Belo, 11, is in Amsterdam, Holland, participating in the fifth annual Youth Friendship Games, an international competition for pre-teen and teenage athletes. Belo, a swimmer, got the chance to participate through the People to People Sports Ambassador program.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower started the program in 1956 to help citizens of different countries forge personal relationships, according to the organization's Web site. Eisenhower hoped the relationships established would temper political tensions.

"(My dad and I) went to the Web site, and he said, this thing has been going on for 50 years, it has to be that good to be still going," Allen said before he left for Holland.

Belo attends Severn School and swims for the Fort Meade Dolphins, an independent team. Allen's swim coach, Kathleen Barry, had a daughter who participated in the People to People program.

"(Barry's) daughter went over and came back totally different, a totally changed young lady," Allen's father Charles Bello said. "She had nothing but good things to say about her own experience there."

After Allen decided to go, his family started researching the program. To participate, Allen had to find sponsors to help pay for the program tuition, which covers air travel, lodging, meals, insurance and tours of the city. A self-described helper, Belo said it was easy to get sponsors because of good deeds he's done in the past. He was also excited about the chance to recommend another youth athlete for inclusion in the program because he could give someone the same experience he received.

"I'm really glad I'm going to go," said Allen in his soft-spoken but polished voice. "I'm really excited.''

Before he left, Belo's knowledge of Amsterdam came from "The Diary of Anne Frank," which he recently read in school. In Amsterdam, he'll visit the Anne Frank house, take canal and bike tours and participate in a community service project. He'll practice through Thursday, then compete Friday through Sunday against swimmers from across the world. Allen's parents are excited about the cultural differences Allen will encounter.

"I was hoping this was an opportunity to help him become a better person, be stronger, and help him mature a little bit as well as have some fun at it," Deborah said.

Parents Charles and Deborah enrolled Allen in swim lessons so he would learn the basics, but soon found they couldn't tear him away from watching the swim team, which practiced after his lessons ended.

"Eventually the coach was like, 'Don't you want to join a team?' And he said yeah," Deborah said. "Next thing I know he was a member of the team and he was six at the time."

Allen's younger sister Taylor followed in his footsteps, joining the team at age three. She is jealous of her brother's trip, she said, and disappointed that she'll have no one to bug for a week.

Proficient in all strokes, Allen said his favorite is the butterfly because it is the hardest. He keeps a framed picture in his room of him bursting out of the water at the highest point of the butterfly stroke, arms extended and ready to pull him forward.

Allen has had his brush with fame, getting the chance to see Michael Phelps at the Naval Academy pool and spending time in the water with Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones.

"I asked [Jones what he would do to speed up when he got closer to the wall," Allen said. "A lot of us just glide in, especially me, at least back then. He said he holds his breath and kicks harder, that way he can breathe again." He paused. "I really like to breathe."

Charles said the trip will expose Allen to things he otherwise may not experience and expand his cache of knowledge and experience.

"It seemed like a really good opportunity for him to make use of a sport he really enjoys and also to grow from it," Charles said. "It's something that doesn't happen a lot."

For Allen's part, he's excited about making wooden shoes, something he heard he will get the chance to do, and the food in Amsterdam. In anticipation of pancakes with fruit in the batter, he convinced his mom to make him apple cinnamon pancakes.

"He won't eat them any other way now," Deborah said.

He also understood the importance of the opportunity, saying he hoped to build a better character. He's aware of the magnitude of the trip - a week in a foreign country without family - but the 11-year-old mindset still focuses elsewhere. Asked if he was nervous, he said, "A little, but not as nervous as I am about jet lag."