Still cant sleep so here are more pics

Cant sleep post

Well we got home safely tonight. Problem is the 9 hr time difference. So I am awake and I know today will be hectic, so I figured I would do a couple summary posts. I do not see any negatives that came out of this trip. Even the little bits of home sickness we had are a positive. These girls grew in som many ways from this journey. Everything from navigating the Metro sysytem of a big city to being forced to spend an unusual amount of time together with a teammate to trying new food and new languages as well. A few of the parents said they were shocked how well the entire experience all transpired. The girls handled everything so maturely and I really enjoyed watching them handle the things inside as well as outside of the sport of it all. I think the trip there knocked some of the girls back quit a bit and some fought exhaustion and some fought sickness. But that first monday morning training session, I saw most of the girls getting back to their usual self. We toured some that day and then took the bus ride to our first match. Club Europa was a physical and fast team. They were a couple years older and a combination of their best 2 teams according to their coach. The reason we played all older teams is because girls our kids age are still playing football 7's (7v7). I have never seen organized pressure like that from any AZ, let alone a CalSouth team for that matter. They were organized and skillful. We assisted them on a handful of goals. Jordi changed up our possesions on defense that morning and we did our best to work it out in the match. Jordi expressed how impressed he was that we implemented it that quickly and we stuck with it, even in the face of opposition. I walked away from that match with nothing but positive feelings. We can't find talent and teams like that to play in the states. It was real football. Tuesday was even better from settling in to the time difference. We trained that morning and had a good offensive session with Jordi. After that we changed and toured the Museum and Camp Nou. This was apparently Savannah's highlight of the trip. This took awhile and then back on the bus back up to Valvidrerra, in the hills overlooking Barcelona. This field is nice turf but is comparable to Westside complex for field size. Espanyol is the other major club from Barcelona. Their men are in 5th place in La Liga. Their Futbol Feminino program is one of the best in Spain, so we were anxious to play them. Come to find out from some of the parents they are having some issues, and this team is close to falling apart. This allegedgly is why they no showed us at Valvidrerra. It was ok though, We made lemonade out of the situation. They also had goals set up for futbol 7's so we played ourselves for an hour. We had been learning as coaches the transitions from 7's to 11's and how they compliment each other, so I set them up and let them play. They loved it! They played so hard and were so skillful. They used all their energy and hopped on the bus to head to the Champions League game. The atmosphere was electric just driving up to Camp Nou. The girls were singing barca songs the whole way. They enjoyed the match and chanted along with the crowd the whole time. It was cool for them to see 6 goals scored. After the match we hung out at the stadium and took pics. As we left the girls all had their arms around each other and were skipping down the ramps singing "Cant del Barca". People were recording them and taking pictures, they were a sight. After that we took a quick pic in front of our barca crest on the camp nou exterior. Wednesday was similar with training and sightseeing. This day was different because we knew we played Barca's girls that night. When we arrived at CD Almeda's complex there were boys teams training everywhere. We just watched and took it in for the first 30 minutes. Facility was top notch and a full size pitch. I don't think we have ever played on a pitch this big before. They gave us our locker rooms to change into prior to the match and while the girls were changing, they began to wet down the fields and pump in some American hip hop music. It is a tradition in Spain to wet the fields before and at half time of the matches to keep the fields slick and the ball moving quicky. Taylor and a couple girls were so pumped by the evironment they asked if I could request them to leave the music playing. They Barca girls came and got us prior to gametime and took pictures with us and exchanged banners and we all clapped for the supporters. They scored in 50 seconds on us as they picked off a pass in our backfield. The girls settled after this and held them scoreless for a half hour. We played 45 min halves since we didn't want the experience to end. 90 minutes on a full size pitch and our girls were awesome. I have never walked away from a game with such pride of this team. These girls were doing things with the ball that we dont see 16-17 year old boys do in the States. We applauded some of their goals. We just really enjoyed every moment of the experience. That match was by far the highlight of my trip. Everything seemed to come together in that game and I saw girls do things they didn't think they could do and it was inspiring to see what the Barca girls are capable of as well. Anyway, I'll give you another blog tomorrow with the remainder of the trip. Thanks again for the sacrifices from the parents to make this trip for our girls possible. I thank each and everyone of you.

Friday and Saturday

Sorry I missed yesterday. Last two days were spent watching professional Futbol and being a tourist. From a Futbol perspective we were able to watch 2 professional matches and see what we have learned over the past week and apply it to what we have been working on for the past years and see it executed to perfection. The beauty of the Barca system from the Escola to the Academy and all the way to the first team, it all is the same. It was refreshing to see the girls coach we played against, to Luis Enrique (Barca B's coach) to Pep Guardiola correct and encourage the same shapes and movements. It has been an amazing experience and I am curious to see the girls application of all this information they have been exposed to. They are a great group of young ladies and I am lucky to get to work with this group and am blessed for my daughter to count them as friends.

