In 1997, the University of Chicago’s men’s soccer team took a preseason trip to Scotland, beginning an athletic-department-wide tradition that is still in effect today. Since then, UChicago varsity sports teams have traveled to 23 countries – including Turkey, Iceland and Uruguay – marking international travel a hallmark of the Maroon athletic experience.
Supported through team fundraising efforts, alumni donations and department support – such as the Edith Ballwebber fund, an endowed fund specifically for female athletic teams’ international experiences – these trips typically combine traditional sightseeing with countries’ sports scenes. Whether they are watching professional matches or scrimmaging local teams, UChicago athletes have the opportunity to learn and integrate themselves with international communities at no cost beyond passport fees and souvenir money.
This past spring break, the UChicago women’s volleyball and men’s soccer teams boarded flights to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to spend a week enjoying everything from Christ the Redeemer to the hospitality of the Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, Brazil’s most popular sports club.
Learn more about their respective trips below.
Women's volleyball sees the sights, hosts clinic for children
The volleyball team's trip began with two days at Armação dos Búzios, a town just east of Rio known for its beaches.
“We thought it was a great opportunity to have some rest and relaxation time to balance all of the sightseeing and playing we'd be doing in Rio,” said Mitchell McPartland, head coach of the women’s volleyball team.
The team took a boat tour and explored the rich nightlife Buzios had to offer, taking a well-needed break from their studies to spend time with teammates abroad.
From Búzios, the Maroons boarded a bus and drove into Rio de Janeiro, beginning their time in the city with a match against the Tijuca Tenis Club’s U21 team on their home court. Unlike the American sports scene, adolescent and young adult athletics are concentrated in club sports teams, whose players spend many hours a week training and can even be paid to play.
“We learned that each person that we played against, regardless of their position, was skilled in all areas of the sport,” McPartland said. “In the US, we specialize by position almost immediately, which doesn't allow for certain skills to develop as much. We hope that as a team, we can become more well-rounded like the teams we competed against.”
Later that week, they returned to the same facility to watch a professional volleyball match with sold-out stands between Minas Tennis Club and Flamengo, whose roster included BYU volleyball alumni Veronica Jones-Perry and Brie King, a member of the Canadian national volleyball team. Alongside their coach, former Brazilian National Coach and multiple-time Olympic champion Bernardo Resende, the Flamengo players spoke to the UChicago women’s volleyball team and explained a few of the opportunities presented to them as professionals in Rio.
More highlights of the volleyball team’s trip included the typical sightseeing destinations of Sugarloaf Mountain, accessible only by cable car, and a train ride to see Christ the Redeemer,one of the seven wonders of the modern world. But one of the trip's most memorable activities took place on the last day, when the team took a bus to one of Rio’s favelasto host a clinic for young children.
Through Viva Volley, a social project of the Brazillian Volleyball Federation, the Maroons spent a few hours on the court with children of all ages.
“Seeing young kids who have very little play volleyball with such joy was something that will stick with me forever,” McPartland said, citing it as “hands down” his favorite part of the trip. “It was a great reminder of how privileged we are here in the US.”
In planning the trip, McPartland emphasizes the importance of balancing sightseeing with community engagement. “Sightseeing is a great way to learn more about the culture of a country/city that you are visiting, but getting to interact with members of communities in Rio gave us the chance to really see what life is like there,” he said.
The Brazillian children might not have spoken English, but they greeted the volleyball team with handmade posters and Viva Volley gifts.
Men's soccer competes against Brazilian academies, takes in professional game
A few blocks away at a different hotel on Copacabana Beach, the UChicago men’s soccer team had a similarly packed week of Brazillian sightseeing and athletic competition. “We did everything you could ever want to do in Brazil plus more,” said Will Boyes, a rising fourth-year keeper.
Like the volleyball team, they also spent a day of relaxation in Buzios, which included a boat ride and a buggy tour around the beachside town – a needed break from their scrimmages with Brazillian soccer teams, which included matches against clubs Botafogo and Flamengo at their world-class training facilities.
“The teams we played in Brazil are some of the top academies in the world,” Boyes said. “We couldn't help but think we might be playing against future World Cup or Ballon d'Or winners.”
“Playing against Brazilian teams provided a very high level of competition for us, which helped us improve our problem-solving skills in the heat of the game," said Danny Mendoza, a rising third-year forward.
The 2022 D-III men’s soccer national champions managed to compete hard to 1-1 and 2-2 draws against such tough competition. “After the matches, we spent time talking, joking, and laughing with the opposing players,” Boyes said.
(Courtesy of UChicago Athletics Department)
The highlight for the soccer team was spectating a match between Flamengo and Vasco de Gama at the Maracana, Brazil’s flagship football stadium.
“It was an atmosphere that would give any sports fan goosebumps,” Boyes said, adding how that day, the game was played on every TV and virtually every passerby sported a jersey.
“Our team was able to enjoy and witness firsthand the passion and lifestyle that soccer really is to the Brazilian locals at perhaps the most iconic soccer stadium in the world,” said Mendoza. “It was a soccer player's dream and something I will never forget,” Boyes added.
Given that two UChicago sports teams had found themselves in the same city at the same time, the coaches decided to set aside designated times for their tours of Rio to overlap. The volleyball team had the chance to spectate one of the men’s soccer matches, and afterward, the groups split off to go to dinner at one of the many outdoor restaurants along Copacabana Beach.
“Meeting up with another UChicago sports team in a different country was a surreal feeling,” Boyes said.
“It was amazing to have the larger UChicago athletics community be represented abroad during the same trip,” Mendoza said. “Spending time with your teammates abroad allows the entire team to immerse itself in a completely new culture that most, if not all, have not experienced before in their lifetimes.”
