Today started out with an early morning training session. I got up after some prodding by my dad. I got dressed to go, grabbed a bite to eat, and walked to the fields. Our practice session lasted about 90 minutes. We started out with a cute game one of the younger boys wanted to play called Bedo Bedo (my spelling may be off). Once everyone understood what was going on, we all had a lot of fun with it. After the game we warmed up a bit and broke into four teams. We spent the rest of training doing small sided stuff. We were practicing at Manchester University fields. While I was at practice, my dad was nice enough to do a few loads of laundry for me at the nearest laundromat.
After practice and a quick shower, we headed to my dad's most anticipated destination -- Old Trafford Stadium. For those that aren't soccer fans, that is the home to the world's largest soccer club, Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, and current player Wayne Rooney are some of their most notables. Old Trafford opened in 1910 and holds almost 76,000 for a game.
We got to go on a tour; we started in the museum. We wandered from room to room seeing trophies and literal history around all of us. There were also jerseys, stats, old newspapers, and much more spanning over a century's worth of soccer.
My dad and I are big Wayne Rooney fans. He is just awesome with the ball. He only needs a few goals this upcoming season to be the all-time leading scorer in Manchester United history.
Here we are standing near the actual pitch. The tour guide explained that the field behind us is brand new. The old field had been gutted and pulled away to make way for new grass. It was hard being so close to such a beautiful field on not being able to go stand on it.
We visited both the home and away locker rooms. Here I am with Jessie, Nikki, Matt (he's a coach), and Sammie posing in the home team's locker rooms.
The visitor's locker room had jerseys and pictures up of some of the most famous players to dress in there. Abby Wambach and the US women's team played one of their Olympic games here.
After the tour, we took some group shots. The left picture is every player that goes to Crown Point. From top to bottom, left to right we have Sammie, Maddie, Nick, Me, Abby, Sela, Emmie, Libby, and Emily. On the right it's all the same girls we just had Nick step out so we could get a Crown Point Girls Soccer picture.
Here is a picture of all the players on the trip in front of the Manchester United Stadium.
After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. We went back to the same fields as this morning to watch the boys play their game. Then both girls teams kicked off at the same time. Our opponents today were again really good; their ages ranged from 17-26 -- more of a women's team than the girls teams we are used to. We held our own for the first half but not so much the second half. We had two girls help us out; they were both really nice and talented. They are both heading to the US to play college -- one in Virginia and the other Mississippi. They stayed after the game to chat with us, and we all exchanged social media information to keep in touch. They are excited to head to the US.
Here I am taking a corner during the second half of the game; we almost scored off of it!
Finally, I wanted to make an announcement -
Well, not really, but I hope to have some sort of signing sometime during my senior year. I've applied to a few different colleges that I hope to continue my career after high school. I know I have to put some time into that process, but after this summer and coming on this trip, all I can think of is playing my senior year and having a great time.
More tomorrow,
Delaney
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