Troy University Athletics
Trojan Soccer in Italy Travel Diary
5/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | General
Emily Cobb finished her four-year career with the Trojans in 2005. The Louisville, Ky., native graduated in May with a degree in Sport and Fitness Management. Cobb served as a captain for the Trojans for all four seasons. Cobb has served as the Student-Athlete Advisory Council secretary and president, and she is a member of several honors clubs on campus. In March, Cobb was one of 13 student-athletes in the country to be awarded the NCAA Women's Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship for Careers in Athletics. Cobb is continuing her education at Troy, pursuing a master's degree in sport and fitness management.
Jenny Smith will serve as a co-captain on the trip to Italy. The rising junior from Flower Mound, Texas, has started every game but one in her career with the Trojans and is a key component to the Trojans' defense. As a freshman, Smith played more minutes than any other Trojans, and she ranked fourth in that category as a sophomore, averaging nearly 70 minutes per game.
Diana Niland is entering her third season as head coach of the Trojans. In her second season, she led the Trojans to their first post-season appearance when Troy qualified for the Sun Belt Tournament. She set the school mark for most wins by a first-year coach in 2004. A native of Edgewater, Md., Niland has coached for 10 years, five of them as a collegiate head coach.
May 24 Entry from Jenny Smith
Sunday May 21st
We all woke up in the morning and packed up all of our stuff back onto the bus to head to Rome. After two hours of driving we stopped in the small town of Orvieto to have lunch and a few hours of shopping and sightseeing. With our legs stretched, we got back onto the bus to make the last leg of our journey to the eternal city of Rome. Once we were checked into our hotel we then transferred into downtown Rome to have dinner at the Taverna Barberini. After our usual three courses of pasta, meat and vegetables, and dessert we all walked to the Trevi fountain for a nighttime viewing experience. All of the girls threw coins over their left shoulders, sealing the fact that they will be back to Rome.
Monday May 22nd
Everyone met in the lobby with comfortable clothes and shoes because a very long day of walking in the hot Roman sun lay ahead of us. First we went on a guided walking tour through the Ara Creli and ancient Roman ruins. Next we walked to the Arch of Constantine and then over to the massive structure of the Coliseum. Once our tour was over, everyone was released to have the rest of the afternoon to explore places like the Piazza del Spagna (Spanish Steps), Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Next we had to travel to the Center Sportivo where our last game of the soccer tour would take place. Upon our arrival we were told that our game would be postponed due to an Italian movie production taking place at the soccer fields. After an hour delay we took to the very nice (and small) artificial grass field to play RES BLU 92. We were obviously the better team but a few costly mistakes put us in a difficult position where we lost the game 3-1. Lastly, we went back to the hotel where we had a great meal of lasagna, chicken and potatoes, and ice cream. Then everyone headed back to all of our rooms to get a good nights' rest in order to get up early for our visit to the Vatican.
May 24 Entry from Coach Diana Niland
Our last day in Italy was as great and impressive as the rest of the trip. Today we went to Vatican City and visited the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters square. It is hard to explain the enormity and impact of Michelangelo's paintings, along with the many other treasures in the museum. Although everyone was completely exhausted from our playing, walking, and traveling, it was easy to see how impressed everyone was with this amazing place.
I think for the Catholics on the team our visit to Vatican City was especially impactful. Although we did not see the Pope, there was a certain emotion and overwhelming feeling for several of the players and chaperones.
After splitting up around 1 p.m. for lunch and free time, we enjoyed different activities. Many spent a long lunch sitting and resting their sore feet. Several still had the energy to shop. Others stopped at various monuments and fountains around the city.
Our day ended with a final meal together at a local restaurant finishing with a few moments to thank Alessandra, our guide for the week, who was absolutely amazing. Her expertise in everything from multiple languages, fashion (she is a former Gucci top manager) and history helped us greatly. She was a big part of making our trip so special.
Tomorrow we leave to come home with fond memories and lots of stories and pictures (I've taken about 460!) to share. As states the legend, I threw my coin into Trevi Fountain so I am destined to return some day. I hope so!
