BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Earlier this summer, University of New England women's basketball players Kelley Paradis and Margo Russell joined eight other current and former college players to take part in a USA Athletes International (USAAI) trip to Europe.

USAAI Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving amateur athletes and coaches the opportunity to participate in international Olympic-style sporting events around the world, while also allowing them to broaden their educational and cultural knowledge through the experience.

Selected by Keene State College head coach Keith Boucher, the team consisted of two current Owls players and three past ones, one player each from Connecticut College, Ithaca College, and Plymouth State University, and the two Big Blue players who will start their senior season in a few months.

The 10-day trip began in London for one game, then proceeded to France for a pair of contests, and finished up with one in both Belgium and the Netherlands. Overall, the team finished a perfect 5-0 against the series of club, university, and even a developmental Olympic team from around Western Europe.

In addition to the basketball, the group managed to find time for plenty of sightseeing along the way. Stops included Buckingham Palace, for the changing of the guard, as well as Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (London), the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris), the house where Anne Frank resided in Amsterdam, a concentration camp, and a tour of the Windmills (Netherlands). All-in-all, both Paradis and Russell had nothing but positives to take from the trip.

"The experience was amazing and unforgettable," commented Paradis, an applied exercise science major from Newport, Maine. "From the moment we met the girls at JFK Airport, we all got along really well. I had never been to Europe before, so I was thrilled to get to see something like the Eiffel Tower and get to play basketball against some of the competition overseas."

"The friendships I gained through going on this trip are ones I will carry with me the rest of my life," added Russell, a nursing major from Madison, Maine. "It was my first time experiencing Europe, and to get the opportunity to see things like Paris from high up on the Eiffel Tower, the whole trip was just very special."