This May, twenty athletes will represent McMaster Athletes Care when they head to Boruca, San Jose, Costa Rica for a two-week service experience. From May 1^st to the 15^th, the McMaster Athletes Care volunteers will partake in communal work in Boruca while immersing themselves in the Costa Rican culture. In keeping with the goals of McMaster Athletes Care, the athletes will work to build basketball courts and a turf field for the Costa Rican locals to enjoy.

            In conjunction with Mac Serve, the service experience will see all the volunteers depart and return to Toronto’s Pearson airport as one big McMaster family. While in Costa Rica, pairs of athletes will billet with local residents who will provide not only hospitality but also all meals for their billets. The service days will consist of community work with ample opportunity for free time as well as cultural exploration and learning. The volunteers will also visit Drake’s Bay, a beautiful and untouched natural wonder rarely seen by tourists.

            McMaster Athletes Care is very excited to expand the program’s reach into a global arena, while continuing the great work started this past fall in the Hamilton community. While McMaster Athletes Care still runs weekly visits to Hamilton’s Boys and Girls Club as well as the Eva Rothwell Center, it is the quest to make a McMaster athletics experience a truly holistic and enriching opportunity, that inspired the program to continue to branch out and provide further opportunities to McMaster athletes. Women’s soccer player, Cristina Leonardelli, who took part in a service experience to Costa Rica through Mac Serve last year stated, “After the trip to Costa Rica, I realized I wanted to do so much more with my life than I ever thought before the trip.”

            McMaster Athletes Care is calling on any and all individuals involved with McMaster athletics to consider applying for this service experience if this trip sounds like something you may be interested in. Applications are available online through the Marauders website, on the McMaster Athletes Care homepage. The application window will close this coming Monday, January 30^th at which time the selected applicants will begin the process of preparing for the service experience. It is certainly a very exciting time for McMaster Athletes Care as we look ahead to May 2012!
 
Please feel free to contact Rebecca Babcock at babcocr@mcmaster.ca, Leah Henderson at hendel@mcmaster.ca or Patrick Thornley at patrick.thornley@sympatico.ca if you have any questions about this service experience.