Just before the May half term break the PE staff took a group of 48 young footballers to Villarreal, Spain for a 6 day football tour, facilitated by Inspire Sports. This was our first sports tour since 2018, so there was lots of excitement about what was to come. The trip did not disappoint, with amazing 25-26 degrees weather and wall to wall sunshine each day, a great hotel with buffet food and large swimming pool, and nearby beach facilities in the town of Benacasim. On our first full day we were transported to the Villarreal training facilities, where every team trains from the academy through to the 1st team. In fact, as we finished our training with the academy coaches, the first team were beginning their training, which got the students buzzing. We also got to watch the reserve teams train on the pitch next to ours. The 2 days of training at the academy were great, with coaches Paco/ Rafa and Carlos very complimentary of the work rate and ability of our players.
This then set us up nicely for our matches against local Spanish opposition, which were one of the tour highlights for many, including the staff. The only defeat came against a squad of 16-18 year olds who were part of a football scholarship programme at an international school, and there was no shame at all in this defeat. Results of matches are below:
U14 boys:
Won 4-0 vs CF Alcora
Won 6-0 vs Oropesa
U15 boys:
Won 3-1 vs CF Alcora
Lost 0-4 vs IDA Valencia
Girls:
Won 12-4 vs Benetusser Girls
Won 3-0 vs Burriana Girls
Another highlight of the trip was a tour of the Estadio Ceramica (home of Villarreal) along with attending the carnival atmosphere of their final La Liga home match vs Sevilla, which Villarreal won 4-2. As if this wasn't enough, we also went 10 pin bowling, and stopped off at the waterpark in Salou before flying home form Barcelona airport. A truly awesome trip and one which will live long in the memories of the staff and students who took part. I'm sure we will be back one day.
