Yesterday was Thursday and we had most of the day to relax before training with Newcastle Town at night. We went for a couple mile run with the team before playing, and it was kind of disturbing how much trouble some of the guys on the team were having. I guess they ARE still part-timers (as opposed to "full-time professionals"). We were...disappointed to put it mildly. I think both of us finally showed, not really publicly, just how exhausted we were from these 2 weeks. We talked afterwards about the level of play and how it seemed to be glorified pick-up. not many people seemed to be in positions, except Steve, who again took pity on me and also hates losing, so he was playing defense (the only other defender on our team was the 49 year old assistant manager). Needless to say, without a proper warm-up, neither of us ever really got comfortable on the field. so, that being disappointing, we only had one more session left, with Crewe today. This also was less than satisfying for us. Again, its probably the fact that we've been going pretty hard for two weeks and the extent of what we'll need to do has become more obvious to us, we were both just ready to be done playing. Not that the trip has been disappointing, far from it...but after the session today we were both very relieved. Crewe has a big game tomorrow against Millwall, so it was a pretty lax day for them, which usually means, again, not much defense was played in the small sided and mid sized games.
However, at the end of the session, we talked to Glen, one of the head scouts at Crewe and talked about the best way to get trials. Unfortunately, its not easy, especially being America. And by that I mean that we're 21 and 22 and around most of the world, 21 and 22 year olds already have 3 or more years of professional experience. So, it will be hard to get clubs to try and let people of our age to trial with them when they've got no previous professional experience. But, it is what it is, and now we just have to go home and concentrate on finishing up senior requirements and then get back to work training and such. Tomorrow we're spending the day in Manchester before coming back and having dinner with Ken and his family. A little unwinding before flying home on Sunday. ah yes, we went to the local pub with our host family tonight, the Man in Space. Most places around here having something that they'll call "the mixed grill" or something of the sort. Its really a carnivore's delight. We both got that...for the 2nd time since we've been here. Anyway, we're looking forward to getting back to the states and being back at Whitman. We'll post about our trip tomorrow as well as some closing remarks about the trip in general, what we learned, where we'll go from here, etc...
S&B
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Photos from Wales
Here are some photo's from our day trip to Llandudno on Sunday. An update about Tuesday-Wednesday of this week follows.
Steve and Lizzie on the pier.
Ken, Lizzie, Jan, and Steve
Steve was...touching the ocean? With the pier in the background.
A hotel at the top of the hill
Steve and I at the top...it was windy to put it mildly.
View of the lower half of the hill from the pier. Our photo was taken off to the right and a bit higher up.
Oh Welsh...
Steve and Lizzie on the pier.
Ken, Lizzie, Jan, and Steve
Steve was...touching the ocean? With the pier in the background.
A hotel at the top of the hill
Steve and I at the top...it was windy to put it mildly.
View of the lower half of the hill from the pier. Our photo was taken off to the right and a bit higher up.
Oh Welsh...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday-Wednesday: Crewe, Newcastle Town, & Port Vale
Yesterday (Tuesday) morning, we trained with Crewe's reserve squad since the 1st team was away traveling to play at MK Dons. Apparently they were down 2-0 with 20 minutes left and came back to tie. field players and keepers warmed up separate form each other, but the keeper coach was traveling so it was just myself and the #3 and 4 keepers. The #4 isn't game fit, he just returned from shoulder surgery two weeks ago. Apparently he was the #1 before he got hurt. Anyway, the field players did a series of long ball and driving drills before we all joined up and played small sided games. Steve and I again showed that we can easily play with these guys, granted they're the reserves and I'm sure some of them are on their way out of the club at the end of the season. Nevertheless, we fit in fine. Afterwards, Ken had to run some errands so he dropped us off in Hanley, which is apparently the "downtown" type area of Stoke-on-Trent. With the great exchange rate, we went into a JJB (sports store) and bought some things for relatively cheap. Also we picked up a snack since we hadn't eaten at Crewe that day. Later on we had dinner at Ken's house before going to train with Newcastle Town. The food in England continues to be much better than it was the last time we were here. Newcastle had another "fun" practice, as I'm sure they will tomorrow since it is so late in the season. That seems to be the common theme with the clubs we're with except for Stoke, being in a relegation battle and all. We played some kind of chipping and juggling game, a small sides game with small goals, did a few shooting drills (which I was less than impressed with myself during) and finished up with some sprints. Everything was split into two teams of "young" and "old" guys. The dividing line was 23. That session was less than fun as well in terms of weather, cold, rain, and wind.
It was more of the same today when we trained with the academy team at Port Vale. The older guys had the day off, I guess they had a game last night too. There were a few of them out on the practice pitch doing some simple things, but only for a little while. The academy kids looked just like the ones at Stoke, maybe were even a bit bigger, but it was surprising the difference in the level of play. Not to talk trash, but the Port Vale kids weren't half as good as the Stoke city kids. Steve dominated the entire time we played in the midfield. He scored most of his team's goals while I had a slightly more difficult time in goal dealing with the freezing rain coming down hard and hard side winds as well. Not the best conditions to try and keep control of the ball. The youth team coach was hilarious, but not in a funny way. It will be a good story to tell the guys at home how he called the play "diabolical", twice, when it was sub-par at the beginning of practice.
