Day 8- The Holland Finale

Today was our day of rest after a long, rewarding week of soccer in Holland.  After having their first chance to sleep in we headed off for a tour of AJAX stadium without the crowd.  We all learned alot about the workings of the field and stadium and how to grow grass indoors.  We walked over to the eat our final bag lunch in the mall where a few girls and Deidre participated in a timed bed making contest.  The canal ride was next followed by the much anticipated "shopping hour" in Amsterdam.  The girls split into the hardcore clothes shoppers(hard to do in 1 hour, god bless Deidre), and the serious souvenirs shoppers.  Then down to the Flower market, here's hoping customs is nice to us.  We arrived back at the Hostel with plenty of "Stuff" and a small plane worth of Stroofwafels.
Our final Stay Okay supper was spent in the colorfully decorated dinner halls which was adorned with orange banners and soccer balls in anticipation of a big soccer match tomorrow and Queen's Day,(our equivalent of July 4th) on Monday.  Supper was followed by the groups' final Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down exercise.  This is where the girls get to share their best/worst experience of the day and in this case the trip.  It has truly been a privilege to share this trip with your daughters.  If you had any second thoughts about the sacrifices they and you have made as parents to provide them with this experience, their comments clearly indicate that this is a trip they will never forget.  
The girls are heading off to bed now (10:00 PM) in anticipation of a "wake-up" knock in about 6 hours. The girls (and the adults) are both excited and sad that this adventure is ending.  They will be tired, a bit smelly, and probably won't want to see bread or nutella for about a week.
 

Day 7: Celebrity Blog Update from Coach Katie

Hello Everyone!

It's hard to believe that we only have one more full day remaining on our trip!  You would not believe how much each girl has improved technically and the overall improvement in our team play and possession.  Today the girls got up bright and early, frantically packed up their rooms, and headed down to their last training with Baer.  After a fun and competitive 4v4 tournament the girls and Baer said their final goodbyes.  The bus (which also contained a motley crew of U 14 boys, coaches, and chaperones) picked us up and, after a quick stop at the PSV fan shop in Eindhoven, we arrived in Almere to play our match.

The game was fast-paced and aggressive and while the girls played valiantly, we wound up losing 2-0. One of the best parts of the evening was the time we spent with the other team at the canteen.  The girls chatted, ate french fries, and even went back outside to play a little more soccer before our departure.  These exchanges have been the highlight of the trip for me.  Seeing both teams talking, laughing and, in the case of tonight, singing Justin Beiber despite language and cultural differences is truly heartwarming (apology for cheesy sentimental moment).

I cannot wait for everyone to see the team play once we return to the States.  The hard work, improvement, and persistence they displayed this week has been amazing.  

Day 6 brings an International VICTORY

 This was a wild and crazy day.  After a day of supposed rest, lots of walking with speed walker Jos on Day 5, the girls were tired as they entered the morning training session with Baer.  It was a windy overcast day with two successful training sessions with Baer.  The second ended with a promise from Baer, " If you lose to a team that is better than you, fine.  If you lose to a team that is your equal, we don't use soccer boots tomorrow and you will be training in running shoes".  Our evening schedule required some tweaking , as our games was scheduled later than expected.  After an impromptu quick supper  before the match with the promise of hamburgers and fries upon our return we headed to the match.  The girls entered the warmup in a torrential down pour. We realized we forgot the banner to give the other team so Deidre hijacked a innocent Dutch woman's bicycle and rode back to the Hostel.  Just kidding.  She arrived just in time for opening ceremonies.  The referee presented Katie with the sideline flag and asked her to "find somebody",  thus the picture below. 

The rest as they say " is history".   Our girls played possessed seemed to take everything Coach Katie has been telling them since September along with Baer's advice and proceeded to earn their FIRST INTERNATIONAL VICTORY as they played the "beautiful game" wonderfully.  In the end they tallied a 3-0 victory and had an even more rewarding time with the other team in the Kanteen as they exchanged Facebook addresses and the home team presented them with a signed jersey from their club.  Tissues all the way around for coaches and chaperons.  When we figure out the video thing will post it.  Otherwise the pictures will have to suffice.  The rest of the details you will have to get from your daughters.

Bear giving instruction

Both Teams together

Post Game Reaction

The team after the WIN!

 

Name your child ...

Scott decided to focus his camera lens on the girls feet - making a "name that child" game for family back home.  Take a look .. how well do you know your player's footwear?  Keep in mind that your daughter probably traveled with more than one pair -- and we only included one picture of each player (we hope, this has gotten a bit confusing).  Once you identify your player -- you can leave a comment with the cleat number -- we will be tracking your progress ..

