The final All-Big Bend teams of the year are here as the spring sports round out the Tallahassee Democrat’s annual award season.

A BUSINESS leader from the New Forest will be making a splash to raise money for a children’s swimming charity.

Marketing strategist and mum-of-two Sarah McCrae will take part in a relay swim across the English Channel to support SwimTayka.

The UK-based charity provides free swimming lessons in “low-resource” coastal areas of countries like Brazil, Peru and Bali, where the risk of drowning is high and access to swimming education is limited.

Collectively called the Team SeaGals, Sarah will join five teammates in July as they swim in rotation for an hour at a time from Dover to the French coast.

The 20-mile crossing can take between 11 and 18 hours, depending on tides and weather, and will see the team face strong currents, busy shipping lanes and freezing water temperatures, all without wetsuits.

It’s scheduled to take place between 23rd and 31st July, depending on tides.

Sarah said: “We are brought together by a shared sense of adventure and a commitment to this meaningful cause.

“Each team member is facing her own personal challenge: from overcoming injury, managing cold-water anxiety, to rebuilding fitness.

“What unites us is a collective determination to train hard, support each other and achieve this incredible goal together.”

Although Sarah has a strong swimming background from her youth in club swimming, water polo, and windsurfing, the Channel swim is unlike anything she’s ever faced before.

“I’ve always loved the water but I also have a deep-rooted fear of open water and what lurks beneath the surface,” she said. “This is completely outside my comfort zone. I’m doing this to raise funds for SwimTayka because I believe every child deserves the chance to feel safe and confident in the water. It’s not just about sport, it’s about survival.”

Training for the challenge began during the winter, with Sarah focusing on endurance training in the pool and gym and cold-water acclimatisation dips in the sea.

She has done open-water swims at Ellingham Lake north of Ringwood, QuaySwim in Mytchett, Surrey, and other locations along the south coast.

Sarah has also been training regularly with her team at Aldershot Garrison, Littlehampton and Dover Harbour, simulating the demanding conditions of a Channel relay.

SwimTayka founder Bryan Avery said: “More people have climbed Everest than have swum the English Channel.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Sarah and the SeaGals for taking on this monumental challenge. Their support will directly help us reach more children with essential water safety skills.”

Sarah is aiming to raise £2,000 for SwimTayka, and all funds will go directly to support their international programmes.

Donations can be made via https://justgiving.com/page/sarah-mccrae-swimtayka

From Lignano Sabbiadoro to Somabay, to keep living the HaBaWaBa dream. This is the journey the teams classified at 2^nd and 3^rd places in Gold U9 and U11 tournaments of HaBaWaBa International Festival 2025 will take: Italian Bogliasco, Rapallo Sharks, San Mauro Squali, and Montenegrin Primorac 1 will fly to HaBaWaBa Egypt thanks to the generous and exciting initiative by Mindset For Sport Development, the partner of Waterpolo Development which will organize the 1^st Egyptian stage of the HaBaWaBa International Circuit. The event is scheduled on December 18-22, 2025, in Somabay, a magnificent venue on the Red Sea.

Montenegrin Primorac 1, 3rd in U11 HaBaWaBa 2025, between Fouad Luxor and Ezz Nour. Above, Italian San Mauro Sharks, who got the 2nd place (ph. Giacomello).

Mindset will pay for flight and accommodation and offer free participation in the tournament to 15 people (including players and coaches) from each team. This huge investment aims to promote HaBaWaBa Egypt and at the same time offers a new opportunity to the teams involved after the narrowly missed gold medal at HaBaWaBa International Festival in Lignano Sabbiadoro.

“Young athletes need access to international exposure that broadens horizons and builds confidence – Mindset Managing Partner Fouad Luxor stated – Waterpolo gives them the opportuinity to gain valuable exposure and experience through travel and cultural exchange”. “Waterpolo taught me discipline, resilience, and teamwork – Mindset Founder & CEO Ezz Nour added -. We are focused on building the character and mindset of young atheletes to thrive in and beyond the pool. We are developing a community that is perpeared for the challenges of both sport and life”. 

Waterpolo Development congratulates the award-winning teams and extends special thanks to Mindset for their efforts to ensure that HaBaWaBa Egypt becomes another great success for the HaBaWaBa community.

***

Click here for further infos about HaBaWaBa

ANAHEIM, California (KWTX) – Former Baylor volleyball libero, Lauren Briseño, has been competing for Team USA in the Volleyball Nations League.

“I’m just so full of gratitude,” said Briseno. “And just getting the opportunity to be here and just getting to play with people who I’ve really looked up to for the past several years and for as long as I’ve been watching volleyball.”

The team consists of 43 of the best volleyball players in the country. Avery Skinner, another former Bear and a recent Olympic Silver Medalist, is also on the USA roster.

“She is just, like, my volleyball hero,” said Briseño. “Truly, this is what it’s all about. And just getting to play with some incredible athletes, Olympians. It’s just such a big dream of mine and I just can’t believe that I’m here doing it.”