Even still, I think he got the point across that the play was shite. Afterwards, we went in and showered and they gave us a suite overlooking the game pitch with some sandwiches and tea to wait for Kent o pick us up. Something similar about most stadiums we've seen so far: The stadiums and fields are all really nice, but the outsides of them are the ugliest sport venues I've ever seen. They look like...nothing, from the outside, some pieces of tin put together. But once inside, they're super nice and you just know that they're all filled with more history than most American sports franchises could ever hope for.
Tomorrow we train with Newcastle Town in the evening and finish up with Crewe on Friday before coming back on Sunday. Should be a pretty fun last two days, since Newcastle Town will probably just play for an hour on the turf pitch like last time and since they play again on Saturday, I'm sure Crewe will have another light day.
Steve is healthy for the most part, we're both just sore from playing on Crewe's practice pitch, which is surprisingly rock hard, despite the rain that the country has been getting. I continue to tape and play with my finger, which is still fat but all the bruising is gone. I think its broken, but there's nothing you can really do for it but give it rest. I'll do that when we go back to the States and I have to write the rest of my thesis.
Its become a little embarrassing for us to explain the American education/athletic system in the U.S. to the guys here. We're relatively old, being 21 and 22 and its almost a joke to them that we're trying to start playing pro now when they've been established for 3 years at least when they're 22-22. It's become pretty obvious to us why American soccer is so stunted in its growth and why more Americans don't play in Europe. But we'll get to that in some closing remarks at the end of the week.
S&B
It was more of the same today when we trained with the academy team at Port Vale. The older guys had the day off, I guess they had a game last night too. There were a few of them out on the practice pitch doing some simple things, but only for a little while. The academy kids looked just like the ones at Stoke, maybe were even a bit bigger, but it was surprising the difference in the level of play. Not to talk trash, but the Port Vale kids weren't half as good as the Stoke city kids. Steve dominated the entire time we played in the midfield. He scored most of his team's goals while I had a slightly more difficult time in goal dealing with the freezing rain coming down hard and hard side winds as well. Not the best conditions to try and keep control of the ball. The youth team coach was hilarious, but not in a funny way. It will be a good story to tell the guys at home how he called the play "diabolical", twice, when it was sub-par at the beginning of practice.
di⋅a⋅bol⋅ic
[dahy-uh-bol-ik] Show IPA –adjective
əˈbɒl
| 1. | having the qualities of a devil; devilish; fiendish; outrageously wicked: a diabolic plot. |
| 2. | pertaining to or actuated by a devil. |
Even still, I think he got the point across that the play was shite. Afterwards, we went in and showered and they gave us a suite overlooking the game pitch with some sandwiches and tea to wait for Kent o pick us up. Something similar about most stadiums we've seen so far: The stadiums and fields are all really nice, but the outsides of them are the ugliest sport venues I've ever seen. They look like...nothing, from the outside, some pieces of tin put together. But once inside, they're super nice and you just know that they're all filled with more history than most American sports franchises could ever hope for.
Tomorrow we train with Newcastle Town in the evening and finish up with Crewe on Friday before coming back on Sunday. Should be a pretty fun last two days, since Newcastle Town will probably just play for an hour on the turf pitch like last time and since they play again on Saturday, I'm sure Crewe will have another light day.
Steve is healthy for the most part, we're both just sore from playing on Crewe's practice pitch, which is surprisingly rock hard, despite the rain that the country has been getting. I continue to tape and play with my finger, which is still fat but all the bruising is gone. I think its broken, but there's nothing you can really do for it but give it rest. I'll do that when we go back to the States and I have to write the rest of my thesis.
Its become a little embarrassing for us to explain the American education/athletic system in the U.S. to the guys here. We're relatively old, being 21 and 22 and its almost a joke to them that we're trying to start playing pro now when they've been established for 3 years at least when they're 22-22. It's become pretty obvious to us why American soccer is so stunted in its growth and why more Americans don't play in Europe. But we'll get to that in some closing remarks at the end of the week.
S&B
Monday, March 23, 2009
Start of Week 2: Crewe Alex
Yesterday was Sunday, our second day off in a row. We went to Llandudno, on the northern coast of Wales with Ken's family for UK Mother's Day (pictures to come). It was pretty nice, apart from being cold and windy. We attempted to have a picnic outside up near the top of hills that overlook the entire town and the town off in the distance. We had some success, but a few times things blew all over the place. We walked around the town for a while, of course testing out the local cafes and candy shops. Its a pretty nice British coast town, nice place to spend the day.
