Coach Quen is with a group of 93s and 94s in Denmark and Sweden for a 12-day tour. The weekend will be spent training, scrimmaging, and sightseeing in Denmark. Sunday, the team will head to Sweden to participate in the Gothia Cup, the largest international youth soccer tournament in the world.
The following is a journal from Mark Smith, a 93 dad enjoying the trip with his daughter.
We got on the plane for an on-time departure to Newark and were in the process of stuffing overhead bins with soccer bags when we heard the dreaded announcement. There is an air traffic control delay (ATC for you acronym buffs) in the New York area due to storms. They are telling us we will depart at 11:10 am which will still get us in with plenty of time to make our connection.
Last I looked, the girls were sitting in a big circle on the floor making bead bracelets and necklaces.
We are really on our way now. We arrived around 3:25 pm at gate C95. We looked across the concourse and found our departure gate C94 at 5:26 pm. No mad dashes through the airport today. Most of the girls grabbed a bite to eat. The majority have chosen a healthy meal choice of cheese bread (aka pizzza!) The activity of choice at the moment appears to be coloring in coloring books.
They just made the first boarding announcement, so it looks like we'll be gone in a few more minutes.
We officially arrived in Denmark at 7:32 am, local time. It took us a while to clear immigration- there is a lot of construction going on it seemed we snaked around in temporary single file corridors forever. They only had 2 immigration officers working the entire airport at the end of the line! Needless to say, we didn't have to wait on luggage when we finally made it to the baggage claim area. I think we finally made outside around 9:00 am.
Sven Erikson met us and herded us quickly to our own personal bus. We went downtown because our rooms at the hotel weren't quite ready. He suggested we take a harbor / canal cruise which was a great suggestion. I saw a few dads nodding off with the rocking motion of the boat and the cool breezes, but the girls definitely giggled the entire tour.
After the boat tour, Sven took us to the royal palace grounds where the girls could get within 6 ft of the palace guards for pictures. We then got on the bus and Sven called ahead to have cheese bread (pizza) waiting for us at the Farum Park hotel when we arrived 30 minutes later. We ate and the girls are relaxing before they train from 3:30 until 5:00. We have a BBQ dinner at 6:00 followed by a team meeting.
You have probably already figured this out, but we are 7 hours ahead of Dallas time.
My daughter and my European stepdaughter (Kristen) slept well, but we all kind of woke up around 4:00 am. I think our bodies were telling us it was time to get up. That is my story anyway but by coincidence it is about the time my daughter hit me with a pillow and said I was snoring!
The girls met at 7:30 am this morning for breakfast and are training with the FCN coach now. This coach is the coach of the FCN Reserve team, so he is the real deal. It is the equivalent of having the coach of a AAA baseball team running a practice with your son. He is the guy who evaluates talent and recommends players for the professional team
After the practice this morning, the girls will shower and we will head back into Copenhagen for some more sightseeing and shopping. We will get back on the bus around 4:15 pm and head for a small local town to play their girl's team. I don't know the name of the town and couldn't spell it if I did, but when Sven told us the town name, I initially thought he was clearing his throat! The club has its own clubhouse with locker rooms and dining facility. They are catering in dinner, so after the scrimmage, the girls will eat with the team. Sounds like fun.
Spirit was victorious in its first scrimmage today, beating the Ringsted local club 1-0. OK, I know what you are thinking. How is Ringsted hard to say and spell? I have thought about that myself and come to 2 conclusions. Either Sven really was clearing his throat or the name of the town where we are going Saturday is a real humdinger. I'll let you know.
Ringsted is a beautiful town of 30,000. The girls have their own club house with full kitchen facilities and even a washer and dryer. I've attached a picture of the club logo. Note the name- "Damefodbold" which translates to "girls football club". I would not have thought the word "dame" was very politically correct in this day and time, but the Danes are very happy people (just ask them, they will tell you), so if they are happy with the name, so are we!
