Another very busy half term in the Youth Department was concluded with our Whitsun Tour to Holland for a group of our Development Squads and parents.

A group of nearly 90 players and parents set off at 4.30am from the Trade Recruitment Stadium on Friday 29th May to Port Zelande, 45 minutes west of Rotterdam, Holland. Interspersed between intervals of sleep there were jokes and quizzes on the bus until we arrived at our Centerparcs location at 2.30pm European time.

When checked in to their chalets everyone had the rest of the day to enjoy the Centerparcs facilities including the swimming pool, crazy golf course, volleyball court (although it turned into football head tennis from what I saw) and more.

The tournament that we entered took place over Saturday and Sunday morning, and was hosted by vv Hekelingen on the outskirts of the City of Rotterdam. With the opening ceremony starting at 9.30am, everyone was on the bus at 7.45am on Saturday.

We had entered four teams into the tournament. Our U8 squad was under the tuition of Nigel Hurrell and consisted of: Tom, Luke, Alex, Toby, Liam, Sam and Olly. Pictured below:

The lads performed consistently well all day with some excellent team play and pieces of individual brilliance. They also showed excellent 1v1 defending all over the pitch to cover big areas on much bigger pitches than what they are used to, and to the disappointment of the opposition if they did manage to beat our defence they had the superb young Tom diving at their feet. Considering he was two years younger than some of the opposition, it was a real credit to his bravery and goalkeeping techniques.

Although our main priority is to put practices from training into games for these boys they went the whole day undefeated, which also showed great character and mental strength with no substitutes and the heat reaching 29 degrees. They received several compliments from the Dutch neutrals for the way they tried to play with such a young side.

Tom Pell was the coach of our U9 side and this squad was made up from Lee, Michael, James, Will, Callum, Cameron and Roman.

Although the boys weren't told, they were entered into the U10 competition and this was an excellent physical and technical test for the young lads.

They started the day really well with some superb team play early on and this was also matched by some very accomplished defending, especially from Roman and Lee, but as the day went on the boys found it a little more difficult to maintain the tempo of their play due to the heat. Because of this, they didn't quite get the results that they wanted due to being slightly physically overpowered, but lots of things were learned such as ball protection, angles to receive and awareness of others that are very important when playing against bigger opposition.

The boys responded really well and the last couple of games were thrilling encounters. More pleasing to see was the way the boys reacted and learned from information that was passed on and, like all good footballers, put it onto the pitch. It was topped off with a fantastic header from Michael and the game after that was topped off with a great individual strike from James.

The U10 side were under the tutelage of Matt Wilsher and the players were Jacob, Graydon, Ryan, Thomas, Cameron, Jake and Patrick. (picture below)

This side were the most individualistic of all of our sides and were showing the technical skills that the Dutch are famous for.

For all of their good play this squad had a mixture of wins, draws and defeats, all close affairs that could have gone either way. With the team not having a recognised goalkeeper the boys rotated round and this seemed to suit the way they were playing, as they were able to play through the goalkeeper from the back. Without claiming it was 'total football', at times it was very pleasing on the eye.

Again as the day went on they found it a bit more difficult than others to maintain their consistency of high performances but showed great individual moments that made people take note. This was an excellent learning environment for the boys, with Matt speaking with the boys about how their individual talent can be more difficult to defend against with a little more variation to their play. So there were many pleasing things to see the boys perform at a high level.

The U12 side were taken by Jimmy Unwin and the boys were Eric, Aaron, Jack, Scott, Jordan Elkanah, Alex, Chris, Hayden, Sammy, Danny and Tom.

Jimmy's squad were our only side playing 11v11 and it was a good test for the boys who performed well and got the results that they deserved in the main. The boys played a couple of formations to try to further their knowledge of 11-a-side football, and the way they took on that information and put it into practice was very pleasing.

Although the boys didn't start the tournament with the results that they had wanted, they played some good passing football in difficult conditions and you could see it was only a matter of time until they got their rewards if they continued to do the right things.

After the first two games the boys finished their last three games of the day with three wins. This was not only pleasing for the lads, because they all want to win, but for Jimmy it was the speed that they were able to learn from information given and put it into the games.

With the older players that we have in this age group we can start to give them more detailed specifics of what we would like them to try, and their response was fantastic. The boys looked organised at the back and played neatly through midfield to then exploit the pace we had higher up the pitch and in wide areas.

Some of the goals that the lads scored were a mixed bag of good strikers' goals and excellent team goals and it was really pleasing to have such a good end product to top off their good play. This was extra pleasing for all staff as we had four U11 players in the starting line up of every game playing against U12's and U13's.

After a long, hot and enjoyable day we then set off back to our accommodation to cool off in the pool and everyone seemed to settle down and relax ready for Sunday.

Due to the tournament finishing at lunchtime on Sunday we had an early start to be back at the home of Hekelingen at 8am.

Our U8 squad found it difficult to resume as they finished the previous day. After a couple of narrow defeats there were a few disappointed faces as the boys lost in the semi final, but the bigger picture was that it was a fantastic learning curve for the boys. It is imperative for them to develop the way we want, and among the good play and winning performances there were lots of things that they can take away from the tournament to try to take the next step within their own footballing ladder.

The U9 squad had a game cancelled due to their opposition breaking down on their way to the ground so they played against our own U10 squad in the 7th and 8th place play off game, and the single goal from Lee was a well taken strike into the top corner in front of the main stand. Again, for this age group to be not only competing but playing some excellent football and showing individual skill in an age group above is testament to their hard work throughout the season and credit to Jimmy Unwin who takes the boys on a weekly basis.

The U10 squad had a mixture of results and the main learning of their game was the consistency of their performances. This is something that they seemed to take on board well and will need to next season as they all get older and the opposition become a little stronger and quicker. This is why we try to have a 'never satisfied' frame of mind with all of our young players. They not only performed well but set their standards very high, which now have to not only be maintained, but bettered.

The U12's were again undefeated throughout the day in the group stages, but due to goal difference just missed out on the semi finals. But more importantly the boys maintained their high standards and played with silky but competitive edge. Due to the European age banding being January-December as opposed to the English school year, the majority of our squad were playing a year up and to perform so consistently was a credit to the boys.

The boys at the end were treated like their Premiership idols with lots of supporters wanting to gets lots of snaps of them and they seemed to love the attention! And why not!

As the boys had a long day on Saturday and not loads of time at Centerparcs, they and the parents seemed delighted yo relax in the sunshine for the afternoon and evening back at our superb accommodation. Lots of them got beaten down the 'rapids' in the swimming pool by the coaching staff, but never the less enjoyed themselves!

Monday was a very relaxed morning before departing for Cambridge at 1pm.

The parents deserve a special mention for the way they conducted themselves at the tournament and were a credit to the club. As I'm sure they would all agree, the boys were superb all weekend, getting the correct balance of knowing when to concentrate and perform and when to be on holiday and have as much fun as possible, as you can see above.

Well done boys, and can't wait for next year!

Tom Pell
Football Development Officer
Cambridge United Youth Development

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