Day 7: August 5th

Back up at 7:30 am for a hearty breakfast in preparation for a full day travelling to London and back to watch the Fulham vs Norwich City Championship League Match at Craven Cottage, Fulham's home field. The bus ride to and back went exceptionally smoothly with very little traffic.

Immediately upon arrival the kids got a packed lunch and walked to the park directly next to the stadium to eat. Just as we arrived, the rain started falling. Luckily, the tree cover in the park provided some cover and the rain squall only lasted about fifteen minutes.

After lunch, to stay dry, the kids piled into the Club pro shop. Jackets, sweatshirts and hats were snatched up. But the most popular souvenir per club is the team scarf. Every team is unique with color and logo causing a lot of kids to collect one for every stadium visited.

By now we are all excited to get into the game and line up out front of the stadium.

Craven Cottage has been Fulham FC home ground since 1896 holding a capacity of 25,700 fans. The stadium sits right on the bank of the River Thames. We sat on the Putney end of the stadium which generally seats the visitors, though it also houses the neutral area down in front of the Cottage. It is nicknamed "little Switzerland" and Craven Cottage is currently the only ground in the UK to have one. Our seats are directly under the Cottage which house the changing rooms and the balcony where players and family sit.

Our seats filled most of the neutral zone seating lower corner giving us a great view of the Players walking on and off the pitch before, at half time and after the game. It also gave kids direct access for autographs, selfless and high fives after the game.

It is an exciting season opener with Fulham dominating the first half. They scored first on an own goal by Norwich's Martin in the 25th minute. Following half time, Norwich began to take control of the game creating opportunities without being able to score. A rare Fulham chance saw the ball strike the post. Just as it looked like Fulham would take the points on the season opener, they were caught on the the break and Nelson Oliveira broke clear in the 88th minute and shot under the advantage ing goalkeeper to equalize.

The kids were riveted to their seats the entire game transfixed by the action on the fields, the chanting from both the home and away fans and just soaking up the atmosphere of the stadium.

For most, it is their first professional soccer experience and Craven Cottage never disappoints. It is a smaller more intimate stadium really making everyone feel part if the action.

Another highlight is being able to try the meat pies. Every stadiums are unique and different. Today the choices were steak pie, chicken balti pie or vegetarian pie. They are delicious and can't be missed. Flaky crusts stuffed with meats and vegetables:

After the excitement of the game, we trudged in a long line back to the bus for the ride home. Directly to dinner and then relaxing in the Players Lounge before lights out ended a long excursion day.
Tomorrow we are back at it bright and early for the Seven Sisters in the morning and Brighton & Hove Albion vs Athletico Madrid tomorrow night.

Day 6: August 4th

One quick correction from yesterday. The older boys tied their game 1-1 not 2-2. I had 2-2 on the brain from the older girls tie score. I apologize.

Woke up to another bright and sunny day in the South of England. Today, is a full excursion day for the entire group. Everyone will be headed to Portsmouth via Coach bus at 9am to return at 5pm. Thankfully, we expect great weather throughout.
Everyone is woken up at 7:30am daily and we head to the cafeteria for another breakfast at 8:30am. Hopefully people are enjoying my take on British food as there is more to come!
Every morning there is toast, yogurt, some fruit and cereal. For the most part everything is part of a typical American diet. However, one cereal, Weetabix, slightly baffles me.

They are literally the size, texture and shape of Nature Valley granola bars out in a bowl, milk poured over them and broken up with a spoon. If I hadn't seen a person actually put them in a bowl and eat them as cereal, I may have picked one up as a granola bar!
I also learned about Marmite spread this morning. It's like England's version of Nutella (though definitely not a sweet hazelnut flavor) that they spread on toast.

I'm still skeptical of this product so havent officially tasted it yet. What is yeast extract?! I will keep you posted.
After breakfast everyone went straight on the bus for the hour ride to Portsmouth. First stop is the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard where we all tour the HMS Victory. It is a 104 gunship captained by Lord Nelson's at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Everyone got to board the ship and tour the four floors of cannons, bunks, kitchens, ropes, weapons and amazing views.

