It's been a hot minute and we are finally back with a new article to wrap the year up. This month we are are 'On the Move with...' Aisha Barry. Barry is a 21 year old half Japanese-Australian from Brisbane, Australia. She's currently living in Finland working as a model but also playing & assistant coaching volleyball at Rantaperkiön Isku. Barry has had the opportunity to represent her home state QLD in volleyball, as well as play college volleyball in Japan for Rikkyo University, and now play in Finland with Isku!
- How did you get into volleyball?I started volleyball when I was 12, in my first year of high school. At the time I was still doing gymnastics, dance and instrumental music, but my love for the sport ended up taking over and I continued to focus on volleyball. Although the volleyball program was quite strong at my high school, I began also playing club volleyball in year 9 and continued to play at a state level in my senior years. From there I’ve played club volleyball up until I went on exchange to Tokyo in 2024, where I had the opportunity to play college volleyball at Rikkyo University.
- What are your other interests? I love thrifting and am really into fashion, travel and learning about new cultures. I like going to the gym to keep up with my volleyball performance and am really enjoying my content creation work I’m doing on the side. I’ve also recently gotten into crochet since it’s so cold here in Finland!!
- Where’s your favourite place you’ve travelled? Although I did live in Tokyo for 1 year, I think a big highlight of it was travelling for volleyball tournaments and also with friends on my days off in Japan. I can’t name an overall favourite place but I can definitely list a few such as Kofu, Fuji, Nikko, Matsumoto, Kumamoto, Hirafu, Enoshima, and so on! I love how unique Japan is and how beautiful the shrines, temples, architecture and family businesses are. Not to mention the amazing quality of food and the experience that always comes with it! I felt like each different city and prefecture told a different story and was so spiritually connected with Japanese culture in such a unique way.
- Where do you want to travel next? Well next I am actually travelling to India to attend a close friend’s Indian wedding which I am really excited about! After that I really want to travel through Europe and especially see Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, as well as Sweden, Norway and Estonia. I really want to explore the different cultures and enjoy the different types of food and sceneries!
- What’s inside your travel bag? When travelling for volleyball days I always keep with me my recovery gear (foam roller, spike ball, massage gun, ice sleeve, stretch bands, heat creams), my med kit (spare contact lenses, bandaids, tape, pain killers, scissors, eye drops), my toiletries (I always have so many lip balms because I HATE chapped lips), my noise cancelling headphones, spare clothes and cannot forget a sweet treat (I love sugar coated lollies hehe).
- What’s next for you? Next I’ll be continuing on playing volleyball here in Finland and properly recovering my shoulder which has been an unfortunate reoccurring injury of mine. Alongside that, I’ll continue to work as a model, content creator & influencer in Finland while completing my Bachelor of Business International degree online from Australia (I graduate at the end of this year!!😍).
