Travel and Tournament Prep

After the camps concluded, we spent two days traveling to a new location and getting to enjoy a boat ride to lunch (2 hrs) and then back to the hotel right by the water for a relaxing day to debrief.

Many of us took turns taking naps on the ride to and from lunch on the boat. The next day, we took a longer journey to the next location, where we hosted a tournament this past weekend for locals to experience a 4 v 4 beach volleyball tournament. We were so excited and had a relaxing day before the competition started.

The views and the beach were beautiful, and we couldn’t wait to meet all of the players we would be playing with!

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Camps

Here is another recap straight from one of our team members!

“For three days, we spent time running a camp in the early morning from 7-9 am, getting to share the sport with those who knew little volleyball.

Later in the afternoons, we then ran a second camp from 4-6 pm with those who never had experienced volleyball.

Both of these groups included children ages 8-18 years old who were engaging with a new sport but were more experienced in basketball. Being eager to learn, they were able to experience volleyball for the first time and learned the basic skills of passing, setting, hitting, and serving over the course of the three days of the camps.

We were happy to see the athletes pick up the skills and see improvement throughout the camp.”

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Getting Settled

Our team has officially made it back to South Asia and is enjoying some time settling in before working on all things volleyball! Unfortunately, the weather is going to play a big part in how camps, tournaments, and more happen, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the rain holds off while here.

For now though, we have been able to play a bit of basketball with some local kids, and we have been trying so much new (and delicious!) food.

We’re excited to see what the next couple of weeks bring as we get connected with new people and can help grow the love of volleyball in this place.

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We’re Going Back to South Asia!

Hi, y’all! Long time, no update. We’ve been back at home base for a couple months, planning our NEXT trip to South Asia, which is officially happening next week.

We have a team of 14 heading back, made up of staff and college volleyball athletes, and they are currently in prep mode, getting everything planned out and put together.

The goal for this trip is to continue planting roots for what the team accomplished during their trips in February and December. Each person on this trip is passionate about volleyball, and they want to continue to grow that sport in each city they visit.

Working with some well-known athletes in South Asia, Merge plans to host a fun pop-up tournament, complete with a dinner the night before and prizes for the winning teams! Merge wants to build exposure, and we believe that this is a great way to do that.

This next week before the trip is going to fly by, and before we know it, Merge will be on a plane to South Asia. We are so excited about this tour and cannot wait to see all that happens over there!

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