April Trip Day 7

The boys had their last training session with the Brighton staff.  They trained hard with small sided games that were designed for the boys to refine their skills on the ball, then played a really fun round robin tournament. 

The boys were lucky and got a surprise visit from two of the professional players for the Brighton ladies squad, Victoria Williams and Ini Umotong!  Victoria plays for the England U23 squad and Ini plays for the Nigerian Womens national team and were able to talk about playing for both their club and their country.  They finished the session with a Q & A where they gave the boys valuable advice on how theu can continue to develop their soccer skills to the maximum level. 

After a long day of training the boys enjoyed some well deserved free time in Brighton.

April Trip Day 6

The boys started their day by going over to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard where they were able explore the famous warship the HMS Victory.  This ship sailed the seas and was one of the most powerful ships in the glorious British Navy. 

After that the boys went to the nearby Gunwharf Quays where the boys did some shopping and were able to enjoy some down time before they had their matches against Brighton Hove Albion's community teams in the evening. 

Against Brighton's Community teams the boys fought really hard and improved on their performance from the day before and the coaches saw them continue to incorporate things learned on the Brighton training pitch into their game!

April Trip Day 5

The boys started off the day with a great match day training session with the Brighton staff before going to Chaltham to play against an extremely talented PSA Squad. The boys worked extremely hard and the coaches both thought they played very well, however they weren't able to get the result they wanted.  More importantly, Coach Mo and Max both said that they saw the boys applying what they had been learning with the Brighton coaches, and they competed hard until the very end.  Both coaches are proud of the boys and thought the kids learned a lot and got great experience playing the very talented PSA side.  Great day for the boys!

April Trip Day 4

The day started off with a high intensity training session with the Brighton staff at their training ground.  Lots of SAQ training, (strength, agility quickness), followed by a variety of small sided drills to help the boys refine their technical skills on and off the ball. 

After training the boys made their war over to Madjeski Stadium for the first of the days professional fixtures, a match between Reading and West Bromwich Albion.  The boys had fantastic seats, in the first row right behind one of the goals, where they got an incredible up close view of the game. 

Then the boys made their way over to the fabled Stamford Bridge stadium in London to see the match between Burnley and Chelsea.  The boys were treated to an absolute banger of a match, a 2-2 draw that had everything from incredible goals to off the pitch drama.  This game was pivotal for Chelsea in the race to make the top 4 of the Premier League so the atmosphere was incredible.  Also the boys seats were up at a high vantage point which allowed them to watch the game from a great perspective to analyze the game tactically, I'm sure the boys learned a lot from watching the tactics of two great managers in this game.  What an incredible experience for the boys!