THE Academy started the day with the Under-12s having a classroom session. The players did some reflection sheets on their recent performances in the last two games, while the Under-11s went for a walk in the grounds at our base in Utrecht, along with the Under-10s.
After lunch, it was rest for the players ahead of the tournament being held on the coast at Gravenzande. The tournament would be based on points from all age groups composed of the Under-10s, the Under-11s, and the Under-12s. All teams would play three games and the total points from all of these matches would be added together to produce the eventual winners.
It was a strong tournament with teams from FC Gravenzande, Sparta Rotterdam, Den Haag, and ourselves, Swindon Town. We knew that this would be a very hard tournament with the timing of the games, along with the amount of matches that all the players were going to play. So, it would be very interesting to see how they coped and how they prepared leading up to the tournament.
The results were as follows:
Under-10s
Swindon Town 3 Sparta Rotterdam 0
Swindon Town 1 FC Gravenzande 0
Swindon Town 1 ADO Den Haag 1
The Players of the Tournament were: Matthew Ashman, Ollie Whiteley and Jude Soonsup-bell
Under-11s
Swindon Town 0 Sparta Rotterdam 0
Swindon Town 2 FC Gravenzande 0
Swindon Town 5 ADO Den Haag 0
The Players of the Tournament were: Adam Coombes, Charlie Wiggett, Will King and Landon Golding, who scored a hat-trick in the last game and received the matchball.
Under-12s
Swindon Town 0 Sparta Rotterdam 1
Swindon Town 3 FC Gravenzande 0
Swindon Town 2 ADO Den Haag 0
The Players of the Tournament were Levi Irving, Chris Francis and Rhys Wells.
All of these results for all the teams were very pleasing and all the teams worked very hard considering all the games that they played. The tournament standings ended up like this:
1. Swindon Town 20 points-WINNERS
2. Sparta Rotterdam
3. ADO Den Haag
4. FC Gravenzande
The players deserved the trophy that they won and all players and staff had a good sing-song on the way back on the coach, with Under-10 Marcus Ifil showing the staff that he has some special moves that, if needed, he can always produce under pressure!
The players will play the last game of the tour tonight against FC Emmen, before starting their journey back to The County Ground.
