Day 3: Saturday, August 12th

Though it rained overnight, we woke up to a beautiful day of blue skies and temperature in the mid to high 60s. Today we are off to St Mary's Stadium in Southampton to watch opening weekend of Premier League action.
First, the kids are up and off to breakfast. Everyone seems a little more acclimated to the time difference now and are bright eyed and ready for the day.
After breakfast, everyone went down to the pool for a recovery session of swimming to stretch the legs out after their double training session yesterday.

After an hour of swimming, water volley ball and water polo, everyone piled back to the dorm to shower and relax before we boarded the bus for the game.

The group then boarded the coach bus to make the roughly two hour each way trip to St. Mary's Stadium in Southampton to watch them play Swansea in their opening Premier League match for this season. Though the ride is two hours, the route winds through scenic roads in southern England driving by Arundel Castle, sheep, cows and horse pastures. Rolling fields of wheat, Animals and general English countryside spread out before the kids eyes.

Off the bus in Southampton, we all got a packed lunch and walked around the stadium taking in the sights before heading in to our seats.

Our group took over a section of the Chapel Stand behind the south goal. Behind each seat, each ticket holder got a clapper, fun for the game but maybe not for the bus or the dorm! We shall see who loses it first 😀

We all got to our seats in time to see a bit of the warm up and see the players announced and walk out into the stadium.

 The kids soaked in every second of the atmosphere, fans, chants and English style of play. At halftime, we got up to explore under the stands and get snacks. Most of the boys tried the giant hot dogs and sausages available.

Besides a missed free header from Swansea's 6'5" striker Abraham in the fifteenth minute, Southampton dominated play using the width with success and peppering the goalie with 28 shots. Unfortunately, they could not find the back of the net and the game ends in a 0-0 deadlock. All in all, even without any scoring, it was an exciting game to watch.

Back on the bus, the ride home was still lively but much quieter with many taking naps.
It was straight to dinner upon arrival at Ardingly College and back to the dorm for an hour of down time before bed.
Tomorrow is our second excursion of the weekend, as we head to Portsmouth to tour the HMS Victory and explore the historic dockyard and waterfront area.

Day 2: Friday, August 11th

There were some sleepy faces at breakfast this morning. Everyone hit their beds hard last night after the overnight plane and long introduction day. But it always takes a day or two to really acclimate to the time change and get into the groove of the schedule.
First, it was off to breakfast at 8:15am like we will every morning. Cereal, fresh fruit, eggs and croissants are all available for the kids. This morning they were also introduced to English bacon.

I know exactly what you are thinking. That looks like ham right?! Yes, apparently in England, ham is bacon. It is a little thinner cut and crispy on the outside but looks and tastes like ham to me!
After breakfast, we all headed down to the soccer fields for the first time to meet the Brighton & Hove Albion coaches for the week.

The groups then split off and headed over for a warm up.
The goal keepers started off with some small group goalie specific training with Lea Samain who trains with the Brighton & Hove Albion Women's first team.

The girls group and boys groups broke off with their respective coaches for a warm up before heading into possession and penetrating passing drills.

Mid afternoon the kids went up for some relaxation time and lunch. The first day on the fields with double sessions is tough with the jet lag but this is also a beautiful day of blue skies in England and the heat also took a toll on the kids so a mid afternoon break did wonders in preparing them for the second session.
Back down on the fields the groups split off with their coaches again and headed onto the fields.

The boys warmed up and played small sided games gelling as a team and the girls worked on defending.
Then we were back up to the dorms to shower and change before heading into dinner. The night activity was in the gym, a hybrid of kickball and cricket.

Kids had to kick the ball and run back and forth around side by side bases while the opposing team tried to catch the ball. I can attest that the kicking was fantastic but aside from our goalies, maybe the catching is a work in progress 😀

It was a long day of soccer and activity. The night ended with everyone on the players lounge watching the Arsenal vs Leicester game, Track and Field World Championships or playing FIFA soccer on Xbox to unwind. We also let them go to the Tuck Shop where they could get snacks.

Tomorrow we are up for breakfast and then head for a morning swim before showering and boarding the bus going g to the Southampton vs Swansea Premier League game.

Day 1: Thursday, August 10th

Welcome to the blog. Each day I will do my best to paint a picture through words and a lot of photos so that you can all read and see what the kids are up to.
After a long overnight flight, which included more movie watching than sleep, we hit the ground running and took a bus over to Ardingly College, a boarding school located in West Sussex England.

The kids unloaded their bags, found their assigned rooms and began unpacking and unwinding from the long flight.

After a little relaxing and refresh time, we quickly got the kids outside in the good English weather to stretch their legs and get to know each other better. All of the kids were divided up for games of soccer tennis

And cricket

The best way to get all of the kids on UK time is to keep them up all day and on to a regular bedtime and wake up schedule. It makes the first day or so difficult but in the long run works best for the week. At this point the kids are all on a major high of excitement for the trip. Back in the dorm, we gather them all together on the players lounge for a Sports Tours Europe meeting with the staff that will be watching over the kids all week.

Andy goes over the week's schedule and expectations with all of the kids including meal times, training times, excursions and games. As well as relaying points of contact for the kids in case of any problem. From there, we were all starving and it was straight to dinner at the dining hall.

After dinner, we gathered back in the Players Lounge which includes X Boxes with FIFA soccer and a fusball table.

To sufficiently tire the kids out, staff member Sarah Smith took all the kids and coaches out for a walk around the grounds to see the fields and surrounding area. Ardingly College is truly beautiful and the kids got their first taste of the English countryside.

We continued on through some corn fields and sheep fields before returning to campus tired and ready for showers and bed.

Tomorrow will start the regular routine of up for breakfast at 8:15am and then down to the soccer fields to meet their Brighton & Hove Albion staff soccer coaches for the week. They will have a morning and afternoon training session to really get the group settled and working together as we get ready for the games ahead this week.