The girls were clearly very nervous and perhaps even a bit intimidated at the beginning of the match. The home team had several shots early and we had a lot of great passes....to the wrong team early. But the girls hung in there and their confidence began to grow. It was 0-0 at halftime. Quen changed things up with combinations of players and formations and the girls came together. Meagan got the winning goal on a driving shot the goalie touched, but could not stop. I got drafted to be a club linesman, so my picture taking was left to others (more on my role later).
By the end of the match, Spirit was pretty much on the attack and we had a few more good opportunities. The other girls also had some good opportunities, but their's tended to sail over the crossbar a lot. We've all been there and done that- right?
After the game, the reception from the local girls and parents was a bit chilly. We later learned why- they obviously remembered the missed shots, but this team had not been beaten in a year! Moreover, this team was comprised of 91's, 92's, and 93's. I don't think they anticipated being beaten by a largely 94 team from Texas.
But the Danes are very nice people and when it came time for dinner, any hard feelings were gone. They grilled pork loin and sausage for us and had potluck side dishes and salads. The girls quickly got to giggling, then laughing, and then laughing LOUDLY! They even started showing each other dance moves to the iPod provided music. Talk about a priceless experience- this is what it is all about. This is why you sacrified your time and money to send your daughters here. MySpace and Facebook contact info was exchanged
As for my club linesman role, I anticipated being told to run with the last defender or the ball, but not actually call the offside. This is what I would have done in the U.S. had I been the center referee. It is done differently in Denmark. I was instructed to stand at the midpoint and simply raise my flag when the ball was out of touch. Now the referee was a bit advanced in age and as he admitted, he enjoys his beer (pointing to his belly). He could have used the help, but I followed directions. As one parent who will remain nameless observed, by telling me that I didn't have to run, then he didn't feel obligated to run either! Actually the guy was very nice- he is 66 years old, was on holiday with his family at the beach, and drove 1.5 hours one way for the priviledge of doing a game with a U.S. team. I do like one referee tradition in Denmark- in addition to their check, they are given one free beer for every game worked! Let's send that suggestion in to Lake Highlands and see what they think!
I hope you don't mind my commenting on things non-soccer along the way. We observed a woman walking around with what looked like a propane tank and a mini flamethrower (see picture) We watched and finally figured out that she was burning weeds away! I guess Denmark is a very environmentally friendly country that limits what chemicals are put into the ground, but can you imagine such a practice in Texas, say Plano during water rationing? She would burn down the city in no time!
We had a great day today. It started with girls having breakfast at 7:00 am, followed by some light stretching at 8:00 am.....in the rain. Quen kept them a little longer than planned, so some very wet, "aromic" girls hit the rooms with only 20 minutes to shower and dress before we caught the bus to tour Frederiksborg Castle. They pulled it off, but I can't say they were happy campers for a while.
The castle and adjacent grounds were unbelievable. I'm sure you will get many pictures. After the castle tour, we ate hotel prepared sandwiches on the bus. Well, truth be told, the adults at the sandwiches and the girls ate the bread or the meat, but not both! We swung down to a ferry port to pick up the Stattena IF team from Sweden and proceeded to Lyngby. It is not pronounced anywhere near how it looks. To do it right requires a very guttural "yu" sound from the back of the throat. Remember my thinking Sven was clearing his throat? I rest my case. The girls immediately hit it off through the magic of iPod tune selections. I think I heard several choruses of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" from the back (rolling my eyes). Once again, your daughters are to be commended for how easily they meet new friends and share common teenage girl experiences. Priceless to watch.
The girls played 3 back to back games with 20 minute halves and 15 minutes between games. Spirit won the first game against Lyngby IF (Denmark) 11-0. To be fair, the home team was comprised of 12 and 13 year olds. One of the dads I talked to later referred to Spirit as the "USA Dream Team." The first half was played in pouring down rain. Meagan was sick today, so there wasn't much time spend on the bench when substituted. Remember the partially eaten sandwiches? Well our girls were "starving" in the first games. The parents made a grocery store run during the first half and showed up with fruit, pretzels, and mini Snickers bars for the girls to eat. I watched my daughter get subbed out and ask for something to eat. She took a bite out of a Snicker's bar, but before she could finish it, Quen told her to get ready. She set it on the wrapper by the bench for later. Quen put her back in the game to give Hannah a break. Hannah saw the half eaten Snickers bar, and wolfed it down, no questions asked. Very funny to watch! I guess when you are hungry, who ate the first half of the Snickers is not important as long as it was found on your bench, freshly opened!