In more soccer related events, today is Monday and the start of our 2nd week in England. We trained earlier today with Crewe Alexandra of League 1 (2 levels below the premier league). I trained in with the keepers and Steve was in the with 1st team. Today was a pretty light day since they have a game tomorrow evening. Tomorrow morning we'll train with the reserves. The 1st teamers will obviously have off. After an hour or so of us keepers ripping shots on each other and the field players doing various games of keep away, we played a small sided game. It had been pretty windy the whole day, but during this game, the wind picked up a lot and it started raining hard. The rain was basically coming straight across and was just plain awful. I won't say that we can both comfortably play on this level since we've only been there for one day of light practice, but today we each held out own nicely, except in the small sided game it didn't seem as if my defense felt like playing, at all. I must have gotten scored on 20 times in the half an hour that we played. Steve put a couple in past the other keeper (including me there were 5 total, the starter is on loan from Everton) and made the opposing defenders look foolish at times.
The Crewe facility is much nicer than Stoke's. They have a larger team room, a pretty large weight and cardio room. It seems that have at least 2 full sized field turf fields and 3 full sized short-cut grass fields that are all in great shape. They also have a half field of low-cut grass and a off to the side field turf area with a few portable goals that's about 30x40 yards (40 across). Oh, they also have an indoor facility, which I'm assuming is an indoor sized field-turf field. For those unfamiliar, an "indoor" sized field is probably 2/3 the size of a normal field. The gear we received to train in at Crewe was nicer too, although in all fairness to Stoke, their dining and shower areas were much nicer and better equipped. I haven't seen it yet, but Ken mentioned that Crewe also had an indoor swimming pool. Apparently they've invested a lot of money into their youth development, which is one of the top programs in England. I think they're 4th right now, behind Man City, Everton, and Man United.
Tomorrow we're training with Crewe again, the reserves I believe and with Newcastle Town tomorrow night, followed on Wednesday probably at Port Vale of League 2. Off on Thursday, except with Newcastle Town on Thursday night, and back to Crewe on Friday. I think that should wrap it up for us in the UK in terms of training.
If anyone is wondering about anything specific, shoot us an email @ axelrobm@whitman.edu or phillisr@whitman.edu.
S&B
In more soccer related events, today is Monday and the start of our 2nd week in England. We trained earlier today with Crewe Alexandra of League 1 (2 levels below the premier league). I trained in with the keepers and Steve was in the with 1st team. Today was a pretty light day since they have a game tomorrow evening. Tomorrow morning we'll train with the reserves. The 1st teamers will obviously have off. After an hour or so of us keepers ripping shots on each other and the field players doing various games of keep away, we played a small sided game. It had been pretty windy the whole day, but during this game, the wind picked up a lot and it started raining hard. The rain was basically coming straight across and was just plain awful. I won't say that we can both comfortably play on this level since we've only been there for one day of light practice, but today we each held out own nicely, except in the small sided game it didn't seem as if my defense felt like playing, at all. I must have gotten scored on 20 times in the half an hour that we played. Steve put a couple in past the other keeper (including me there were 5 total, the starter is on loan from Everton) and made the opposing defenders look foolish at times.
The Crewe facility is much nicer than Stoke's. They have a larger team room, a pretty large weight and cardio room. It seems that have at least 2 full sized field turf fields and 3 full sized short-cut grass fields that are all in great shape. They also have a half field of low-cut grass and a off to the side field turf area with a few portable goals that's about 30x40 yards (40 across). Oh, they also have an indoor facility, which I'm assuming is an indoor sized field-turf field. For those unfamiliar, an "indoor" sized field is probably 2/3 the size of a normal field. The gear we received to train in at Crewe was nicer too, although in all fairness to Stoke, their dining and shower areas were much nicer and better equipped. I haven't seen it yet, but Ken mentioned that Crewe also had an indoor swimming pool. Apparently they've invested a lot of money into their youth development, which is one of the top programs in England. I think they're 4th right now, behind Man City, Everton, and Man United.
Tomorrow we're training with Crewe again, the reserves I believe and with Newcastle Town tomorrow night, followed on Wednesday probably at Port Vale of League 2. Off on Thursday, except with Newcastle Town on Thursday night, and back to Crewe on Friday. I think that should wrap it up for us in the UK in terms of training.
If anyone is wondering about anything specific, shoot us an email @ axelrobm@whitman.edu or phillisr@whitman.edu.
S&B
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Pandimonium at the Britannia
We took a tour of the Britannia today before attending the game vs. Middlesbrough, which was a huge game as both teams are fighting to stay in the Premier League. Sorry sports fans, I've never been to a sporting event in America that was like that. Almost constant noise, mainly singing and chanting, throughout the entire game. It only got louder since the team was playing poorly. In America, the team plays poor and gets booed. Here they get cheered even louder. I got the big goal on video, sorry about the first part being sideways. A patented Stoke City home goal, a long throw from Delap headed home by one of their tall guys. The sad looking people behind the goal really are sad. They're the Middlesbrough supporters. The only empty seats in the place were in their section, their allotted tickets that they didn't sell. Oh yeah, this goal came in the 84th minute? I think..so, near the end of a big game..