May 23 Entry from Emily Cobb
Yesterday, we went to Florence and saw the most beautiful painting by Dontà. It was from the early Renaissance, but it almost looked middle age. This painting was part of the inside of the dome and it is still a mystery today as to how they were able to build and paint the dome because they didn't have machines and tools that we have today. This painting was in the dome of the Cathedral-Santa Maria del Fiore. This cathedral was made entirely out of marble. There were 3 different colors of marble used-green, red, and white. Those colors stood for hope, charity, & faith.
We leave tomorrow for Rome, we are excited! We have been shopping like CRAZY and have tried negotiating with the local vendors. A big purchase for people has been a necklace charm called cindelo (pronounced-chandelo) which means horn. So, Italian horn necklaces were a fun item for us. Today we went to Pisa and took all sorts of photos at the leaning tower. Coach and some of the girls actually climbed to the top of the tower and said it was awesome.
We have all basically had pizza everyday during lunch, and 3 course meals every night at dinner (start with pasta, then meat, then dessert). We are not used to eating like this! I think we all might avoid pasta or pizza for a few weeks when we get back!
We have all tried mailing postcards but have all bought stamps from different locations. Each of our stamp prices have ranged and we are not sure if any or all of our postcards will make it to their final destinations. Let's hope they get there!!!
Oh, I almost forgot- we went to a disco tech last night and they started playing music that they thought us Americans would like, so, we heard La Bamba, Surfin' USA, and Grease Lightning, hahahaha! We had a good time though. Well, you'll hear from us in Rome!
May 19 Entry from Coach Diana Niland
On the 17th after a day in Lugano, Switzerland, and a trip to Como's Mantero Silk Factory, we had dinner and then played our second game.
It was quite a different experinece than what we are used to. The 8:30 p.m. start time, and the less than 10 minutes to warm up, made it a test. We also played F.C.F. Tradate, a team from Serie A, the top Italian professional league.
They were impressive and scored on us early, as we struggled to get going after the short warm-up. After settling in, we played very well, and ended up with a 1-1 tie, a great result for us against this team.
On May 18, we checked out of our Como hotel and spent most of the day driving through Tuscany then arrived in Montecatini, about 45 minutes from Florence. We had a little time to stretch our legs before going to our third game (three days, three games!).
We played ACF Oltrarno Firenze, who were also a Serie A team. We looked exhausted all game and struggled very much against this team. We lost 2-0, but played well considering how good they were, how tired we were, and that we played several players out of position to avoid some injury problems.
It was a fun and eye-opening experience for the girls. After arriving back to the hotel following the game we had a late dinner then a little free time to stroll around after dinner.
Today (the 18th) we have been in Florence. Our visit so far has included a guided tour of the city including many artistic and historic sites. I have learned more about art in one day than in my entire education!
Florence is the true center or Italian art and, although we have seen some other amazing artwork, such as The Last Supper in Milan, this area is particularly impressive. I am heading with some others shortly to view the statue of David.
For those not so interested in art there are great open markets selling leather, jewelry, silks, and of course soccer and other souvenirs. Tonight will be a free night in Montecatini, then tomorrow we will go to Pisa!
A few interesting cultural notes:
Public restrooms are non-existant, and our tour bus doesn't have a toilet, so that has made for some distress occasionally. If you do find a bathroom, it often involves a circular hole in the groud with a continuous flow of water! Very interesting...The food is amazing! We will all probably come back fat despite lots of walking and playing soccer. Also, I'm going to have a hard time switching back to American coffee...We made the local paper but they had to call us "del Trojans" because "Troy" is very close to a bad word in Italian. So, when we played other teams and they saw "Troy" written on our jerseys they laughed because they thought we had foul language on our shirts!
We haven't had a lot of time for the internet, so more to come as we can...
May 18 Entry from Jenny Smith
Day 3
We woke up and had our usual breakfast of various pastries and fruit at the hotel and then headed to a packed day of activities in Milan. First of all, we were very privileged to see a private tour of Leonardo DaVinci's The Last Supper after its 21 year restoration. After that we went into downtown Milan where we were led on a guided walking tour of major attractions such as the Piazza de Duomo, Fashion District and The Castillo. We were then allowed to have free time to roam the city where we all shopped and enjoyed the Italian cuisine. From Milan we transferred to the city of Lecco, where our game would be played, and ate a 3 course meal of pasta, chicken, and cake at Giardino's. We quickly drove to the fields and changed in time for a quick warm up and started the game. After learning to adjust to the "no touching" Italian rules we settled down and played a sloppy game on the dirt fields, eventually losing 2-0.
