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Home › Articles › General › On the Road Again

On the Road Again

Tackling Travel Teams – Family Style

By Lisa A. Goldstein

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And while Kate is friends with her teammates, she does miss her close friends who don't travel with her. She also misses some parties and other social activities. To accommodate this, sometimes they take a friend along.

As for finances, it does get expensive, but there are things to do to help. Evans says they share rooms, carpool, eat in if possible and conduct fundraisers.

Ultimately, Evans feels the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. "Girls involved in athletics are statistically less likely to get pregnant, do drugs, drop out of school, etc.," she says. "At this level, [Kate] is busy," Evans says. And according to Evans, being busy lends itself to lots of advantages. Kate doesn't have much time for TV or the phone; she is learning time management and meeting girls from other walks of life; she is also building a healthy body image, focusing on eating right and taking care of herself.

"As long as [Kate] is making the effort and enjoying herself, we will make it happen," Evans says. "It does not matter if she's the last player off the bench. When her enthusiasm wanes and she is not having fun, then we'll know it is too much!"

No Regrets

Meg Petersen, 18, a former traveling athlete and traveling sibling, doesn't regret her experiences. Traveling allowed her to meet a lot of new people and see places she wouldn't have visited.

"It was a great experience for everyone, though it could be very stressful and time consuming to travel so often," Petersen says. "Academically, I never felt that I was affected. If anything, it made me more focused on what I had to do and when I had to get it done."

If she had traveled every weekend, Petersen says it would have been too much. What she found stressful were the costs. Knowing what a dent she was making in her parents' pockets was sometimes a little too much pressure to really perform well and improve. Still, she says she made friends she can never begin to replace.

As for the effect on her overall family life, Petersen – now a referee for the traveling volleyball teams she used to play for – has fond memories. "It simply caused us to prioritize what is truly important to our family and to each of us as individuals ... I think that all the traveling has made us closer as a family, and I'm thankful for that."


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