June 12, 2015
Vanderbilt Athletics places a high value on the overall education of its students and accordingly has encouraged its various teams to take international tours when feasible and permissible.
Over recent years, many of the department’s 16 sport programs have taken advantage of this opportunity. The latest is the women’s golf team, which leaves Saturday for an eight-day trip to historic Ireland.
Ten members or May graduates of the team, which won the Southeastern Conference championship in 2014, will be accompanied by the Commodore coaching staff, associate athletic director Rod Williamson and several other special guests on the tour.
While it is standard for a traveling team to have some friendly competition, and there is a match with an Irish team next Thursday, there is also a premium placed on learning about the culture and history of the region.
The Commodore contingent will focus upon Ireland’s southwest corner and the areas near Doonbeg and Killarney. There are arrangements to play golf on some of the country’s finest courses but there are also visits to famous landmarks.
For example, the group will visit the 600-year old Blarney Castle upon arrival Sunday for a tour and lunch. Later in the week, the team will tour the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher and during the daily bus trips there will be experts discussing Irish history.
The team plans to post daily blogs about its adventures on vucommodores.com and recount its trip in other media as soon as practical.