Indiana University Athletics
Harnish Has Life Changing Experience in Vietnam
7/24/2015 1:59:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Courtney Harnish grew up hearing stories about Vietnam.
The senior volleyball player's grandfather was an American soldier. He fell in love with her Vietnamese grandmother while serving overseas in the Vietnam War. The two came back to the United States together with Harnish's mother and aunt to start a family in America.
Harnish recently returned from three weeks in Vietnam as part of the Coach for College program. Founded in the fall of 2007 by Parker Goyer, a former women's tennis player at Duke, the program's goal is to use athletics to help motivate children in developing countries to pursue a college education while developing leadership skills, learning in the classroom and playing sports.
Most of the families the athletes are working with rely on farming to make $200-$300 each year. About 94 percent of the youth they are working with have parents with a high school education or lower with 65 percent having at least one parent who completed the ninth grade or lower. These numbers prompted change and Coach for College is trying to make the change possible with student-athletes like Harnish.
"I've always wanted to travel to Vietnam," Harnish said. "When I saw this opportunity, I thought it was kind of perfect to go there and actually see what its like first hand."
Harnish said she was in culture shock when she first arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at the beginning of the trip.
There were motorbikes lining the busy streets of the capital city of Vietnam and it was incredibly hot.
Harnish taught at a school in rural Vietnam and stayed in a tiny hotel where she shared a bed with another student-athlete and took showers and washed clothes with a bucket of water.
During the week she would get up around 6:00 a.m. and teach ninth graders math and volleyball lessons from 7:00 a.m. until noon. After a break for lunch she would resume lessons for eighth graders.
On the first day of class Harnish had a translator, but it was hard to get through to the kids. Gradually with her learning some Vietnamese and the kids learning some English and using body language, she developed a connection with them.
"I got up in front of the class and started teaching in English," Harnish said. "The kids were sitting there smiling and had no idea what I was saying, but by the end I could teach one of the kids math without a translator."
Over time Harnish developed a special bond with the kids and was inspired by their desire to learn.
One kid in particular had a story that Harnish said she would never forget.
Harnish described the kid, Tun, as the life of the party and kind of a goof ball, but someone who loved learning.
One day he did not show up for class, which was extremely rare. The next day he came into class with his head hanging low and he was very sad. He said no one fetched him and his bike broke. He would have had to walk two hours to get to class.
Harnish reassured him, asked if his bike was fixed and said she was happy he was back, but he remained flustered.
"Yeah, my bike is fixed," he said. "But I missed a whole day of learning."
It took about an hour before he was back to his usual smiling self and that moment really stuck with Harnish.
"It was heartbreaking, but at the same time it was one of the coolest things and truly inspiring," she said."
Harnish went in having coached volleyball before, but encountered difficult circumstances with kids that had never played, the kids didn't have shoes and ran around on the uneven cement in temperatures over 100 degrees.
She altered some of her lessons and came up with some games for the kids and taught them some volleyball terminology, which they had a lot of fun with. Some of the kids got really good at volleyball, which was fun for Harnish to experience.
On the last day there were emotional goodbyes as Harnish had developed a strong bond with the kids. She gave them IU key chains and pictures of herself playing volleyball.
One kid gave Harnish a pencil with her name carved into it and she received over 20 letters and pictures from the group. One letter she received it was clear they had used google translator and it melted her heart.
"Wish she increasingly beautiful and very solid with volleyball," the card read. "Wish you success in life and achieve their dreams, love you so much."
In the end Harnish said the experience was life changing and she loved being with the Vietnamese kids. She said she hopes to work with kids in the future.
"I am so thankful for this opportunity," Harnish said. "It has definitely changed who I am as a person and I feel like I've changed the lives over there as well. I hope everyone gets to experience something like this, because seeing the way these people live and how happy they are, you really appreciate things and it humbles you to the life we have here. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity."
The senior volleyball player's grandfather was an American soldier. He fell in love with her Vietnamese grandmother while serving overseas in the Vietnam War. The two came back to the United States together with Harnish's mother and aunt to start a family in America.
Harnish recently returned from three weeks in Vietnam as part of the Coach for College program. Founded in the fall of 2007 by Parker Goyer, a former women's tennis player at Duke, the program's goal is to use athletics to help motivate children in developing countries to pursue a college education while developing leadership skills, learning in the classroom and playing sports.
Most of the families the athletes are working with rely on farming to make $200-$300 each year. About 94 percent of the youth they are working with have parents with a high school education or lower with 65 percent having at least one parent who completed the ninth grade or lower. These numbers prompted change and Coach for College is trying to make the change possible with student-athletes like Harnish.
"I've always wanted to travel to Vietnam," Harnish said. "When I saw this opportunity, I thought it was kind of perfect to go there and actually see what its like first hand."
Harnish said she was in culture shock when she first arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at the beginning of the trip.
There were motorbikes lining the busy streets of the capital city of Vietnam and it was incredibly hot.
Harnish taught at a school in rural Vietnam and stayed in a tiny hotel where she shared a bed with another student-athlete and took showers and washed clothes with a bucket of water.
During the week she would get up around 6:00 a.m. and teach ninth graders math and volleyball lessons from 7:00 a.m. until noon. After a break for lunch she would resume lessons for eighth graders.
On the first day of class Harnish had a translator, but it was hard to get through to the kids. Gradually with her learning some Vietnamese and the kids learning some English and using body language, she developed a connection with them.
"I got up in front of the class and started teaching in English," Harnish said. "The kids were sitting there smiling and had no idea what I was saying, but by the end I could teach one of the kids math without a translator."
Over time Harnish developed a special bond with the kids and was inspired by their desire to learn.
One kid in particular had a story that Harnish said she would never forget.
Harnish described the kid, Tun, as the life of the party and kind of a goof ball, but someone who loved learning.
One day he did not show up for class, which was extremely rare. The next day he came into class with his head hanging low and he was very sad. He said no one fetched him and his bike broke. He would have had to walk two hours to get to class.
Harnish reassured him, asked if his bike was fixed and said she was happy he was back, but he remained flustered.
"Yeah, my bike is fixed," he said. "But I missed a whole day of learning."
It took about an hour before he was back to his usual smiling self and that moment really stuck with Harnish.
"It was heartbreaking, but at the same time it was one of the coolest things and truly inspiring," she said."
Harnish went in having coached volleyball before, but encountered difficult circumstances with kids that had never played, the kids didn't have shoes and ran around on the uneven cement in temperatures over 100 degrees.
She altered some of her lessons and came up with some games for the kids and taught them some volleyball terminology, which they had a lot of fun with. Some of the kids got really good at volleyball, which was fun for Harnish to experience.
On the last day there were emotional goodbyes as Harnish had developed a strong bond with the kids. She gave them IU key chains and pictures of herself playing volleyball.
One kid gave Harnish a pencil with her name carved into it and she received over 20 letters and pictures from the group. One letter she received it was clear they had used google translator and it melted her heart.
"Wish she increasingly beautiful and very solid with volleyball," the card read. "Wish you success in life and achieve their dreams, love you so much."
In the end Harnish said the experience was life changing and she loved being with the Vietnamese kids. She said she hopes to work with kids in the future.
"I am so thankful for this opportunity," Harnish said. "It has definitely changed who I am as a person and I feel like I've changed the lives over there as well. I hope everyone gets to experience something like this, because seeing the way these people live and how happy they are, you really appreciate things and it humbles you to the life we have here. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity."
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