April Trip Day 2: A Day in London

After a Full English Breakfast at the YHA hostel, it was time for the boys to get on the bus for the drive from Brighton to London.  The boys went on an an incredible walking tour of London and saw some of the best sights that the city has to offer.  They had lunch right in front of Buckingham Palace and were able to see the Royal Guard at the Palace.  Rob Hope, native of England and lover of English history, told the boys some interesting facts and stories about the Palace. 

Then the boys got to spend some time in Niketown and peruse everything that that incredible store has to offer and some of the boys purchased jerseys of their favorite players that were available in Niketown. 

Afterwords, the boys went down to Leicester Square to shop around and take in the sights of one of the busiest hubs of the London Metropolis.  Then the boys checked out the Feast of St. George Festival and got to hang out in the nice evening weather and listen to some great live music.  To end the day everyone had dinner at Garfunkels before hopping on the bus to head back to the Hostel.  What an incredible but very tiring day.  The boys will be sleeping well tonight!

April Trip Day One

The trip has begun! The boys arrived in London Gatwick early in the morning where they were greeted by an Easter Bunny as well as the legendary Rob Hope from Sports Tours Europe.  Then the boys took a long walk to the mall area before a spot of lunch.  Rob Hope always leads an entertaining tour for the kids no matter the spot that they're walking around.

After lunch, it was time for the boys to begin their first training session at Brighton.  They worked with the coaches at Brighton's state of the art training facility, The American Express Elite Football Performance Center.  Here are some of the pictures of the boys at training as well as a wonderful selfie of Coach Mo, looks like he got the fresh cut before the trip!

After the training session it was time for the boys to have a relaxing time walking around the Pier of downtown Brighton and take in the scene of downtown Brighton which included a beautiful sunset!

Now its back to the rooms to get to bed early in anticipation of the excursion in London tomorrow.  The boys have a busy day coming up!

April Trip Pre-Trip Briefing

Dear Seacoast United Express Parents,

Hope you are excited for the kids to depart today for England!  I know all of us here at Seacoast are super excited, our trip in February was so great and we're ready to make the April trip an even better experience for the boys.  You can look back at the older entries for this blog to see what the boys did while they were over in February. 

I've heard from our office over in England that the

Below is a picture of the schedule so you can see what the boys are going to be up to every day.

The boys will be arriving in England early Friday morning and they will have a full slate of activities to start out the week.  They will have their first training session at 1:30 in the afternoon at Brighton's training facility before heading back to check into their hostel.

Next day will be the boys day of sightseeing in London as they will go on a full day walking tour of London that will take them to all of the great sights that London has to offer.  On the February trip the boys went to Buckingham Palace, Leicester Square, Picadilly Square, and a whole lot more on an 8 mile walking tour of the city.  It is going to surely be one of the best days on the trip.

Next day the boys have training in the morning before heading on a tour of Brighton's City Center and lively pier, this Pier is often referred to as the Coney Island of England!

The following day is extremely busy with the boys training in the morning before heading off to see a Championship fixture between Reading and West Bromwich Albion.  Then the boys will head out immediately to watch the Monday Night fixture between Chelsea and Burnley.  With Chelsea fighting for a place in the top 4 this promises to be a great game and an incredible atmosphere.  

Next day is full on with soccer as the boys have a training session in the morning before facing PSA Academy in Kent in their first fixture over in England.  After what I'm sure will be a competitive fixture they will be heading back for a buffet dinner at YHA.  

On the Wednesday, they will be heading to Portsmouth for a tour of the historical dockyard and the quays down by the waterfront.  After they will have their matches against the Brighton Community teams in the evening.

Thursday will be back to back training sessions with Brighton coaches before the kids go back to the hotel to hang out before an early bedtime.

The second to last day the boys are doing the beautiful Seven Sister's cliff walk in Sussex England before heading to Brighton's Amex stadium for a tour and trip to the club shop.  The boys will end the trip festivities with a second match against a Brighton Community team.

Finally it will be time for the boys to leave as they will have a closing presentation before packing up and heading to the airport.  Follow this blog, as well as the Sports Tours Europe Instagram @sportstourseurope1, for photo and video updates of the trip!  Can't wait for the boys to get over there!