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Posted on: 21/03/2018

Experiencing world class training on the Manchester City football trip

Members of the school's football team heading up to Manchester for a weekend of specialist training within the Manchester City football grounds as well as putting their new skills to the test with fixtures against local teams. 

Dylan R in W4 tells us about the trip.... 

 

We began with an early start, setting off at about 6:45AM. After loading our bags onto the coach we met our driver, Denis. After a long 4-hour journey, we arrived at the Etihad Campus, where we were greeted by our coaches: Chris and Ben. We entered the youth stadium changing rooms, which contained a full city kit for all of us. After changing, we were led onto the 3G pitches to train.


The quality of the training was world class, with each of us getting to show off our skills on the ball. The coaches always advised us on how to get better, and how to play like the city first team. Our training was always compared to the work of players like Aguero, Silva and Kompany, which was really inspiring.

I think that a really good aspect of the training was the way that we were on the ball 90% of the time, so we could constantly work at our weaknesses and improve. We had the opportunity to use the professional equipment also. 


After this, we were taken over the bridge to the Etihad stadium for our tour.

The guide was especially disappointed with the number of United fans in our group.

We were taken into every corner of the stadium, seeing all of the features, like the pitch, changing rooms and the tunnel. The guide even gave us a simulated round of applause as we walked out of the tunnel to allow us to experience the thrill that the players do every week as they enter the pitch.

Manchester City changing rooms

One of the features which surprised us was the way that the away changing room had limited luxuries in comparison with the home changing. This was one of city’s tactics to leave the away team with a psychological disadvantage before the game starts. The city changing room even had its own hydro-spa for the players post-match, and a full gym. Later in the tour we also saw the press conference area, where we interrogated the teachers as if we were reporters. Finally, we looked around the city shop to see all of the (severely overpriced) merchandise.

Manchester City


We then had an early dinner at the Hotel, before we travelled to our fixtures.

The A team won 3-2, and unfortunately the B team lost 6-1, although it was a good opportunity for us to play together for only the second game. Despite the loss, we had many positives to take away, especially the well-worked goal, and also lots of thoughts about how we could improve for our next match. The A team was disappointed also, because they felt that they should have won 5-2; two goals were disallowed. Nonetheless, they played exceptionally well to come away with a win against a very skilful opposition.

On Saturday, it was an early start again with a 7:30 wake-up. We were provided with a full English breakfast at the hotel to provide us with the energy to get through another action-packed day.

At the city campus, the great British weather greeted us with strong winds, heavy snow and -2 degree temperatures. Nevertheless, we battled through and had a great training session, where our control and awareness had visibly improved since Friday. We knew that we had improved because the drills done were very similar to those on Friday, and we were completing them with confidence and style. After the drills, we implemented all of the skills we had developed in a match.

We then travelled to the Bet365 stadium to watch Stoke vs Everton. Our school got the opportunity to be flag bearers, where some were better than others. Nathan somehow managed to drop his flag onto the pitch and was aimlessly waving the flagpole around while he waited for somebody to retrieve the flag fabric.

Our seats were excellent (unlike the weather) and we could get up close to the action.

The match started well; it was end to end, but the atmosphere died after Adams was sent off, subsequent to a horrible tackle on Rooney. The game ended with a thrilling finish to make it 2-1 to Everton. We were entertained especially by a “passionate” Stoke fan behind us with some amusing chants. Although the match was not the most skilful, we still saw some iconic players like Rooney, Shaqiri, Walcott and of course Peter Crouch, and it was great simply to be at a premier league match.

Manchester trip Rooney

Rather than going bowling in the evening, we opted to be bored by United’s backs-to-the-wall performance against Brighton, which was underwhelming to say the least considering we were just taught to play real football at city.


Sunday started with a massive surprise: the Argentine national team was training at city that day in preparation for Argentina vs Italy at the Etihad on the forthcoming Friday. Hence, we were in the same building as some of the best players in the world (although we did not see any). Also, due to the heavy snow we got the opportunity to train indoors, in the first team facility.

This training session was focused on implementing all we learnt over the three days in game situations. One key idea that was emphasised throughout was how wingers should stay out wide and make lots of runs to make space for a pass, or to make space for another player to drive into. This role was compared to that of Sterling and Sane in the first team.


At the end of the session we were even able to see Shanghai FC who were training at city that day. City provided us with lunch in the academy building, before we headed into Manchester City Centre. On behalf of the whole squad, I just want to say how grateful we are to Chris and Ben for being such amazing and inspiring coaches throughout the tour. The sessions were very informative and I am sure that every player on the trip built on their weaknesses while at City.
 

In the city centre we visited the National Football museum, which was the last stop on the trip. We saw lots of interactive exhibits, which taught us about the history of the game. One of the most popular was a log of all of the teams’ league finishes for the last century. It was fascinating to see how the top teams today progressed since then. Other exhibits involved us actually being on the ball, for example scoring penalties. This made the experience engaging and competitive, which was great.
 

After this it was time to head back to Burnham. We boarded the coach for the last time and bid farewell to Manchester. 

I’m sure that everybody on the trip would agree that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and that we are very thankful to Mr Lawson, Mr Fawcett, Mr John and Kyle for organising the visit. Also, without the coaches at City as well as Denis (our bus driver), the trip would never have happened, so we are grateful to them as well for making the trip happen. The memories obtained on this visit will last for a long time, and I am sure we will have many opportunities to brag about how we got the chance to train at Manchester City’s first team facility.

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