Women’s Softball Goes to Costa Rica
Whittier softball had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica from Jan. 7 to Jan. 12 and play a collection of local teams. For many of us, it was the first time being in a foreign country, away from our parents, in a place that spoke another language. Although the coaches planned this trip for us to experience softball in a different environment, it was also an opportunity to bond as a team and foster a stronger sense of community.
Our trip began when we departed from Whittier College on a charter bus, where we entered with anticipation for the week to come. We braved the hustle-and-bustle of LAX, and arrived in Costa Rica on Sunday night. We spent two nights in San Jose and two nights in Punta Leona, where we stayed in small cabins within walking distance of the beach. After an early breakfast, we would pile into the bus and make our way to that day’s adventure.
The trip was led entirely by the Beyond Sports staff, who reside in Costa Rica. They provided the transportation, organized our activities, and allowed us peace of mind as we enjoyed our vacation. On our first day, we experienced beautiful scenery, such as the roaring La Paz Waterfalls. The second day was a travel day, as we moved closer to the coast and enjoyed a free afternoon. On the third day, we zip-lined through the lush, green forest and enjoyed an afternoon at the beach. On our last day, we took a tour of the eclectic city of San Jose before we played our second and final game there.
The most noteworthy aspect of our trip was playing our sport in a foreign place and sharing it with women of all ages and talent levels. While the games were a place for us to execute some of our goals, it was primarily a way for us to conduct a clinic-like display of coaching methods to coaches who may have had distinct resources. We performed our warm-up and pre-game routine in the company of about fifty girls, who were eager to learn our particular stretches and drills. Once we began the game, the excitement was at an all-time high. A crowd of locals gathered behind the backstop, fingers gripping the chain link fence, cheering on the girls as they took on a college team from the United States. They cheered for every foul ball, and every strike thrown, grateful for the opportunity to better themselves. After our first encounter with the team, we realized this meant much more to them than we anticipated.
The trip had been in the works since 2020, but the pandemic was the obvious deterrent. As the years passed and restrictions lifted, Head Coach Trisha Senyo and her staff realized it was the best time to finally take the trip they had talked about for so long. So she recalled, “ We decided in early spring 2023 to commit for this Jan. 2024.” There were various intended objectives for the trip other than simply enjoying a vacation before the spring semester started. Coach Senyo spoke about the positive effect of the trip, saying, “The team was already fairly close, but to experience so many firsts together (traveling internationally, traveling alone as an adult, flying, being in a Spanish-speaking country, etc) creates and forms a very different memory bank in how you view each other. For the sport of softball, I think the opportunity to see how privileged we are with access was phenomenal. Having the opportunity to share a sport with women of largely varying ages and experience is eye-opening and brings many of them back to their roots.”
While the language barrier risked creating a big rift between the two teams, we found that softball was our unifying factor. We could walk through a drill and show them a few examples; they would jump in and participate wholeheartedly. As a Spanish speaker, I had the privilege of communicating key points that had the potential to be unclear by simply showing them. I was able to have meaningful interactions with some of the girls, in which we talked about how long they had been playing and what they were hoping to achieve with the sport. Their love for the game shone through their resilience and willingness to try new skills, even though some aspects were challenging. One woman came from her career as a lawyer in a suit, only to put on a uniform and get on the field with the rest of her team. Their dedication was something we aspired to have. They taught us an important lesson, “Pura Vida!” which means to live without worries, no matter what.
Seeing softball experienced differently by those women, such as a lack of equipment or even current knowledge of effective drills and proper warm-up methods, was humbling. A first-year catcher, Brooklyn Umali, shared her experience: “I think Costa Rica really changed my perspective on life. I realized how privileged I am to have the life I do in California. When I was able to help girls and women learn more about softball, it warmed my heart to see how grateful they were.”
Furthermore, in her final year as a poet, Lindsey Perry discussed the importance of community throughout the trip: “In addition to my team being able to play softball in a different country, there was so much more that this trip had to offer. Costa Rica allowed us to form better relationships within our team and new ones with other individuals who we were fortunate enough to meet.”
Various girls on the team remain in contact with the women we met in Costa Rica and continue to help them, even now. It remains a special place where we learned to coexist as a team, which will surely help as we begin preparation for the season. The free time we spent at the beaches and our dinner conversations will remain in our minds as the difficulty of being a student-athlete threatens to create rifts. We will remember how fortunate we were and the change we experienced all together.
Coach Senyo, when describing her ultimate objective for the trip states, (other than to have fun, of course), “To provide an experience that many may never have had the opportunity to. When you can open a door that someone may never have had access to, it can change the trajectory of what they believe to be capable of.”
Photo Courtesy of Olivia Nunez / Quaker Campus