Beforehand we had drinks in the Skybox Lounge, access to which was gained by our VIP passes and afterwards we had passes into the player's lounge. The Skybox wasn't really anything special, some tables and chairs with a high up view looking out the back of the stadium. There's a picture from it below. Also, the player's lounge was nothing special, same as the Skybox, also it was a bit awkward since it was packed with players, family, a few other random people, and us. So, we only hung around for a few minutes before heading down to the main lobby to wait for Ken to finish up with his business. The stadium was only a 45 minute walk from where we're staying, but it was cold and windy, a lovely English day. Finally, some pictures...
Trentham Gardens, where we come to do work, but the hotel isn't in this part.
More of the Gardens
And more
The Britannia from the front.
From the upper level
The press room
Sorrenson's gear laid out for the game
View from where we were sitting
This place is crazy
Trentham Gardens, where we come to do work, but the hotel isn't in this part.
More of the Gardens
And more
The Britannia from the front.
From the upper level
The press room
Sorrenson's gear laid out for the game
View from where we were sitting
This place is crazy
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday
Yesterday: We started off with a bit of a lay in, which was well needed. After that we went to Trenthan Gardens again, and we found a hotel that had wireless internet. We did some bits and bobs on the internet and did some school work. Ken then came and picked us up and we went and caught the sun in his back garden. I cannot remember if Brett told you about the big fat rabbit they have, but it is such a funny pet. The rabbit lives in the back of garden in a shed, and really does not do much except eat the salad that we don't eat at dinner. Ken's and Jan's house and garden are really nice, which seems to be a trend around where we are. The gardens are all well manicured with an Old English Style, and every house that I have seen has a Sun room.
Later that night we went and trained with Newcastle Town on a field turf pitch. We both played pretty well and had a good time. The training was good, not as serious as Stoke, but all the guys were still pretty good. It was much better than their game play the other night. There were kids from 17 or 18 to men that must have been 33. We played at the beginning and then did some shooting. Brett put on a pretty good display when we were taking shots.
After training we headed back to Ken's house and they had dinner on the table. Ken's family has been amazing taking care of us, hopefully some day they come to America and Brett and I can repay them somehow. After dinner we headed back to the Thomas' home and went to bed.
We woke up this morning and went to Stoke again. Brett and I finally feel pretty relaxed there, but it is are last day so we will have to start all again and Crewe. I think we know how things work though, so fitting in will be easier. We both started off training with the youth team. After about 45 minutes Brett went over with Thomas Sorenson and played keeper in a small sided game, pretty awesome! I guess he played well today, and his finger is looking less and less like a English sausage. About 40 minutes later I got to go over to defend the first team guys. They were working on set pieces and build up for their big game tomorrow. I had the pleasure of marking James Beatty, and for the 15 to 20 minutes I was playing center back against him he did not score. Plus, my new claim to fame is that I won a header over Beatty, he just doesn't have huge hops like me. I felt pretty proud about that, it was one of the few times I touched the ball in those 20 minutes. I bet you didn't know I was a center back Mike....second day in row that I have played it...haha....it's no fun at all.
Brett and I are now back at Trenthan, Brett is reading for his thesis right now. We are going to go out with Ken's family tonight and eat dinner. We are going to go to the Stoke game tomorrow, and have a tour of the stadium before hand. In short, the trip has been amazing and we are having a really good time.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Day 3: Pretty light
Today was a relatively light day. We went to Stoke again and trained with the youth team. The 1st team and reserves had off today, so it was only the young guys around. We just played a full sided 11v11 game, with 3 coaches making up the final 3 on one team. That team lost 6-0. Steve played all over the pitch:forward, center mid, and yes, center back, where he held his own but wasn't too confident about his performance, especially since 2 of the 3 coaches were his outside backs and provided little help. I had relatively little to do. My right index is worse than yesterday and mostly everyone who looked at it said it was broken. I'll get it actually checked by the physio tomorrow, hopefully it won't be as bad as it is now. Lunch at the Michelin (Stoke's training ground) was again real good. "Minced" lamb, potatoes, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and some kind of really good green soup. Afterwards we actually had to walk home today, Ken had a meeting, but it wasn't too bad: about a half hour walk.
We rested at home for a bit and then went over to this kind of outdoor shopping center, Trenthan Gardens. We walked around a bit looking in on some shops, mostly paintings and artisan shops, but didn't buy anything. More or less the price tags were slightly beyond our range. There were also some nature parts of Trentham Gardens that we walked around in for a bit, kind of reminiscent of the reservoir at Central Park, just not as many people or big buildings in the background. For dinner, we went to Pizza Hut with Lizzie (Ken's daughter, 17). Believe it or not, Pizza Hut in England is actually a nice sit down restaurant that doesn't even do take out. Here is when Steve somehow ordered two main meals: an individual pizza and a pasta bowl. But he ate them both like a champ. Around 8:30 we all went and saw the Watchmen, which was pretty good after it got going, but loooong. A nearly 3 hour movie and there were almost 30 minutes of previews and commercials before hand. Argh. anyway, that ended and Ken picked us up and dropped us off at home. Tomorrow should be another fairly relaxing day. i think we're going to do some school work in the morning and early afternoon before some kind of a meeting Ken set up at 2:30ish before training with Newcastle Town at night.