After the HMS Victory we walked towards the Gunwharf Quays. The streets of Portsmouth are rich with a port industry theme and historical significance.

The players now got some free time to shop in the Premium Outlets as well as explore the waterfront area and eat.

The older boys took the lift up to check out the views of the Emirates Spinnaker Tower.

It was a long day of sun, sights and exploring resulting in a quiet bus ride home full of napping players. We arrived back at Lan ing College right at dinner time and got to take advantage of this great weather with an outdoor cookout on the quad.

Before the nightly activity, the Players relaxed in the Players Lounge and were introduced them to a competitive game of hand ball around the table tennis area.

To end the night, everyone went down to the lower turf field for a small sided soccer tournament. After a long day of bus rides and sight seeing it felt good to get running around again. The players broke up into teams and played a round robin mini tournament amongst themselves before heading up to the dorm for lights out.

A beautiful sunset ends another action packed day in the UK.
Tomorrow all the Players will head to Craven Cottage, the home of Fullham FC since 1896 to watch the Fullham vs Norwich City game.

Day 5: August 4th

After a long wet day, we woke up to clouds and intermittent blue skies. A great day to return to soccer.
Everyone was back up and over to breakfast at 8:30am woeful up for a day of training and games.. After a rainy day off from soccer and a bunch of down time last night, we could feel the eagerness to get back on to the field and train as well as play.
First we enjoyed a standard breakfast of fruit, breads, cereal, sausage and eggs but today we also tried crumpets.

To my American eye it is an interesting mix of English muffin and pancake.. add a little butter or jam and it is dense but delicious!

The morning consisted of a training session for all of the groups working on possession and moving the ball quickly utilizing wide players. The players were ready to get moving again after a long day of site seeing and rain.

Good weather held out until the Players were just finishing training and heading up for lunch when we experienced a quick passing shower.
The cafeteria nailed it again with pasta and Turkey options for lunch but also introducing some English classics.
The prawn crackers are a particular favorite of mine.
                           
  People keep telling me they are just like the cookies we get at a Chinese Food restaurant. Ummm absolutely not. Where is my fortune? Personally, I think they look like the stuff we use to pad packages in America. And kind of taste like it too! Kind of like chewing on cardboard.... not bad but definitely not good.
However, dessert introduced the iced bun... literally a long roll with white icing. So simple yet so delicious.

After lunch the boys and girls split up to play a second round of games. The boys groups all played at Lancing College. Again, all of the younger boys groups played with heart, skill and grit. Every game was competitive.

The older boys played a hard fought competitive and intense game fighting for a 2-2 tie.
The girls U14 side traveled by bus to Ardingly Collge to play another group for Brighton & Hove Albion.

The girls were relaxed after a day off from soccer and ready to compete. Even the bus driver was impressed with their excitement and determination giving us his bus mascot to borrow for the match day. Lily quickly named him Gerald and he brought us great luck in the games as the younger girls once again swept their games with wins.

The SUSC Mariners U15 group played later in the afternoon and handily beat their opponent as well.

Later in the day the U16 Blackbear girls made their first trip over to Lancing College. The girls were struck by the architecture of the school and the old school charm of their surroundings as they came to campus to eat in the cafeteria before their game and explore the campus before heading down to the fields to warm up before the match. It is hard to ignore the beauty of the buildings threat backdrop our competitions. 

Although the weather was clear, a heavy wind and slightly tilted pitch made this a game of two halves as we took on the Ladies from Worthing Football Club. 

Though the SUSC girls went down 2-0 by halftime, they fought hard and finished with a 2-2 draw in a well matched competitive game.

It was great to get back to a day of training and soccer as the nice weather has started back in.

But tomorrow all of the groups will head in to Portsmouth to explore the city.