Day 9: August 7th

Woke up to another bright but partially cloudy day. Apart from our day excursion on the Brighton Pier, the skies and weather have been good to us.
This morning all of the teams at Lancing College and Ardingly College had their last training session with their Brighton Staff Coaches. Most groups started with some light warm ups and possession drills before heading into an 11v11 game for the girls as well as games with the boys. It was a good way to end out the week for the coaches to be able see the group play and see how they implement the tactics learned over the week. All of the Players will have a personal one on one meeting with their coach as well as get a critique/ evaluation form.

Back at the dorms everyone showered before lunch and prepared for the Amex Stadium Tour planned for this afternoon.
In this downtime, I headed into the Lancing College Chapel. The biggest difference between the two campuses is the architecture at Lancing and The Chapel. Set up on a hill, the chapel can be seen for quite a distance and is a destination for tourists.

It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture that started foundation construction in 1868, but in 1977 when construction finished, it continues to remain unfinished. It is the largest school chapel in the world though they worship mostly in the crypt down below the main chapel.

The outstanding feature to the chapel is the large Rose stained glass window. This year the tapestries are all being cleaned but you can still enter, walk all the way to the front and turn around to view the magnificent stained glass feature.

Here are a few shots from the interior to give you a good idea of  the the inner to match the outer beauty.

After lunch, we all boarded a bus and headed back to the Amex Stadium to take a behind the scenes tour.  The large group broke up into many smaller groups and we wound our way throughout the stadium visiting the VIP lounge, the Directors box, the trophy room

We got to see the differences in the Visitors changing rooms vs the Home team. While everything is the same in size, the Visitors area is stark and basic while the Home team experiences the comforts needed for good game preparation.

On the other side of the locker room, we sat at the post game interview areas as well.

Then it was on to the tunnel leading pitch side.

Finally, the kids were set free in the Club Pro Shop. A shopping frenzy ensued with jerseys, scarfs, coffee mugs, sweatshirts, watches. You name it, if it had a Brighton logo, those kids bought it!

Back on the bus, the younger teams headed back to Lancing College for dinner and a nightly activity of capture the flag.
The older girls headed back to Ardingly College and prepared for their matches against Horley Ladies. The teams from Blackbear and Mariners continued their unbeaten run against local English competition with two more impressive wins showing off their competitiveness, team shape and organization as well as an ability to finish thanks to some unmatched speed up top.
Tomorrow both the younger and older boys teams head to Norwich where they will play their final round of games as well as watch the Norwich vs Swindon match. All of the girls groups will also play their final games over at the Brighton Academy training ground.