips. After a hot morning on the sandy turf, the team got to relax pool side. Coach Megan was convinced it was the biggest pool in South America. At the pool we cooled off in the water or worked to fix our shin guard tan lines, some were more successful than others. We then returned to our hostel to have the rest of the day to ourselves to shop, eat, and sleep. Some girls went back to favorite hot spots in Buenos Aires, while others explored new places. We're all looking forward to our last game and activities on our last full day in here Argentina!

¡Hasta la vista! 

Love Caroline, Christina, and Dani 

Day 7

¡Hola!

Today was one of our first opportunities to sleep in, and it was much needed. We started the day with a boat tour of the Tigre River Delta, learning about the river's community. We were surprised to learn that in order to get basic necessities, the island's inhabitants either needed to wait for supply boats to come by their homes, or travel to the mainland of Buenos Aires.

After the tour, the team headed to the beautiful, river-side market, Mercado de Frutos, where we are able to finish our last-minute holiday and souvenir shopping. It got a little toasty, but we managed.

We played our last game tonight against the club team Liceo Naval. It was a competitive game, and we were able to implement a lot of Lalo's coaching. After the game we had a delicious dinner with the other team. The two teams connected mostly through music and dance, playing popular songs from both countries. We taught them how to wobble while they showed us some of their more popular dance moves. And what night isn't complete without a limbo competition?

We're sad to be leaving tomorrow, but we've had an amazing experience in Buenos Aires and will leave with a lot of memories and new friends. We want to thank all of the teams and people we've met for supporting and welcoming us. We couldn't have made it to Argentina or had the experience we did without all of you.

We're excited to be ending our trip by giving back to the community that has welcomed us through a children's service activity.

See everyone soon! Buenos Noches,

Annie, Demie, and Liz

Back Home

Hello from the United States!

Goucher College Field Hockey has come full circle, landing at JFK this morning. Both family and colder temperatures greeted us at the airport after a long 11-hour flight.

Our last day in Buenos Aires included some last-minute shopping and a huge Argentinian lunch. I don't think any of us are going to need to eat red meat anytime soon!  More importantly it included a trip north of the city to a children's home called San Fernando.

The kids that live at San Fernando are there because of things like domestic violence or parental drug abuse. Some of them are related by blood and some of them are related only due to the fact that they now live as brothers and sisters. We spent about three hours there with them making arts & crafts, playing games, and practicing their English and our Spanish. It was the perfect end to our trip.

These eight days have been filled with tons of laughter, hundreds of selfies, too many sunburns, and a thousand empanadas. There were turf burns, dance offs, reverse chips, and about fifty pounds of ice cream. We made lots of new friends and reconnected with our own team as well.  There were games that we won and games that we got crushed but plenty of fun along the way.

One of the first teams we played were wearing shirts that struck a chord with me. The back of their handmade t-shirts said "Juntas somos mas" which translates to "together we are more."  It's something that I love about our GCFH program…the idea that we can take athletes from across the country with different personalities and different skills who have had different experiences and turn them into a team that understands that together they are more; that they can accomplish more than they ever could as individuals.

As a coach, of course I hope our players have taken away skills from their competitors here – who I may add were some of the best teams I've ever seen play. But I am also glad they are taking away this time they spent together and the memories that they made.

We are off on our own directions now for the holidays and winter break but I can't wait to get back to it in January!

I also want to thank all the people who helped fund this trip through donations this past year. The cards that you got while we were away are just a small token of our thanks!  Muchas gracias!!

Happy holidays to everyone and get ready for 2015…the year of the Gopher!!