Spirit beat their new found friends from Stattena IF 5-1 in the second game. I am not exaggerating when I say the girls got stronger and stronger with each game they played. They also got plenty tired, because Maddie sat out nursing a sore groin, so we had zero subs for most of the 2nd game and most of the 3rd. I was once again standing at midfield doing my flag waving thing for these games, so I can't tell you who made the goals. Hint hint-- this is a wonderful ice breaker for you to talk about with your daughters upon their return.
Spirit beat the Greensboro Twisters 2-0 in the final game. Our girls were beat, but they never let up. They finished the 2nd half like the started the tournament- in pouring rain.
Afterwards we gathered in the Lyngby IF professional team's VIP stadium club for a potluck dinner prepared by the parents from Lyngby. The Greensboro players and parents also ate with us, but the Swedish team had to go home.
One small funny cultural clash, but don't worry- it won't hit the newspapers and Spirit wasn't involved. The girls from Greensboro made it to the girl's locker room before Spirit and Stattena girls could and locked the door behind them. I guess the girls from North Carolina are a bit on the modest side. When the coach from Sweden heard about it, he rallied the Spirit and Swedish girls and said, "Let's storm the castle!" He got the door open and the Swedes quickly stripped down and stepped into the showers with the North Carolina girls, the Swedes being much more comfortable with their nudity and others. There was a huge scream from the North Carolina girls who promptly vacated the showers and locker rooms. Perhaps it was good the Swedes didn't stay for dinner.
The Lyngby parents brought a wonderful potluck dinner of traditional Danish food. There was fried fish on dark bread, pate, herring, meatballs and other delicacies. They also had big pans of the universally popular lasagna for the less adventuresome palets (i.e. most of the USA girls). They also served a huge dessert spread of fresh strawberries and other fruits, brownies, apple cake....well you get the idea. What a great opportunity. At the conclusion of the meal, Spirit was given a real trophy for winning all 3 games.
One other observation to share. Sven told us that 90% of the Danish population is Lutherin, 5% Catholic, and 5% other. He said the Danes love their churches and take good care of them, but may not attend as many "church ceremonies" as in the USA. Translation: they love their churches and take good care of them, they just don't attend them!
Next update will be from Sweden.
We arrived at our hotel at 2:30 pm and our rooms were immediately available. The girls are meeting at 3:15 pm to check in for the Gothia Cup
After checking in for the tournament, Quen took the girls to one of the turf fields in the heart of Heden Center for a light practice. They were on one end of half the field and a boys team was on the other. The boy's team coach approached Quen and said his boys were 12 and 13 and were from Belgium. He said his guys didn't think girls could play good futbol. The coach wanted to know if Quen wanted to scrimmage.
For some strange reason, they ended up with the entire field for the scrimmage. The girls started putting together incredible strings of passes and scored within the first 2 or 3 minutes. The teams played for about 20 minutes and the final score was 5-1 Spirit.
The parents and coaches of the boys teams were thrilled. The two teams joined in the middle for a group picture and the coach told his guys to give our girls a hug. Our girls were having a blast, but the guys were clearly uncomfortable.
I was talking to the coach when one of the kids said something to him. I asked what the kid said, and he translated, "Oh dad, why did you have to embarrass us by making us hug them?" I busted out laughing. I told him that two years from now, none of the boys would need any encouragement when it came to hugging girls. He busted out laughing and agreed.
Attached is an email that was waiting for me when we got back to the room.
To Marc Smith
To Quinn Willis
Hi, this was great fun! We're on our way back to dormatoty and diner. and all boys are talking about nothing else than the math they played - and the girls of course. They want to see and cheer them for the next (real) match!
Of all games, they'll probably remember this one best.
Maybe in 2 years time you come again to goteborg.
Meanwhile, foto's will be downloaded by Yves to our website in one or two hours.
Thanks Texas US for the fun,
Kind regars,
Willem Hoefnagels
