By Peyton Dickerson, Staff Writer
Gelato, tours, cave biking, soccer. These are only a few of the activities that took place when members of the Outer Banks Storm soccer team traveled to Belgium, Holland and Germany this summer.
“We landed in Amsterdam and we spent the evening there. We went to places like Brussels, Belgium and Cologne, Germany,” freshman Maggie McNinch said.
The girls got to experience a river canal tour in Amsterdam, tons of cathedrals in Germany and Belgium, and exploring in Aachen, Germany. The authentic gelato was a big hit with the soccer girls. No matter where they were off to, they found a way to get their daily dose of the sweet treat.
“I would probably go back to this small town, Valkenburg: They had the best gelato I’ve had in my entire life,” sophomore Ava O’Neil said.
The town of Valkenburg was a common favorite among the girls, considering it was in close proximity to their hotel. This quaint place had varieties of shops and restaurants to explore. One of the popular activities that took place in Valkenburg was cave biking.
Cave biking is a tour of the Sibbergroeve, the most vast underground passages in Europe.
“They had all these caves made from people mining,” O’Neil said.
Aside from all the treats they were eating and underground adventures, the girls had one thing on their minds: soccer. They were taken by surprise when they discovered that some of the people they were playing against could speak four or five different languages.
“A lot of people were speaking Dutch, which was really cool, and most of them knew English, which was good,” sophomore Gabi McClary said.
The culture experience was exciting for the girls, from hearing different languages being spoken to trying new foods and even watching an old-fashioned Amsterdam bachelor party.
“We ate at a diner in Amsterdam and there was this crazy bachelor party going on, so it was a great taste of Amsterdam culture,” McNinch said.
Most of the soccer playing took place in Valkenburg conveniently close to their hotel, apart from one game in Germany. Matches took place against three Dutch teams and one German team.
“We ended up playing with this one team with ages ranging from 17 to 30 years old,” O’Neil said.
This trip was fascinating and life-changing for the girls. They were greatly appreciative of the amazing opportunity they were given, and hope for more European gelato in the near future.
Sophomore Peyton Dickerson can be reached at 21dickersonpe28@daretolearn.org.
