Dec. 11, 2001

Imagine if you were to find out that you were going to get a trip back to see your family and take your college friends with you.

"I thought it was exciting that Coach (Grentz) decided to go to my home, where I was born and raised," said sophomore center Iveta Marcauskaite. "It was a neat experience to be able to show my college friends and teammates my home. It was probably the first and last time they would be able to come with me."

Marcauskaite was the local celebrity when the Illini went to Silauliai, Lithuania. Reporters and photographers, who were all trying to talk to the returning native, greeted the Illini. She even had the national television station doing a story about her.

Being uneasy about everyone watching her every move, Marcauskaite was asked by Coach Grentz to be her interpreter for a basketball clinic.

"It was interesting to try to teach basketball and translate at the same time," remarked Marcauskaite. "I had helped a clinic in New Jersey, but didn't have to translate. There were about 50-70 coaches at the clinic. They were trying to watch and understand while Coach had me tell them what she wanted to say. I hope that I conveyed the message she was sending."

Change scenarios. Now imagine leaving home for two weeks and traveling to the other side of the world, not being able to speak the language and taking 20 others with you.

"Our group was the only ones we were able to talk and communicate with," said junior guard Shavonna Hunter.

When the Illini decided to take their overseas trip, coach Grentz wanted her team to gain from it. Talking to one of the leaders that emerged, her mission was accomplished.

The competition the team faced on the court was tough. The Illini went 2-4 during their trip and learned a few things a long the way. After one of their last games against Club TTT Latvia in Riga, both teams boarded a bus, went to the beach along the Baltic Sea and had dinner at a sports club.

"It was different," said Hunter. "We had been competing and being very intense during the game. Then we were sitting and being social with them not long after the game. It helps separate the game and the athlete from life and the individuals who play the game."

Team chemistry was another objective. Both Hunter and Marcauskaite agree being together as a team was the best thing about the trip.

Hunter continued: "We were together all day and all night. It allowed us to get with different people that we may not be around all the time."

Ask any man how women bond and they'll most likely say it's by shopping. These women were no different.

"We were the stereotypical American women," added Hunter. "We were buying souvenirs or something every day. Not just the players, but the coaches were going right along with us."

"That's another thing the trip allowed us to do--to get to know the coaches better," Hunter continued. "It became more of a friend-to-friend level with them."

Grentz also hoped her leaders would emerge during the trip. Hunter, along with Dawn Vana and Cindy Dallas, came forth as the team leaders. Hunter thinks that the trio would have emerged as the team's leaders, but without the trip, their emergence may not have occurred as quickly.

Hunter added that the team is at a point now that it would not have been in if it were not for the trip. She says it is definitely to the Illini's advantage.

Now both trips had one thing in common besides the travel party, the adjustments to traveling outside of the United States.

Hunter started to say what the worst part of the trip was, but changed her mind to the flight. Not a big fan of flying in the first place, she didn't think they were ever going to get to their final destinations. She also added it was a sign the team was supposed to make this trip this year when one of the buses they boarded had a UI sticker on its bumper. "Coach said that one of Coach Henson's teams came over here years ago."

Marcauskaite added that her legs below the knees were hanging off the beds and taking showers were very difficult in Russia. She and her teammates were thankful for returning back to America. "Shavonna appreciates ice water more than ever. It was something that was very hard to find."