Welcome to the SAWUSA Summer 2025 Travel Blog. We have a busy summer, with 6 tours and 16 teams. If you are looking for game results, please head over to the 2025 Results Page. On this page here we will post daily updates on what each group is doing off the field or court. The top of the page is the most recent post.
If you are interested in applying to be an ambassador of the USA in the future, please get an application started by clicking the link below.
July 26, 2025
This afternoon our 6th and final tour, the Bucknell University Men’s Tennis Tour arrived safely back in Philadelphia. This means 2025 is officially over. We had 6 tours with 15 teams and 335 people over 48 days. It’s bittersweet. On one hand it’s a great relief to get everyone there and back safely. On the other hand, tour season is fun and exciting and it will be 10 months until we are traveling again. The two July tours were awesome. Our Costa Rica Tour is always one of our best (and smoothest) tours, and 2025 was no different. The Bucknell University tour was a great success as well. On Monday morning we turn the page to 2026. In fact Mike and I will meet in person at the home office near Raleigh, NC and recap and plan to make our tours bigger and better in 2026 (explore our 2026 tours). We learned so much this summer and we had so many great ambassadors. In fact, 29 of them were nominated for our prestigious end of the year awards. See you next summer!
July 19, 2025
It’s been a busy summer and I’ve forgotten about the blog! Our last post had our Portugal Basketball Festival group touching down in Lisbon. That trip ended up being one of our best reviewed trips of all-time. We do post trip surveys to see how our guests liked everything (coaches, excursions, food, etc.). That one was off the charts! Honestly, sometimes it’s just about the right mix of people. Magic is made on these tours sometimes and that one must’ve had the right ingredients. The following week had our Lisboa Lacrosse Cup tour also in Portugal and Spain. Those tours follow a very similar itinerary, just a week apart and different sports. Our Lacrosse group was our biggest ever and our Boys won the tournament for the first time ever as well. Lastly, a few days ago our last two trips of the summer began. The Costa Rica Adventure and Bucknell Univ. Men’s Tennis are currently halfway through their tours. Both are going super smooth. It’s just been a great summer so far with just a few bumps. We were shooting for zero missed departure flights and we ended up with four. But no one missed too much of the trip. Reading the reviews these last few weeks has me very excited for 2026. International group sports travel is just special. I think SAWUSA puts a great spin on it and we do work hard on the minor details, but honestly the magic is sometimes just in the travel.
June 24, 2025
The last 24 hours were action-packed here at SAWUSA. Just before 6 pm last night we had our third tour of the Summer, the Portugal Basketball Festival depart Newark. As I was going to bed last night our United World Games travelers were up (at 3 am their time) driving to the airport in Munich for their return flight home. They actually just missed each other as the PBF crew arrived at 6 am in Lisbon and the UWG group arrived at 8:30 am in Lisbon for a quick layover. Everything went smooth for both groups and the PBF Tour is now in Spain after having their first practice. The UWG group should land in Washington D.C. in just a few hours. It was a great UWG Tour. The groups loved their tour guides, won some medals, and most importantly made lifetime memories and friends. If Summer 2025 is anything like our first two completed tours, it’s going to be an amazing success. We got 2 down and 4 to go here at SAWUSA this summer – the fun is just getting started!
June 16-23, 2025
Head over to Mike Spinner’s blog for 14 blog entries from the United World Games tour.
June 15, 2025
Today is a HUGE day at SAWUSA. We have our Pyrenees Basket Cup Tour coming to an end. Our U16s won Gold and our U18s won the 2nd tier bracket (also named Gold but they had a Diamond bracket, so their finish was 5th overall). Remember, head over to our RESULTS page to see all the sports results! If summer 2025 is anything like our first tour, we are in for an awesome summer! Pictured here is the parents of our U18 group. While I didn’t get to meet this group personally – they do say a picture is worth a thousand words. It’s just a good looking group and I hope lots of friendships and memories were made. That’s what this is all about! But, that’s not all today. We also have our second trip, the United World Games Tour, departing Washington D.C. at 5:45 pm tonight. I’ve heard everyone is present and accounted for and at the gate for departure. They will layover in Lisbon and arrive in Austria tomorrow. About the same time they are flying over Spain, the folks from the Pyrenees tour will be flying back to the USA!
June 11, 2025
After the first fews days had a huge focus on Basketball, today was all about sightseeing. The group enjoyed a full day touring the beautiful city of Barcelona. They also enjoyed an authentic Catalan style lunch that was phone free and three courses deep. Pictured here the group is in front of the famous Sagrada Familia which towers through the city skyline. I’ve been hearing nothing but positive vibes from the coaches and tour leaders. Each SAWUSA tour takes on it’s own unique personality feeding off the coaches, guides, athletes, and parents. This one has the making of a special group. The teams are coming together nicely, the weather is great, and spirits are high. We can’t wait for what is in store for the rest of this tour. One more day in Spain, and then it’s off the France!
June 9, 2025
The 2025 SAWUSA travel season is officially underway. Yesterday our first tour, the Pyrenees Basket Cup, departed from New York with 52 travelers. In what we hope is a sign of good things to come, we had a super smooth travel day. No missed flights, no delays, no issues! The group landed in Barcelona early this morning and met our Tour Guide Minh who showed them the ropes in Spain. To avoid jet lag we have to keep moving. So, we had our first practice, lunch, some friendly exhibition matches, and dinner. Both teams won their matches, but it was more about just getting comfortable playing in Europe and getting to know each other – and our new friends from Spain. Head over to the 2025 Results Page to view those results. Honestly, the first day is always a grind. Tomorrow morning, after a good nights rest, the trip really begins.