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| Ulz Daeuber has coached both Pioneers and Unicorns |
The UW-Platteville Pioneer volleyball and football teams will be heading overseas May 20-31. They, along with coaches, professors, administrators, parents, friends and family will be taking part in an educational trip to Central Europe as well as participating in games and scrimmages against European teams.
Head Football Coach Mike Emendorfer, who took a team to Germany in 2003, said this trip will allow the students-athletes a chance to understand international travel
"For a student-athlete, the student part comes first and this trip to Europe will be a great educational experience," he said. "The competing part is a bonus."
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| UWP played the Unicorns in 2003 |
The Pioneers will take part on tours through Switzerland, France, and Germany. While in Switzerland, they will visit the city of Lucerne and take a cogwheel railway trip to up to Mt. Pilatus in addition to a tour at a nearby cheese factory. The volleyball team will play a game versus Club Voleya Obwalden May 23rd in Giswil, Switzerland and the football team will scrimmage a Swiss team.
In France, the Pioneers will visit the Allsac region with its cities of Colmar and Strasbourg, and also tour the Chataue de Haut Koenigsburg.
While in Germany, they will visit Pioneer assistant coach Ulz Daeuber's hometown of Schwaebisch Hall. UWP will face the Unicorns on May 26, a re-match of their 2003 game.
"I think it is very important for our students, and everyone involved, to have an international experience," Daeuber said. "The globalization of the world is continuously getting faster and therefore people should have an understanding of other cultures. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone."
In Germany, they will tour Schwaebisch Hall and explore a city festival. Both the football and volleyball teams will play a game while visiting there. The football team faces the Schwaebisch Hall Unicorns, while the volleyball team plays against a Schwaebisch Hall all-star team. They will then travel to a salt mine in Bad Friedrichshall and Rothenburg and a winery tour then continue to Dachau to visit a WWII concentration camp and then a tour through Munich.
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| UWP volleyball is making its first trip |
"The 2003 team was the first team to take the trip to Europe and everyone, to this day, still talks about how the trip was a life changing experience and how great of a time they had overseas," Emendorfer said. "This is a great opportunity to experience new things, and for the student-athletes to come together as a team and build their team chemistry."
Coach Daeuber said they are taking this trip to gain the experience of traveling abroad and to broaden the students' horizons. He would like to give the students the chance to take a closer look and be confronted with a different culture.
"History is more present in Europe. Europeans think it is important to reflect on their history and to see what they can do in the future to better themselves," Daeuber said. "I would like the students to get a better understanding of the culture. With all the wars that are going on, what is bad in one part of the world doesn't mean its bad in another and I would like the student to get an understanding of that."
To prepare for the educational trip, the UW-Platteville student-athletes
spent eight weeks out of the semester in a special course by Patrick Hagen, designed to teach them about the culture of the areas they will be visiting. The students have been learning some of the language, some of the different countries past governing bodies, the current rule, family lifestyles, geography, and weather about Germany, Switzerland, and France.
Besides the educational experience, the Pioneer teams were allowed 10 extra practices to prepare for the trip.
Head volleyball Coach Deb Schulman thinks this is a great opportunity for the two teams.
"We have a young team and these extra practices allow the staff more in-depth time to work more with our players," Schulman said. "We are allowed a few practices overseas as well as a couple of games. This gives our team more hands-on and more experience for the game."
Wide receiver Derek Hoff said that the students have been doing various fund raisers to raise money for the trip and would like to send a special thanks to those that were involved.
"The trip will be an outstanding educational experience," Sports Information Director Paul Erickson, who accompanied the football team on their last overseas trip, said. "What really impressed me was the time the student-athletes took to learn about the cultural and historical significance of the places we were. The trip to the Dachau concentration camp sticks out vividly in my mind because of the reaction all of us had. It was an extremely educational trip, and I remember that more than the football game, even though the game and the events surrounding them were very fun, too."
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