Team USA has already played matches in Serbia and Brazil. They’re set to play in Arlington, Texas from July 9-13. It’s not guaranteed that Briseño will get to travel to Arlington to compete, but if she does, she told KWTX it would be a “full circle moment.”

“I just think it would be so nice to have everyone there, especially like being able to see all of my hard work and really putting it on display for people to see,” said Briseño. “It would be really amazing. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I would love that.”

Copyright 2025 KWTX. All rights reserved.

PITTSBURGH — It’s been a whirlwind first six months of the year for University of Pittsburgh freshman and Crestview High School volleyball great Abbey Each.

After graduating early from Crestview in December, Emch early enrolled at Pittsburgh to begin honing her skills with the elite Panthers team which made it to the NCAA tournament semifinals last season.

She even got into the spring scrimmage against rival Penn State.

“I played in maybe one or two sets,” the 6-foot, 3-inch middle blocker said. “It was a super fun scrimmage.”

Her decision to enroll early immediately started paying dividends.

“I’ve learned so much already here,” Each said “I think that one of the best decisions I’ve made was to come early. There’s just so much information to learn about volleyball. Getting more adapted to the faster and quicker volleyball helped my chances.”

Early in June, Emch flew out to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to take part in training for what possibly would be a spot on the USA U19 World Championship roster.

The national program invited 19 of the best to take part in the training and only 12 would go on to the tournament set for July 2-13 in Osijek, Croatia and Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia.

“A day or two before we left they sent out an e-mail with the roster,” Emch said. “I was so excited and I had confidence, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I just couldn’t believe it when the roster came out. I was so excited.”

She immediately called family back home in Ohio.

“It was 10:15 p.m. when the roster came out and I immediately Facetimed my parents,” Emch said. “I was so excited.”

Emch left quite a legacy at Crestview. With her in the lineup the Rebels went 102-6 in four years and didn’t lose at home. She holds all of the Rebels kill and blocks records. In 338 career sets, Emch produced 1,577 kills, a 53.6% kill rate, a .501 hit percentage, 206 aces, 791 points, 317 blocks, 732 digs and 32 assists.

But now it’s on to a much bigger challenge.

“I think I might be the one with the smallest high school, but all the girls are just so super incredible and it has been just super fun to get to know them over the past week,” Emch said.

Emch landed on Team USA via attendance at national team development programs. She said she has been going to them for about three years and attended around five or six.

“They’re just a bunch of really good athletes around the country and all the coaches are mostly college coaches,” Emch said. “Some of them work for USA Volleyball. There are also recruiters from USA Volleyball who go to the tournaments we all play at and they find the athletes they want to select and come for the national team.”

Emch said she had been on the radar for national team representation before but being at Pitt already put her over the threshold. She said she’s adapted nicely to the workout and practice schedule and the school has been helpful in putting her in the right position to take on her studies.

“I do think I have improved since January,” Emch said. “I think that just having these athletes by my side has helped me a ton and just getting to learn from the older girls and just getting to be around them every day has been such a great experience so far.”

As for the Team USA roster, Emch said she doesn’t think she played against or with any of them during club ball, but she’s familiar with some of them from past camps. The one player she is the most friendly with is Penn State’s Gabrielle Nichols, a 6-3 middle blocker from Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Emch’s European swing will start training in the Netherlands from June 26-30. She said there are several scrimmages set up with other national teams there and that’s where she’ll know more about her role on the team.

Team USA’s first game will be at 3:15 p.m. on July 2 against Spain in Osijek. USA will play Peru at 3:15 p.m. on July 3 also in Osijek. Team USA will celebrate July 4 with a 3:15 p.m. match against Poland also in Osijek. Bulgaria and Turkey will follow at 3:15 p.m. on July 6 and 7 to complete the group stage.

The top four finishers in each group advance to the round of 16 which starts on July 8.

Emch said she’s unsure if her family will able to make it to Croatia to see her play.

“We play five hours away from the nearest airport in Croatia,” Emch said. “It might be really difficult but they haven’t ruled anything out and I think they really want to go.”

Whether this leads to something like the Olympics later on down the line is up to fate, but Emch would like to try.

“It’s definitely a long road ahead but a bunch of Olympians have played on these youth teams,” Emch said. “It could be a stepping stone.”

Notes

¯ The tournament is held every two years.

¯ Team USA is the defending champion.

¯ China owns the most titles with four but hasn’t won since 2013.

¯ Brazil has three titles but hasn’t won since 2009.

¯ USA’s titles came in 2019 and 2023.

¯ Osijek also co-hosted the 2023 tournament.

¯ USA has qualified for every tournament since 2003.

¯ The tournament was originally set for July 7-20 but was moved due to a request by the hosts.

¯ VolleyballWorld.com has streaming options available.

¯ Emch will wear No. 8.