The Thunder women's basketball team departs campus on Monday, May 11 for a weeklong sports ministry trip to Costa Rica. The program has partnered with High Performance Sports (HPS) and will be serving in Costa Rica on athletic missions from January 11-18. In Costa Rica, the players, coaches, alumnae and staff will serve in over three different ministries (special needs, widows, children and teens, etc.), compete against local teams, and conduct basketball clinics. Everyone will also have opportunities to explore the area of Coronado, near Bráulio Carrillo National Park, do white water rafting in the Turrialba River and visit area communities.
Updates will be provided throughout the trip so be sure to check back to this page throughout the week.
DAY 1 UPDATE ---
DAY 2 UPDATE
DAY 1 (Monday, May 11)
The team departed campus at 2:45 a.m. on Monday morning for O'Hare Airport. Travel went smoothly with a stop over in Atlanta and the group arrived safely at Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica and then advanced to their accommodations for the next week with High Performance Sports (HPS). HPS host for the week, Ronny. Following orientation the team took a beautiful hike in mountains near HPS headquarters to San Pancracio Coffee shop. At the coffee shop, they had fresh locally sourced coffee, fruit drinks and desserts. Following the visit to the coffee the team returned to HPS for dinner and visited to close out the night.
DAY 2 (Tuesday, May 12)
A 6:00 a.m. start time to the day greeted the team and staff, along with a homemade breakfast. Following breakfast, the group headed to San Ramon to a public school in the city for special needs students (PICTURED LEFT). The team and coaches performed two sets of sessions with the the school's younger students and then followed with the older students, engaging with both groups in a series of activities. At the end of the first session, the school's director honored the the team with a certificate of appreciation for their work at the school. At the conclusion of the sessions, the director gave a tour of the facility and the team had a wonderful lunch prepared by the school staff.
Folling the visit to San Ramon, The team boarded their bus for Cerro Espiritu Santo, one of the most scenic views in the area. Following a 25-minute hike to the top, the group found an unfinished, abandoned shrine at the top of the mountain. At an elevation of 6,000 feet the team took in the remarkable views and amazing nature that surrounded them. Along with the abandoned shrine, was a venue for speakers and musical artists. It was here, surrounded by this natural beauty, that Coach Madsen gave the team a devotional on being rooted in the Lord. Following this visit, the team went to an area supermarket for snacks and drinks to prepare for their final stop of the day.
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The team's busy day closed at an area school where they were scheduled to host clinics and play a game. They arrived early for the clinics and were invited to join the school children that were playing volleyball. Following, volleyball was the first of two clinics - the opening clinic was with younger students. In this session there were three stations that consisted of passing, dribbling and shooting drills. In the second session with older students, the same stations were used and an agility station was added. Following the stations, a series of games were played by the students, including knockout. Once the clinic concluded, Wheaton's team and a local team began warming up for the game scheduled to follow. The two teams were a mix of Wheaton's players and the local players as they had an exciting 40 minutes of action. Following the game, the teams prayed, the local group gave everyone from Wheaton a gift and the team headed back to HPS headquarters (with a stop for dinner.) Upon arriving at HPS at 10:30 p.m., Ronny and Coach Madsen praised the team for their effort and Ronny shared the plan for Wednesday's busy day of activities