Amazing day

So we started off the day on our way over to the Ciutat Esportiva where a majority of the Barca teams train. I begged the directors to see if the girls could go, but without any luck. They told us we might be able to catch 10 minutes or so of the first teams training since it was to be light since they won last night. Then the rest of our time was to be spent observing the Barca B team. Well ended up we were able to stay with the first teams training the entire time. Got to meet a lot of the first teams players , but my highlight was a picture with Pep Guardiola (Barca's coach). After that FCB announced a ceremony for us with some big whigs in the organization. It was very nice and they took pics with the girls and gave them some trinkets. Later today we headed to a cool facility, somewhat central in town. We showed up and we had locker rooms and they water the pitch before every match in Spain. They had music playing over the speakers and that pumped the girls up and they were ready to play. Tristen scored our first goal in Spain and it was a Golazo! She scored from outside the 18. The girls all freaked. They were really excited. These Barca girls had skills that I have never seen American girls with. Their skills and touch are comprable if not better the average Div 1 womens soccer player in America. They played the system with such precision and touch. We knew where they were going to play but still couldn't stop them. They are a pinnacle for us to strive for. In the locker room after the game, i told the girls I have NEVER been more proud of them. I will forever be etched in my brain what our girls did tonight.

Wednesday

Had a great breakfast as usual. From there we went and trained at the field in the shadow of Camp Nou til lunch time. We then went to Sagrada Familia and took the tour inside and rode the Metro both ways. Taylor was getting pick pocketed and slapped the lady's hand that was doing it. Pretty funny. Then went back up to the fields for our friendly and got stood up! Apparently Espanyol was afraid. We ended up playing our selves on the 7v7 pitch and the girls had an amazing work out. Jordi stayed with them and watched and spoke with them afterwards. The highlight of their night was definitely the Champions Leaue game. They were chanting, singing, cheering and doing the wave. The score was 5-1 Barca. The girls sat in the seats tile they kicked us out. Then ran down the ramps together singing "Cant del Barca". People were video taping them and taking their pictures. They were a sight. It was so awesome to watch the experience through their eyes. It was truly an amazing day, we could leave tomorrow and they would be totally happy. The great thing now is they get to play "FCBarcelona girls" tomorrow. They are pumped for that game. I'll let you know how it goes.

CIAO

Final blog of tuesday

We woke up and had breakfast and had an amazing training session. Jordi Vinyals (ex-barca player and coach ) ran the session along with Arnau, Javi and Miguel. Jordi spoke with the girls about the match and gave them some pointers and a ton of compliments. He said despite the result he was very impressed. From there we had lunch and went on the Camp Nou tour and Museum tour. We went after that to have Crepes at a place Reggae Max reommended. There were good. Couldn't help but repeating "crepe" lines from Ricky Bobby the whole time. We play Espanyol (1st place in 1st division) tomorrow after training, we will also hit the inside Sagrada Familia tour and finish with a Champions League game of Barca-vs-Shakhtar (Ukraine).

First post of tuesday

We just had breakfast and are heading to training now. After that we are going on the stadium and museum tour and then train again tonight. Pic will come soon.

First post for the trip

So we had a wicked long flight. The girls used half the memory sticks on their cameras just on the flight. We went straight to the training facilities and watched the Barca girls and boys play other local clubs. From there we went back and checked into the hotel. After that we went to a Futbol Sala (Futsal) game and people were falling asleep at the game. Barca won 4-2. This morning we had training for a few hours with our trainers. Then we went on a Barcelona city tour and saw Las Ramblas, MontJuic, Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. From there we drove back into the hills and played a friendly against Club Europa. Dang!!! those girls can pressure. We played the new changes the Barca trainers worked with us on and the girls did great. The team we played was made up of 94, 95 and 96 players. I have never seen girls in AZ, or in SoCal for that matter do some of the things these girls did with the ball. It was an experience. After the match the girls exchanged their pictures with the Club Europa girls and started awkwardly talking that turned into hugs and giggles. It was the coolest thing I have experienced. They started talking about facebook and everything. Tomorrow we train again in the morning and then a Camp Nou stadium and museum tour. I will post pictures soon. Savannah unfortunately lost our camera, so I will be stealing others photos as soon as possible.

Almost time to leave

On the heels of my U-14 girls winning the Presidents cup this past weekend, our girls have been preparing mentally and physically for the trip across the pond. We will be at the airport at 6:00 on saturday morning and arrive in Barcelona at 9:00 on Sunday morning. We will be swept away for a day at the ciutat esportiva and finish the first night taking in a Barca Futsal game.

Another Adventure

We are 23 days awat from our next excursion to Barcelona. All the details are finalized and we will be traveling with our '97 girls team. Stay tuned for the excitement.