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2006-02-07 4:33 PM

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Liberty Lake, WA
Subject: Does anyone know anything about "People to People"?

Does anyone know anything about the People to People Sports Ambassador Program?

http://www.sportsambassadors.org/default.asp

My daughter has been invited to play soccer at the Youth Friendship Games 2007 in Holland.   This is the second time she has been ivited on a trip with them.  The first time she was 12 and there was no way I was going to stick her on a plane to New Zealand.  This time she will be 15 and I'm thinking maybe.  Any info on this group would be helpful. 

New carbon fiber bike for me or a trip for her, hard call. 



2006-02-07 6:39 PM
in reply to: #341003

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Subject: RE: Does anyone know anything about "People to People"?
Our kids have gotten invitations from this group (or a very similar one).

My experience and therefor opinion is that immersion into another culture is a wonderful opportunity to grow. We didn't send our kids on this program.

How long is the trip?

How much time will they spend interacting with other youth?

If your daughter is really interested in something like this, have her consider being a foreign exchange student. Some programs are 2 months instead of a full year.

What we found is they would spend most of their time interacting with other kids from the US. It would be like a 2-week vacation where they hit NYC, DC, and WDW (Orlando). Not really a good representation of life here in the USA. Likewise, not a real good picture of life in Australia, Holland, or wherever their whirlwind tour takes them.

Maybe a 2-week family vacation to Europe instead of the carbon-fiber bike?
2006-02-07 9:03 PM
in reply to: #341091

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Subject: RE: Does anyone know anything about "People to People"?

The program is only 2 weeks long and is spent in one location.  We are not ready to ship her off for a year but that may change as she becomes more of a teenager.  At that point we may be looking for an exchange program run by nuns.  Maybe a whirlwind tour of convents. 

The first week is spent training with her new team (all kids from the USA).  The second week is spent playing in the tournament.  There are side trips each day with teams from other countries and all of the kids eat two meals per day together.  My impression is that meeting kids from other countries and cultures is a bigger deal than the tournament.  Family vacation is another option.  Thanks  

2006-02-08 8:27 AM
in reply to: #341003

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Subject: RE: Does anyone know anything about "People to People"?
Sounds like your daughter already plays in lots of soccer tournaments. Does she somehow find new friends (from competiting teams) at each tourney or spend most of the off-time hanging out with teammates? That should give you a pretty strong indication of how much interaction she'll have with foreign (actually, she'll be the foreigner) competitors.

What would you hope she gets out of the experience and does it look like it is structured to deliver on that expectation? (That is basically why we decided not to participate.)

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