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Day 5 Photo's

A few photo's that Scott took from the day yesterday.....

Group 1 for the tunnels - with their guide Marcell

Group 2 for the tunnels with their guide "Huup"

Group 3 for the tunnels with their guide Luke in his mask.

The team posing in Maastricht

Day 5: Maastricht and Kazematten

The girls had a day off from training and did some team-building and site-seeing in Maastricht before heading to  Valkenswaard.  We started the day with a nice 1/2 hour walk to the Kazematten tunnel entrance -- we walked though the center of Maastricht -- it was sunny but cool, a nice way to start.  We entered the Kazematten tunnels with a bit of trepidation and fear of the unknown.  The girls were split into 3 teams and with a guide to set the assignments the girls embarked on a fun adventure.  As adults it was neat to listen to and observe the trouble shooting and team work that the girls needed to complete each task.  The guides set us loose in the dark tunnels with a map, lamps and minimal instruction.  They then had fun popping up unexpectedly with masks, or at knee level, or even with a plastic rat on a string.  My personal favorite moment was when in the pitch dark our guide Luke came at our legs ...  Erika kicked him and she screamed " Yo! dude! NOT COOL!!"  The kick was to the head, and he was impressed with her foot skills!  I loved the fact that she went into self defense mode so quickly -- I have told the girls not to sneak up on her.  Apparently, Scott enjoyed tormenting his group in the dark as well - so that team had two people scaring them.  All the groups have fun stories -- it was a great morning.  We had lunch back at the hostel and saw the boys team and their chaperons very briefly before heading out to explore Maastricht above street level.  Maastriahct is a beautiful old european city and the girls had lots of spots for photo's - their cameras will be full after this trip.

We arrived shortly before dinner in Valkenswaard.  The girls were able to enjoy a bit of down-time that they have not had prior to this evening and they played card games, pictionary, painted nails and laughed.  They also shared their "thumbs-up" and" thumbs-down" moments thus far in the trip -- we were surprised by some of their answers - they never fail to surprise us.

The girls are settling into their rooms and coach Katie will do their lights-out in about 1/2 hour.  another fun-filled day -- but time to gear up for two more days of double training's and matches.

Day 4: Parlez-Vous Francaise?

What a day the girls had today... their best soccer day thus far in the trip.  They had two very productive training's with Baer and capped the day off with a terrific game against Standard Liege from Belgium.  The team we played against are an elite team of players who come from all areas in the country.  Many of the players board at a near-bye school in order to train at this beautiful facility.  You would all have been very proud of the girls.  They played their hearts out and in the end lost the match 2-0.  This team competes in a boys league and were thrilled to play against our girls.  The best part of the day was the post-game gathering in the kanteena.  The girls we played against spoke both french and Flemish - very little English.  The girls all sat at the table and ate food, laughed, smiled and made new friends.  The best part of the experience so far. Our girls were beaming and soo excited to meet, visit with, and work around the language barriers to communicate.  We arrived back at the hostel later than expected.  They are tucked into bed, we leave Maastrich tomorrow after experiencing the tunnel team-building adventure.  As chaperons, we are not as exited about being underground, lost and in the dark - but will give it a shot and let you know how it goes.  Please enjoy these photos that both of us have taken - know your daughters are doing well, having fun, behaving, continuing to impress us, and making Far Post proud with all that they are doing both on and off the field.

Opening ceremony in Belgium

The Rock-Star Jillian making a terrific save!!

And ... another

After yet another -- taking command on the field

Luxury bench accommodations for both teams -- and good thing since it started to rain.

Meghan on the ball

Go get it Margot

The bench warming-up and getting ready to sub

Faith with her Grandfather Harry - there to cheer his second FP International match.

The two teams eating and visiting after the match

1/2 of the group

The other half ...

The locker room and training room hallway

Zoom to see the fancy sign on our lock room!

The Warm-Up

What can we say about this one? Not much more is needed ...

Our Bench

One of our opponents .....

Opening Ceremony Entrance

A neat amenity: players clean their cleats at the foot wash prior to entering the locker  rooms

Click here to go to the "Baer" cave for more pix of day 3!

A "Baer" of a Day 3 in Maastricht

Girls getting instruction from the famous Baer!

Did mean to go that way?!

Emma trying to remember her Dutch lessons!

Our girls walking over to greet the Holland Regional Team 

Entering field just like they do in the Pros!

Pregame hand shake and exchange of banners

Club Flag