Not many high school students get to experience a trip to Europe to play a sport; however, one of Fenton High’s own was given the opportunity to do just that. Senior Lily Turkowski spent the week of Jan. 10-17 in the Netherlands playing in the indoor softball tournament, “The Cup.”
“The trip was one of a kind,” Turkowski said. “It was really fun to play against athletes of all ages from all over the world.”
The coach was Brittany Grannis from Fort Myers, Florida. Turkowski was originally going to play for a team only from Michigan but when the coaches were unable to make the trip, she was placed on a team with athletes from all over the United States.
“I was able to make tons of
new friends and learn about some European culture,” Turkowski said. “I also got to see the cool architecture in the Netherlands and France while being able to try some of their amazing foods.”
While the trip and experience was a once in a lifetime experience, Lily went with the intention of giving it her all on the softball field. She was able to take this trip with nine other girls. She stayed in two hotels with the team. The first one in Rotterdam, Netherlands while she was playing and the other in Paris, France.
“Our team did fairly well for just meeting each other,” Turkowski said. “It was a little difficult at first but as our chemistry strengthened, we grew stronger as a team.”
This trip Lily was able to have her mom as her travel companion. Lily and her mom were able to travel and figure out the different countries’ cultures and way of life together. The two of them navigated all over Europe.
“It was really fun to get to experience this with my mom,” Turkowski said. “We both had never been to Europe so trying to figure out the metros, buses and just walking around was really fun.”
Lily’s experience playing softball in the Netherlands was one to remember. Her team finished 12th out of 16 teams in the tournament.
