By: Gabriela Mora
When foreign exchange students start at a new school they are pushed out out of their comfort zone and they face many challenges. They are walking into an environment that they don’t know anyone and that they are in a new country. Along with taking some new classes and making new friends, some choose to go into sports.
One exchange student from Holland, Fleur Srtik ‘20, has been playing tennis with the Redwood girls. She looked into playing many sports, but she ended up choosing tennis. When asked if she heard lots about tennis back home, “ People played it, but it was not very well known. I had always been interested, but never got the opportunity.”
One thing that many of these students face are not being able to recognize some of the things that are common in the United States. Although, Strik ‘20, did have to opportunity to know what the sport was, she never had the chance to learn how to play. Strik had to learn how to play the sport from the very beginning and has been learning something new everyday.
A new family, a new school, new friends, and then a new team. The students who choose to participate in a sport, also have to participate in becoming a new team member. For Strik , “ It wasn’t very difficult for me to become difficult with the team.” She also says that they were very welcoming.
Strik has now made new friends, and she has joined a team.