Mallory McConkey traveled to Spain for a basketball tour hosted by Beyond Sports earlier this month.

On the trip they had one practice and played four games, which was followed by touring Spain. McConkey did not know any of her teammates previously, and this allowed her to branch out of her comfort zone and make a lot of new friends on the trip. Her favorite tourist site was the Toledo cathedral. They had an item there that McConkey said "had to be worth billions of dollars, it was so much gold, diamond, and jewels." 

There were a couple different cultural things that McConkey said about Spain. The first is at the hotel, the two beds in the room were placed right next to each other with no space between them. Another was that water only comes in bottles. She said she went to "get a water so it's cheaper" and realized that wasn't an option. Another difference was that the basketball was much more physical. The Spanish teams were used to physical rules. McConkey played guard, which she did not do much of this season at Northwest. 

McConkey would recommend this opportunity to anyone who has the opportunity to take this trip. McConkey said that if it was possible she would try to go every year. Her advice to anyone that is planning on going is to be outgoing and explore everything that you can, and to not waste time in the hotel sleeping, saying "you can sleep when you get home."

McConkey will now turn her focus toward the Bearcat women's basketball season. She is going into her junior year, after leading the Bearcats in rebounds and being third in scoring in her sophomore year.