From University of Chicago Athletics
The University of Chicago men's and women's tennis teams will be departing to Europe for a 10-day excursion from September 9-18. The Maroons will travel throughout Spain, the Netherlands and Germany during that time period.
Periodic blog updates will be available on the UChicago Athletics & Recreation website at the following link: http://athletics.uchicago.edu/about/history/travel_blogs/tennis-europe-2016-blogs.
Since the inaugural trip in 1997, UChicago varsity athletic teams have traveled to 21 countries on four continents. The Maroon women's tennis squad previously journeyed to Argentina and Uruguay in 2009, while this will be the first international trip for the men's tennis team.
Head Coach Jay Tee is hoping that the expedition will provide a valuable new cultural experience as well as strengthen team bonds.
"The teams and I are really looking forward to this trip and understand that we are very fortunate to be able to share this experience together," Tee said. "It will be a great change of pace from our normal preseason activities and a great opportunity to represent the University of Chicago abroad. We are really looking forward to seeing and doing some amazing things over the next 10 days which will hopefully deepen our appreciation for other countries and cultures while also bringing us all closer together."
UChicago departs for Barcelona on September 9 – the city will be the central focus of the Spanish portion of the tour. The Maroons will then head out to the Netherlands with stops in Eindhoven, Valkenburg, Margraten, Maastricht and Amsterdam, as well as Bastogne, Belgium. The German cities on the itinerary include Aachen, Cologne, Konigswinter, Mayschoss, Bonn and Frankfurt. The tennis teams will be playing matches against local clubs on September 13 and 17.