Summer time is a perfect time for students to do something they will remember forever.  Such is the case with Katarina Osadchuk of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women’s volleyball team. Katarina (2^nd year, middle, Brisbane, Australia)  returned to Australia to visit her parents this summer.  While that was eventful, It paled in comparison to the experience of playing for that country’s senior national women’s volleyball team. “ I got selected to the team for a tour of Vietnam,” said Osadchuk.  “We played a match in Ho-chi Minh against a local club and travelled to a little town just outside of that city (Dak Lak) to play in the VTV Cup against Japan, China, Korea, Kazahstan and Vietnam 2”. Katarina Osadchuk Australia finished seventh in the tournament.   Te experience was something Osadchuk wouldn’t trade for the world.  “ Just the calibre of volleyball was amazing,” she said. “ The atmosphere was great and meeting all the players from the other teams off the court to share experiences was unreal. ” Osadchuk was the teams second middle. She did notice a big difference in the style of volleyball in comparison to what she saw in her first year with the WolfPack.  “ Asian volleyball is a quicker game. These teams made very few errors. It’s not a game of centimetres anymore but millimetres. If you leave any space of the court uncovered, they will exploit that.  It was just amazing to ge to play against such a disciplined and fast opposition.” Osadchuk did know a lot of her teammates from her previous experiences on the Australian Youth and Junior National team.   “This experience has definitely helped me realize that volleyball is not just about physicality or who can hit the hardest ball,” she says.  “ If you want to get to the next level, you must be able to make smart decisions. I hope I can bring that to the WolfPack this coming season.” WolfPack head coach Keith Lundgren: “"We are very proud of Katarina's achievement.  The more touches a players can get at a high level the better it is for their development.  We are excited to see what Katarina brings back to the program from her experience"  Katarina will be back in Kamloops to resume workouts with the WolfPack and begin her second year of school at TRU in September.