Day 4
We woke up and loaded the bus at 9:45 a.m. to the nearby Swiss border where we crossed and were allowed to explore the city of Lugano. After sampling lots of Swiss chocolate, looking at fine watches, and more shopping we transferred back to Como where we browsed the nearby silk factory. We were then allowed a couple of hours to shop on our own in the town of Como. Tonight we have dinner at the 3D Culinary Institute and then a game at 8:30 p.m. for our second game.
May 16 Entry from Emily Cobb
Day 1
We all got on the plane safely and problem free in ATL.We arrived in Milan and immediately went to tour the downtown by ourselves before we headed to a professional soccer game (Milan against Rome). We really enjoyed watching the match and all of us got souvenirs from the game. Free time on our own that evening.
Day 2
We woke up and went on a motor boat tour of Lake Como. We saw George Clooney's house and another house that was used to tape Ocean's 12. We were on the boat about 2 hours then stopped in the town of Bellagio for shopping and lunch. Then, we took naps on the boat all the way back to Como. Last night we all went to the University here and took a cooking class. All of us participated and were able to eat all of our wonderful food!!! We were all exhausted so everyone went to bed!
May 12 entry from Emily Cobb
The girls and I are excited that the Italy trip is just a day away! We have been training together all this week to prepare for some exhibition games that we will be playing while in Italy. I like to think of myself as retired from soccer, but I have been out there playing a little bit since I will also have the opportunity to play while over in Italy.
This afternoon we received our itineraries and to our surprise, we are going to get to travel to Switzerland too! We all shared tips with each other for packing and traveling in hopes that none of us forgets anything!!!
Most of us are busy running around trying to do last minute things such as: Wal-Mart trips, moving out of apartments, and laundry before we leave. It has been very hectic. I think the flight over to Italy will be the easiest part of my week!!!
Well, we have two more training sessions left, then the big bus ride to Atlanta. More to come very soon!
May 12 Entry from Jenny Smith
After 4 days of two a day practices, the Italy trip is finally here and all of the girls are so wired with excitement. Yesterday we received our trip itineraries and the realizationthat the trip is just days away is almost unbelievable. We've all been scrambling to finish up packing, last minute errands, and laundry so that we'll be ready to load up the bustomorrow at 10am. From the Atlanta airport we all will arrive in Milan in the morning with just enough time to eat, stretch our legs and head to an AC Milan vs. Roma professional soccer game. The game wasn't originally in our plans, so this amazingopportunity to experience an atmosphere for soccer not duplicated anywhere in the U.S. is one that all of the girls are looking forward to.
May 12 Entry from Head Coach Diana Niland
The girls are all starting to show their excitement in anticipation of our departure for Italy. They've been practicing hard to prepare for the trip, and it has certainly been a long journey in terms of fundraising and planning. I know I'm exhausted! As soon as we're all on the plane, I'm sure I'll start to relax and take it all in, too.
My perspective is a little different than the girls', but I have been getting more excited as the trip nears, too. I have been very lucky because soccer has taken me many places around the world. For more than half of the team, this is their first time outside of North America. I can remember (though it has been exactly ten years) my first time to travel overseas. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and play with my college team in England. It was truly a life-changing experience. I have also been with a previous college team I coached overseas for a foreign tour. So, in a way, I guess I'm a seasoned veteran.
What is great about a trip like this is it really is such a unique opportunity. I've always felt very grateful and fortunate that I got to play the sport I love in college, and that it lead me to my career. Even though they are enthusiastic about the trip, I don't think most of the players understand yet what a special opportunity this is. They get to play the sport they love, they get to do it with their best friends, and if that isn't already great, they get to do this while experiencing the world's sport” in a country where nearly everyone eats, sleeps, and breathes soccer. How awesome is that!