S&B
To note: According to Lizzie, both our English accents our very "posh" like a Londoner. She refused to do an American accent.
Also, somewhat of a schedule (that I've found out can change any time) could look like this:#
Thursday: training with Newcastle Town#
Friday: training with Stoke
Saturday: tour of the Britania and game vs. Middlebrough
Sunday: TBD
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: training with Crewe
Thursday: training with Newcastle Town
We rested at home for a bit and then went over to this kind of outdoor shopping center, Trenthan Gardens. We walked around a bit looking in on some shops, mostly paintings and artisan shops, but didn't buy anything. More or less the price tags were slightly beyond our range. There were also some nature parts of Trentham Gardens that we walked around in for a bit, kind of reminiscent of the reservoir at Central Park, just not as many people or big buildings in the background. For dinner, we went to Pizza Hut with Lizzie (Ken's daughter, 17). Believe it or not, Pizza Hut in England is actually a nice sit down restaurant that doesn't even do take out. Here is when Steve somehow ordered two main meals: an individual pizza and a pasta bowl. But he ate them both like a champ. Around 8:30 we all went and saw the Watchmen, which was pretty good after it got going, but loooong. A nearly 3 hour movie and there were almost 30 minutes of previews and commercials before hand. Argh. anyway, that ended and Ken picked us up and dropped us off at home. Tomorrow should be another fairly relaxing day. i think we're going to do some school work in the morning and early afternoon before some kind of a meeting Ken set up at 2:30ish before training with Newcastle Town at night.
S&B
To note: According to Lizzie, both our English accents our very "posh" like a Londoner. She refused to do an American accent.
Also, somewhat of a schedule (that I've found out can change any time) could look like this:#
Thursday: training with Newcastle Town#
Friday: training with Stoke
Saturday: tour of the Britania and game vs. Middlebrough
Sunday: TBD
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: training with Crewe
Thursday: training with Newcastle Town
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Day 2: Training at Stoke and watching some games
We woke up at 8 this morning and Ken picked us up at 9. Despite eating at home, Ken still insisted that we leave by 9. The Stoke teams start breakfast around 9 and start training at 10. So we got there 45 minutes before training and just kind of stood around for half an hour looking somewhat lost and out of place. The way Stoke works is kind of cool. There is the 1st team, which is basically a pool of 30 or so players who train together, and the younger guys. The reserves are made up of mostly backups from the 1st team and the top couple of younger kids. So, finally when we got going, I (Brett) trained with the goalkeeper coach and the 1st team goalkeepers (didn't look like there was a younger keeper with them) and Steve was with the youth side, which are no older than 18. Once they hit 18 they're either offered a pro contract by the club or they're cut loose to look for something else. Steve easily held his own, hopefully he'll get a shot with the older guys tomorrow or another day. He said he screwed some things up that he usually wouldn't, but probably attributable to a bit of nerves. I was the same way, but my mistakes were much more obvious given that there were only 3 other people there. I've never, ever, ever faced shots that hard, from anybody, my 2 days of training at the Timbers included. We did a series of drills, sets of 6 reps each. Nothing was that exhausting, but the balls just come in sooooo much harder than I'm used to. The 2nd half of the training session was mainly a crossing/shooting drill with the players. The keepers shot harder than anything I've ever faced. The field players shot harder, and more accurately. Not one of my better days in the net. But, I can now say I've had the privilege of being scored on in training by Beaty, Delap, Shawcross (which on the Stoke website says he is 6'0. BS. That guy is at least 6'5), and a bunch of the other Stoke 1st teams, some of which, and Ken told us, are making upwards of £30,000 a week.
After training we went into the locker rooms to shower. The rooms are nothing special, especially at the training ground. Each spot has its own 2 hook and a chest to put things in, bathrooms and a set of showers. We ate lunch there as well before Ken pick us up at one. Chicken, pasta, veggies, soup. It was really good. Actually, all of the food we've had here has been really, really good. So haha, funny story. We were sitting there and a bunch of the coaches came and sat next to us and we're thinking 'Oh crap, we sat at the coaches table.' I asked one if we were at the wrong table and he said that we were fine. 5 minutes later the head manager walks in and after getting his food, walks up to Steve and goes 'Your in my seat.' Steve looks at me and half smiles, then looks at him, and looks at me again before looking at the manager and going, 'Are you serious?' Without any smile or anything, the guy goes 'Yes' and just stands there. Steve takes a second to react and gathers up his dishes, moving to the other table, completely ignoring the open chair right next to him and leaving me there with all of the coaches. Now I feel awkward, but at least I wasn't Steve for those 15 seconds. I asked the head man if I was in anyone's seat and he replies in a much friendlier way 'No you're alright mate'.
