Aug. 14, 2008

Like many college students her age, Mo McReynolds bought a pair of shoes this summer. But she doesn't wear them ... mostly because they're wooden.

"They're so uncomfortable, but they're cool to have," McReynolds said.

The junior outside hitter for the Lehigh volleyball team bought the shoes while in the Netherlands with USA Athletes International in June. McReynolds spent 12 days representing her country with some of the top volleyball players in the United States as they challenged international teams in the DKV Volleyball Tournament.

The tour also gave McReynolds the opportunity to visit sites in Germany and the Netherlands, including a wooden shoe factory in Holland, where a shoe-making master hand-crafted her souvenir.

USA Athletes International selected a team of 14 college athletes to represent the United States in the tournament. McReynolds didn't have to try out for the team; she just had to respond to a letter inviting her to join, after Lehigh head volleyball coach Jenny Maurer nominated her for the spot.

But McReynolds wasn't sure she wanted to join the team. For one thing, the trip was very expensive, and she didn't feel like asking her parents for such a large sum of money. The other reason was that she wasn't sure if it was a scam.

"I had never heard of the program," McReynolds said. "I think that's why I didn't tell my parents about it, because I didn't think it was real."

But after a conversation with Maurer - who played for the team when she was in college - McReynolds realized how big of an opportunity this trip could be.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience," Maurer said. "What a great way to experience a different style of the game. And it's not just volleyball; there were opportunities to really experience different cultures."

So McReynolds hit the fundraising trail with former teammate and 2008 Lehigh graduate Shannon Spafford, who would join her on the trip. After calling at least 75 people, McReynolds finally punched her ticket to Europe for two weeks of traveling she will never forget.

While the sightseeing was fun, the trip wasn't all about checking out windmills and going to the Anne Frank Museum. They were there to compete, and McReynolds didn't want to waste the opportunity to hone her skills on the court.

"It was definitely very nice to be on an organized team again," she said. "I know over the summer you can go into old club practices and practice with them, but you're never playing a game. I feel like it helped me a lot because I could get touches on the ball when normally everyone else doesn't have that opportunity."

Not only was it a unique experience to play in Europe, it was even more special to play volleyball in the Netherlands, where the sport was created.

There are many differences in how the game is played in the United States and in its birthplace. It's not necessarily faster or slower, McReynolds said, but it's definitely unique. The Dutch athletes run different plays, and some have a very different style of serving the ball.

"You don't see underhand serving past sixth grade anymore," McReynolds said. "But there was this one girl that had this crazy-good underhand serve. It was really powerful and came at you really fast, and I was just thinking, `I'm not really getting beat by an underhand serve am I?'"

It didn't help that the American team had never played together before the tournament. In fact, most of the players hadn't even met each other until they hopped on a plane in Newark, N.J. to embark on the trip.

When the U.S. team took the court for the first time in the Netherlands, McReynolds said it was obvious how little time the players had spent together. Luckily for them, it didn't take long for that to change.

"It made us a lot closer in the end because we literally spent 12 days shoulder to shoulder," McReynolds said. "We slept in the same rooms, we got up and ate breakfast together and we got up and played together. You could definitely tell that the closer you get off the court, the better you play on the court."

They eventually did grow close enough to put on a good show in the Netherlands, finishing fourth place of the 12 teams competing. But the best part of the trip for McReynolds was not the high place in the standings; it came away from the volleyball court, when she and her teammates joined the local crowd in celebrating the Dutch soccer team's win against Italy in Euro 2008.

On the last night of their trip, both the men's and women's teams hit the town in Amsterdam, wearing Orange jerseys to support the home club. They witnessed a stunning win for the Dutch, as the team upset the 2006 World Cup champions 3-0 in the first round of the competition.

McReynolds said she was getting high fives from people she had never met, and the entire town was on its feet every time a Dutch player scored a goal.

"The place literally exploded," McReynolds said. "There were hands everywhere. I felt like I was in a mosh pit or something because there was so much movement around me. It was really cool."

The only problem for McReynolds was that she couldn't find time to sleep on the trip. The players would wake up every morning for breakfast at 8 a.m. Then they would usually hop on the bus for two hours en route to a gym where they would play extremely competitive volleyball matches. At night, they would check out the sites and usually wouldn't get to bed until the early morning hours.

It was a grueling schedule that took its toll on McReynolds, but she didn't mind. She just made up for the lost sleep when she got home.

"I slept for something like 18 hours straight," she said. "I woke up and I was saying `what day is it?'"