The St. Edward's University women's soccer team, fresh off its second-consecutive Heartland Conference title, will take 34 student-athletes to Campinas, Brazil, Aug. 11-24. The two-week trip will serve as a training camp, where the team will complete pre-season workouts and hold scrimmages with Brazilian teams.

True to the St. Edward's spirit, the team also plans to complete a service project in cooperation with Colegio Notre Dame, a secondary school in Campinas founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross. Brother Tom Chady, adjunct instructor for Mathematics at St. Edward's University, helped found the school back in 1961.

The squad will also spend time in Santos, Brazil, home of the Santos Futebol Clube and Pelé, the world-famous soccer player.

"This trip will be great for team bonding because the players will be thrown together in an unfamiliar environment and forced to grow together," head coach Nick Cowell says. "This will be an experience that they will share together. It will be good for players to see the passion that exists in Brazilian soccer."

The purpose of this trip is to not only improve the soccer skills of the student-athletes, but to introduce them to new cultures as part of the university's Global Understanding Initiative. The initiative provides students with opportunities to see themselves in the context of a global community. It also helps students demonstrate knowledge of politics, economics, culture and communication through a global framework and to participate in international experiences.