Anyway, Ken picked us up around 1 and took up home. We slept for a little before going over to his house again at 4ish. He and Jan (his wife) made another great dinner of chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Yorkshire puddings, which were basically bread with an opening in the middle to put some kind of filling. After dinner we talked for a bit before going to the Stoke vs. Portsmouth reserves game at the Britannia. The stadium is sweet, I'll get a photo on Saturday when we're there for the 1st team game. Since Ken is the man and knows everybody, we were sitting in what seemed like the corporate section. The hallways under the seats had red carpet, the bathrooms were really nice, and everyone sitting in those seats went into a couple of different rooms at halftime to half sandwiches and a cup of tea. We found this hilarious.
About 80 minutes through we left to go to Newcastle Town vs. Bramby, in a makeup league match. I have to be honest, everyone playing was fairly quick, fairly strong, very dirty, and the style of play was awful. I've never seen so many long balls in my life, ever, even in against George Fox or UPS , because BOTH teams were doing it. Newcastle Town won 2-1 on a nice free kick from 25 out that hit the inside of the post and went in. But, the way Whitman plays is much, much nicer.
Now we're home, its a bit late considering we're getting up at 8 again tomorrow. I think I'm training with the young ones tomorrow as well. good thing too, I just about broke a finger today taking shots from the older guys. Don't think it could take another day of that tomorrow. I think we'll be there for both the morning and afternoon sessions too. Update again tomorrow night...
S&B
More words from today that are always said: 'Cheers' or 'Cheers mate', 'F*uck off'' (a player to himself when he screws up), 'Oh noooooooooo'. I'm sure this list will get updated again tomorrow as well.
After training we went into the locker rooms to shower. The rooms are nothing special, especially at the training ground. Each spot has its own 2 hook and a chest to put things in, bathrooms and a set of showers. We ate lunch there as well before Ken pick us up at one. Chicken, pasta, veggies, soup. It was really good. Actually, all of the food we've had here has been really, really good. So haha, funny story. We were sitting there and a bunch of the coaches came and sat next to us and we're thinking 'Oh crap, we sat at the coaches table.' I asked one if we were at the wrong table and he said that we were fine. 5 minutes later the head manager walks in and after getting his food, walks up to Steve and goes 'Your in my seat.' Steve looks at me and half smiles, then looks at him, and looks at me again before looking at the manager and going, 'Are you serious?' Without any smile or anything, the guy goes 'Yes' and just stands there. Steve takes a second to react and gathers up his dishes, moving to the other table, completely ignoring the open chair right next to him and leaving me there with all of the coaches. Now I feel awkward, but at least I wasn't Steve for those 15 seconds. I asked the head man if I was in anyone's seat and he replies in a much friendlier way 'No you're alright mate'.
Anyway, Ken picked us up around 1 and took up home. We slept for a little before going over to his house again at 4ish. He and Jan (his wife) made another great dinner of chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Yorkshire puddings, which were basically bread with an opening in the middle to put some kind of filling. After dinner we talked for a bit before going to the Stoke vs. Portsmouth reserves game at the Britannia. The stadium is sweet, I'll get a photo on Saturday when we're there for the 1st team game. Since Ken is the man and knows everybody, we were sitting in what seemed like the corporate section. The hallways under the seats had red carpet, the bathrooms were really nice, and everyone sitting in those seats went into a couple of different rooms at halftime to half sandwiches and a cup of tea. We found this hilarious.
About 80 minutes through we left to go to Newcastle Town vs. Bramby, in a makeup league match. I have to be honest, everyone playing was fairly quick, fairly strong, very dirty, and the style of play was awful. I've never seen so many long balls in my life, ever, even in against George Fox or UPS , because BOTH teams were doing it. Newcastle Town won 2-1 on a nice free kick from 25 out that hit the inside of the post and went in. But, the way Whitman plays is much, much nicer.
Now we're home, its a bit late considering we're getting up at 8 again tomorrow. I think I'm training with the young ones tomorrow as well. good thing too, I just about broke a finger today taking shots from the older guys. Don't think it could take another day of that tomorrow. I think we'll be there for both the morning and afternoon sessions too. Update again tomorrow night...
S&B
More words from today that are always said: 'Cheers' or 'Cheers mate', 'F*uck off'' (a player to himself when he screws up), 'Oh noooooooooo'. I'm sure this list will get updated again tomorrow as well.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Travel plus day 1
On Sunday, we were out the door from Simon's house at 4:30 to catch our 6:30 AM flight. Got into New York around 3:00 PM and left for Manchester at 9:00 PM or so, getting into the UK around 7:00 AM. So, we forgot to get the address of the place we were staying, and I (Brett) being on top of my stuff, left Ken Walshire's (the man picking us up from the airport and making much of the arrangements for us here) phone number on my desk in Walla Walla. So, they wouldn't let us through customs since all we could tell them was that we were getting picked up by a friend of a friend without an address or phone number. Brilliant. Eventually, they did let us through after the customs lines cleared out and we were able to explain our trip more thoroughly.
