In a special edition Rams 'Round the World Suffolk women's hockey head coach Taylor Wasylk will take Ram Nation along with her as she goes to Madrid to train the Spanish National Team.

Below is the first installment, prior to Wasylk's departure. 

One of the things that I missed most during Covid was the ability to hop on a plane and head to Europe to visit friends, work hockey camps and explore new cities and cultures. As someone who loves to travel, I am beyond excited that I finally have the opportunity to do all of that again. This weekend I will be heading to Madrid, Spain to work with their u18 and senior level national teams for a week. The camp will serve as a high performance training event, as well as preparation for the countries Olympic qualifiers, which will take place in Italy in October.  

I have been fortunate enough to travel to Europe a handful of times for academic purposes when I was a student, but to do it for professional reasons is something else entirely. As a sports coach, I am constantly trying to learn and understand different perspectives of the game so that I can grow my own knowledge and use it to better our program here at Suffolk. To work a camp in a different country, and one with a national team, is an incredible opportunity to broaden my horizons and learn from coaches and players, who may play the game differently than we do in the U.S. I am super excited about the potential to learn and improve upon myself as a coach by being immersed in a different culture of sport and athletic mindset. 

The camp will also serve as a recruiting opportunity as I will be spending half of the week with the u18 national team, comprised of players who will be moving onto college in the near future. One player in our class of 2021, Sofia Scilipoti, actually spent the last two seasons playing in Madrid and for the Spanish National Team. When she was not competing with her club team S.A.D Majadahonda, she was studying at Suffolk Madrid working towards her degree in psychology. It has been a very unique experience to recruit someone who not only competes for their country's national team, but who also studies at our University’s campus in Madrid. While Sofia will unfortunately not be in attendance at the camp, her arrival to our team has given me a sense of personal investment in the Spanish National Team. I want to do everything possible to help make their program better and prepare for the Olympic Qualifiers and in turn I want to help Sofia be the best possible player that she can be so that she can have a great impact when she suits up with them in October. It will be an incredible experience to have one of our student-athletes participating in an international tournament and vying for a spot in the 2022 Olympic Games. 

I cannot wait to arrive in Madrid and meet the Spanish players and get to work! I also cannot wait for daily churros and siesta. 

Fans, families, alumni and friends can check in with what Isaak and Phelan are up to over sees by following their adventures on GoSuffolkRams.com or over social media by using the hashtag #RAMsinterNATIONal.