July 24, 2024
Today is last day of travel for 2024. We worked all year for just 39 days of travel! It was worth it, it was a truly great summer. I haven’t blogged in a while because I went myself to crash the Costa Rica tour for a few days with my 9 year old daughter. It was epic. The excursions we got to do (Waterfall, Zip-Line and Volcanic Hot Springs) were some of the best group excursions I’ve ever done. We also had a trip in Portugal this week, for the Euro Women’s Lacrosse Championships. They returned to the USA yesterday after an awesome time in Europe. It’s bittersweet to end this blog. It’s been so fun following our fourteen teams this summer They played 94 International matches against 22 counties. They visited 7 countries and made memories to last a lifetime. But… we can’t wait for 2025! Let’s do it all again – this time even bigger and better. Who is coming along?
July 15, 2024
It’s another busy day at SAWUSA! Our Argentina trip ends today. In just a few hours our group will be heading the airport for the overnight flight home. For the 3rd year in a row, the trip was so great. The Basketball was top notch. Our group was talented and went 2-2 against the always tough Argentina teams. Our team seemed to really bond with their opponents. The trip had an unplanned soccer flair to it as we got to watch two COPA America games and Argentina won Gold. So, we accidentally invited ourselves to a full blown wild Soccer party week. At exactly the same time as our flight departs Buenos Aires tonight, we have another flight leaving Philly for Lisbon and our 5th summer tour, the Euro WLAX Championships. This one is a special, one-time only tour. We can’t wait to follow that group and see what adventures lie ahead for them. Oh, and tomorrow another group leaves for Costa Rica. Did I mention it’s a busy day at SAWUSA?!?
July 12, 2024
Our Argentina Experience Tour is in full swing. The team is 1-2 through three games. The competition can’t get any better. Each game has been decided by 5 points or less, one in overtime. The game atmospheres have been awesome too. Great crowds and post-game parties with our new friends. We’ve toured the country by feet, bike, bus, and boat! It’s been a busy week and more to come with a final game and a 3 on 3 tournament yet to come.
July 7, 2024
Our Argentina Experience Tour is underway. Knock on wood, another tour with no travel issues! This is a smaller tour with just one college-aged Men’s Basketball team – but I’m certain it will be one of our best. Coach Horton and the team took a long 11 hour overnight flight from New York and arrived this morning in Buenos Aires. The team got checked into their hotel and got their first training session in. Tomorrow, after a good nights sleep the trip really begins with a city tour and our first game. It will be an exciting week in Argentina!
July 1, 2024
Yesterday was a great final day at the Portugal Basketball Festival. All three teams did great. We finished with a Gold (U23B), a Silver (U17B), and a 4th place (U19B). It’s our best showing in four years at a very competitive tournament. The tour is winding down. Today is a long excursion day at Sintra and Belem and one last chance to hang out as a big group and enjoy Portugal. Tomorrow we depart back for the USA. 9 days can go by so fast and also feel like forever!
June 27, 2024
We are finally catching our breath here. While we did have 58 travelers depart for Portugal on Monday, we had 190 travelers return home from two different tours on Tuesday. We had a record 248 travelers in the air at once time! In a really crazy, and unplanned, coincidence we actually had groups from 3 different tours all at the Lisbon airport on Tuesday morning at the exact same time (11 am local time). We had the Portugal Basketball Festival group arriving to the airport just as the Lisboa Lacrosse Cup group was loading their return flight home. But that’s not it… Our Newark and Miami flight groups from the United World Games trip were connecting through Lisbon (from Munich) at the exact same time. We had roughly 200 some travelers from three different trips all at the same airport. Anyway, we are down to just one active trip and it’s going great. Our Basketball group in Portugal has visited Seville, completed the Zip-line, and played their first exhibition matches. It’s going great – with so much more to come. Stay tuned!
June 23, 2024
What a day. Championship Sunday. We had so many great games today. Our U19 Boys won Gold at the United World Games. While it’s our eighth Basketball Gold, it’s only our second in the U19 Boys division. Two of our girls teams (U19 East and U16) both took Silver. Three others (U19 West Girls and U14 Boys) lost Bronze games. Over in Portugal, our Girls Lacrosse finished in 4th too, and Men’s Lacrosse went out with a bang! Now that the games are over it’s a little more sightseeing, relaxing, and celebrating the week. Competition brings out the best (and worst) in people. It’s important to remember when go after something passionately – that how you react to the wins and loses is much more important than the result. The journey is the destination. Personal growth and development IS the purpose of SAWUSA. That’s not for everyone. Growth is hard sometimes. We hope all our athletes and guests got better today!
June 22, 2024
Today is probably the busiest sports day of the year for SAWUSA. We have eight teams in action today. 3 boys and 3 girls basketball teams in Austria and a men’s and women’s lacrosse team in Portugal. It’s just non-stop action getting score reports via WhatsApp. We have some great teams and have won so many close games so far. I hope the balls continue to bounce our way. Win, lose, or draw it’s a huge honor to Represent the USA in International competition. Most importantly, we are seeing so many great pictures of happy smiling International travelers. For a decade now our goal has been to impact the lives of young athletes and their families. Seeing that in real-time is very special. What a great day at #SAWUSA!
June 19, 2024
What a busy couple of days. On Monday 48 more travelers landed in Portugal for the Lisboa Lacrosse Cup. That trip is off to a great start with a Zipline adventure and some beach time and Lacrosse practices. Back in Austria, the six Basketball groups have now played two exhibition games each, done a Salzburg city tour, and a Salt Mine adventure. They’ve already made it to Klagenfurt for the United World Games. Things are settling in on both trips and the teams are gearing up for this weekends International Tournaments!
June 16, 2024
So, all 140 travelers made it on-time – NO TRAVEL ISSUES! That in itself is a great start to the trip. We had three departing airports (Newark, Miami, and JFK) and passed through either London or Lisbon. Shout out to our amazing coaches for herding everyone through check in, connections, etc. We all met in Munich, Germany and took a beautiful drive to Salzburg, Austria for a long awaited welcome dinner with a panoramic view of the amazing city. Everyone is safe, and we are in Europe! The real fun starts tomorrow.