Jaca: VA’s First Global Athletic Endeavor

by John Peloso '19
This fall, members of the Vermont Academy boys’ varsity hockey team are in Jaca, Spain. Jaca is in the northern region of Spain near the French border. The team is preparing for their upcoming season. They are working hard in the classroom and in the weight room, and they are working on skill development with the Jaca Ice Hockey Club.
This is a first-of-its-kind experience for any sports team at Vermont Academy, and the team is incredibly excited to be in Spain. Not only are they working on their skills, they are living with host families and being fully immersed in the Spanish culture. The student athletes are on a schedule that gives them the opportunity to skate, work out, and still have plenty of time to get their school work done.

Aside from getting on the ice during the week, the team goes to school each day with two tutors from Spain and a teacher from Vermont Academy. While the team is incredibly busy throughout the day, there is plenty of time every night to do things with their host families and friends from the team. Other than just being in Jaca, they will have the chance to go to Madrid for a weekend, where they will take in an Athletico Madrid game.

This is a unique experience for this group of young men, not only culturally, but for hockey as well. Patrick Ogden, a junior at VA and a boys’ varsity ice hockey player, thinks this is a great opportunity. “I think it is very beneficial because it is giving the student athletes a chance to play with kids from Jaca, and this is an opportunity that most people won’t ever get again,” he said. Some people are concerned that Jaca students won’t have enough time to do their school work given their demanding schedule, but Patrick was not worried, saying, “I think that the schedule we have set up, gives us a prime time to get our work done.”

Some of the hockey players are will not be going on this trip and will be staying back at VA and getting ready for the season there. “I think [the trip] is good because it gives everybody a chance to play hockey in a unique cultural setting, said VA sophomore Andrew Peloso. “If I had the opportunity to go, I think I would like to, but I am overall glad that I am staying back, especially since it’s my first year at VA. I’m still getting used to it.”

There is a lot of excitement surrounding this trip for many in the community and family members. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you young men are going to be able to experience,” said Abigail Abel, VA grandparent to a student-athlete. “The cultural immersion is one of the best things you can do as a young adult to really mature and see the world’s cultures. To be able to see two different countries and be playing your favorite sport every day in a foreign country through a school organized trip is crazy, and you should be very grateful for what they have done for you.”

The trip does include a hockey component, but it is centered on cultural immersion. Players are living with host families and truly experiencing the culture of Spain. Trips to Madrid and France will be memories that last a lifetime for everyone involved.
Back
Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.