So, Ken was there, not waiting for too long (our bags DID make it through). He brought us back to his house (super small but really, really nice and well put together) in Newcastle-under-Lyme (I'll just say Newcastle from here out). On the way, he explained a rough schedule, which didn't resemble what we'd been told before that much, and displayed insane British driving. Insane because everyone here appears to not only be in control of their car, but courteous and smart about driving as well. Basically, they all display what should be a normal amount of common sense on the roads.
As the day progressed, the schedule for this first week got more solid. It goes like this:
Tuesday morning: training with Stoke City youth
Tuesday evening: watch half of the Stoke City reserves game and half of the Newcastle Town FC game.
Wednesday morning and afternoon: Training at Stoke
Thursday: Possible training with Newcastle Town, possibly rest.
Friday: Training at Stoke
Saturday morning: Tour of the Britannia Stadium, where Stoke plays its home games
Saturday afternoon: go to Stoke vs. Middlebrough (which is a big game since both are fighting to stay out of relegation)
After Ken fed us a bit of real breakfast (unlike what we got on the plane), he took us by where we'll be staying. Its just with a family who has two extra rooms and take in soccer players (excuse me, football players). Steve's room is about the size of small room in an off campus house at Whitman. My room is literally the size of a half bathroom. Its ok though, we shouldn't be spending too much time here.
Soon after that (it was only around 11:00 AM now), Ken took us to the Stoke training grounds and we met the assistant manager (coach) and the youth team coach, who we'll be training with tomorrow morning. We watched a bit of the 1st team/reserves training, mostly warming up for 20 minutes and then playing a warm up small sided game. Afterward we actually went to Ken's gym and he got us in with guest passes. We had to sweat out the crap they gave us on the plane...and looses up a bit too. We're really, really sore from training on Saturday on turf then sitting ALL of Sunday. After that we went and checked out the Newcastle downtown market, which was nice, cobblestone streets that appear to be closed off to cars, lots of little stands selling goods in the middle flanked on the outsides by a mixture of banks, pharmacies, bakeries, jewelry stores, and sandwich shops.
By now it was about 3:30. To make the rest of the day short, we went to Ken's house again, fell asleep lounging out in the sun in his "garden" (back yard), met his wife and daughter (who is 17 and, by American standards, might as well be a young adult in terms of how she acts), and ate dinner. Now I'm back at the house, which is in Trentham(?), one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.
Some interesting things of note:
-Ken is an amazing person to know. He seems like he knows EVERYBODY under the sun. He's on the phone all day long, when he's not talking to someone in person, setting something else up.
-We had about 8 cups of tea today with milk and sugar, which was good but got old.
-Every single stereotype about the way the English speak is TRUE. I understood about 1/3 of everything that I heard today, but words of notice that I heard over and over include: 'smashing', 'cheers', 'you alright mate?', 'lad(s)', and 'Bye, bye...bye', and 'schedule' but pronounced shedule.
I'll try and take some pictures tomorrow to upload, but I don't have Internet access from my laptop, so it might be hard to upload them for a bit.
S&B
So, Ken was there, not waiting for too long (our bags DID make it through). He brought us back to his house (super small but really, really nice and well put together) in Newcastle-under-Lyme (I'll just say Newcastle from here out). On the way, he explained a rough schedule, which didn't resemble what we'd been told before that much, and displayed insane British driving. Insane because everyone here appears to not only be in control of their car, but courteous and smart about driving as well. Basically, they all display what should be a normal amount of common sense on the roads.
As the day progressed, the schedule for this first week got more solid. It goes like this:
Tuesday morning: training with Stoke City youth
Tuesday evening: watch half of the Stoke City reserves game and half of the Newcastle Town FC game.
Wednesday morning and afternoon: Training at Stoke
Thursday: Possible training with Newcastle Town, possibly rest.
Friday: Training at Stoke
Saturday morning: Tour of the Britannia Stadium, where Stoke plays its home games
Saturday afternoon: go to Stoke vs. Middlebrough (which is a big game since both are fighting to stay out of relegation)
After Ken fed us a bit of real breakfast (unlike what we got on the plane), he took us by where we'll be staying. Its just with a family who has two extra rooms and take in soccer players (excuse me, football players). Steve's room is about the size of small room in an off campus house at Whitman. My room is literally the size of a half bathroom. Its ok though, we shouldn't be spending too much time here.
