Penn women's basketball bonds over trip to Italy

One of the beautiful things about sports is their universality — you don’t have to speak the same language as your opponents to recognize a fantastic play or a well-fought game. This past August, Penn women’s basketball got to experience this element of sports firsthand during a ten-day whirlwind tour of Italy.

For the first time in program history, the Quakers embarked overseas for what they called the “2014 Italy Tour,” which included stops in Rome, Florence, Lake Como and Venice. The goal? Soak up a little bit of Italian culture while getting international basketball experience.

“[The team] saw some of the most historic venues in the world — the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Roman Colosseum, the Vatican, the statue of David by Michelangelo,” coach Mike McLaughlin said of the Quaker’s leisure activities. “Things in history that they’ll never forget.”

Beyond just visiting the ‘touristy’ sites, though, the Quakers learned valuable lessons about chemistry and the universality of sports during their brief stint abroad.

“My favorite memory about Italy, more than the sightseeing and traveling, was probably the three games,” senior guard Kathleen Roche said.

During its 2014 Italy Tour, the Quakers played three games against Italian and German semi-professional teams. Penn opened with a 69-39 win over the Italy All-Stars and followed the resounding victory with another win over AS Vertis La Spezia, 78-49.

Junior guard Brooklyn Juday described playing against these teams as a bonding experience for the Quakers .

“When you’re playing teams that don’t speak your language that’s something that is a little bit difficult to overcome,” she said.

Following their win over La Spezia, the Red and Blue were treated to a five course meal with the members of the Italian team.

“Only two of the girls spoke English, but we were seated every other person with their team members,” Juday recalls. “We had some funny moments with them — and some awkward moments.”

Despite some things lost in translation, McLaughlin regarded the dinner as “the pinnacle” of the trip.

“Their English is limited, our Italian is limited, but you can tell they can communicate over one common bond, which was the game,” he said. “You couldn’t ask for a better environment.”

The language barrier, however, was not the only obstacle the Quakers would face while abroad. With foreign opponents comes an entirely foreign style of play, at times. Penn got a dose of this first hand during its third and final game of the trip, a 62-56 loss to Chemcats Chemnitz of Germany.

“The German team was very brute force, really rough and going right at us,” Roche said.

The Germans’ style of physical play took the Quakers — especially the younger, untested members of the squad — by surprise. Although Penn was not able to pull out a win, it gained valuable experience playing aggressively from buzzer to buzzer.

“We had a chance for some players who haven’t played a whole lot during their tenure here to play,” McLaughlin said. “I felt that experience in terms of on the court was what really helped move things forward.”

Roche agrees.

“A huge reason for going to Italy was being able to play together, to know how each other plays and to get that groove going before we start our season,” she said.

The Quakers are just days away from their season opener on November 14 against Tennessee in Knoxville, and McLaughlin will be looking to those nine players on his roster with international experience to set the tone for the game.

The Lady Volunteers are perennially one of the most competitive women’s programs in Division I basketball, thus keeping up with Tennessee’s physical style on the court will be an ample challenge for Penn.

But Roche is confident in what her team learned from its loss to Chemcats Chemnitz.

“We’re going to play teams that are really aggressive, so we had to make sure that we don’t let [the Lady Volunteers] beat us up. Especially going into Tennessee,” she said.

“I think that experience in Italy is going to be really beneficial to that.”

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