Soon after that (it was only around 11:00 AM now), Ken took us to the Stoke training grounds and we met the assistant manager (coach) and the youth team coach, who we'll be training with tomorrow morning. We watched a bit of the 1st team/reserves training, mostly warming up for 20 minutes and then playing a warm up small sided game. Afterward we actually went to Ken's gym and he got us in with guest passes. We had to sweat out the crap they gave us on the plane...and looses up a bit too. We're really, really sore from training on Saturday on turf then sitting ALL of Sunday. After that we went and checked out the Newcastle downtown market, which was nice, cobblestone streets that appear to be closed off to cars, lots of little stands selling goods in the middle flanked on the outsides by a mixture of banks, pharmacies, bakeries, jewelry stores, and sandwich shops.
By now it was about 3:30. To make the rest of the day short, we went to Ken's house again, fell asleep lounging out in the sun in his "garden" (back yard), met his wife and daughter (who is 17 and, by American standards, might as well be a young adult in terms of how she acts), and ate dinner. Now I'm back at the house, which is in Trentham(?), one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.
Some interesting things of note:
-Ken is an amazing person to know. He seems like he knows EVERYBODY under the sun. He's on the phone all day long, when he's not talking to someone in person, setting something else up.
-We had about 8 cups of tea today with milk and sugar, which was good but got old.
-Every single stereotype about the way the English speak is TRUE. I understood about 1/3 of everything that I heard today, but words of notice that I heard over and over include: 'smashing', 'cheers', 'you alright mate?', 'lad(s)', and 'Bye, bye...bye', and 'schedule' but pronounced shedule.
I'll try and take some pictures tomorrow to upload, but I don't have Internet access from my laptop, so it might be hard to upload them for a bit.
S&B
Monday, March 9, 2009
6 Days...
Hi everyone. We are Stephen Phillips and Brett Axelrod. Long story, short, we're Whitman College soccer players, both class of 2009, and we're going to England over our 2 week Whitman spring break to train with some teams for two weeks. A pretty good introduction about us can be found on the website of the Whitman College Pioneer.
Our Whitman Coach, Mike Washington, and his friend Ray Evans set this whole thing up for us. It started as some training with Newcastle Town, then Crewe (1st division) was added, then the game and tour of the grounds at Stoke, then training with Stoke itself (Premier League). so, obviously, it has just been one exciting development after another for us. And there are only 6 days left until we leave...
Today is Monday. We're flying out of Seattle on Sunday morning. We'll be training with a new PDL team in Bremerton on Saturday night, a final tune up before we fly out on Sunday morning. Shoutout to Simon Quay for letting us stay with him on Saturday night as well as driving us to the airport for a 6:30 am flight. In case anyone is interested, we're out of Saattle at 6:30 and getting into New York-JFK at 3:00 PM (east coast time). A nice 6 hour layover and we're out of JFK at 8:45 (eastern time) and getting into Manchester at 8:00 am (UK time) on Monday morning.
The teams we'll be training with are Newcastle town FC, Crewe Alexandra FC, and Stoke City FC. We don't have much of a schedule yet, but we THINK our first week schedule will look something like this:
Monday - arrive
Tuesday - Train with Newcastle Town
Wednesday - Train with Stoke City
Thursday - Train with Newcastle Town
Friday - Train with Stoke City
Saturday - Attend Stoke vs. Middlesbrough and tour the grounds
After that, I'm not exactly sure, perhaps 3-4 training sessions with Crewe during the 2nd week and maybe we'll act like a couple of tourists also.
All for now, we'll update as Sunday gets closer, or after we're across the pond.
S&B
Our Whitman Coach, Mike Washington, and his friend Ray Evans set this whole thing up for us. It started as some training with Newcastle Town, then Crewe (1st division) was added, then the game and tour of the grounds at Stoke, then training with Stoke itself (Premier League). so, obviously, it has just been one exciting development after another for us. And there are only 6 days left until we leave...
Today is Monday. We're flying out of Seattle on Sunday morning. We'll be training with a new PDL team in Bremerton on Saturday night, a final tune up before we fly out on Sunday morning. Shoutout to Simon Quay for letting us stay with him on Saturday night as well as driving us to the airport for a 6:30 am flight. In case anyone is interested, we're out of Saattle at 6:30 and getting into New York-JFK at 3:00 PM (east coast time). A nice 6 hour layover and we're out of JFK at 8:45 (eastern time) and getting into Manchester at 8:00 am (UK time) on Monday morning.
The teams we'll be training with are Newcastle town FC, Crewe Alexandra FC, and Stoke City FC. We don't have much of a schedule yet, but we THINK our first week schedule will look something like this:
Monday - arrive
Tuesday - Train with Newcastle Town
Wednesday - Train with Stoke City
Thursday - Train with Newcastle Town
Friday - Train with Stoke City
Saturday - Attend Stoke vs. Middlesbrough and tour the grounds
After that, I'm not exactly sure, perhaps 3-4 training sessions with Crewe during the 2nd week and maybe we'll act like a couple of tourists also.
All for now, we'll update as Sunday gets closer, or after we're across the pond.
S&B
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