Villareal Trip
On the 23rd of October a coach bound for Liverpool Airport left Ribblesdale School, carrying 45 pupils on a long awaited journey to Villarreal. The trip had taken almost 2 years of fund raising and saving, but after plenty of hard work from staff and pupils the coach was on its way.
The following account was given by Dominic Harper and Bradley Holgate of year 10:
Friday morning was an early start and we had to meet at school for 3.00am, but it did not matter as we were all excited. We arrived at john Lennon airport Liverpool at 4:30am and checked in. As we reached the departure lounge we were given some time to get our breakfast and then we were ready for the 2 hour flight to Barcelona.
We landed at Barcelona at 10.30am, Spanish time, then we had a long three hour drive to Hotel Orange situated in Villarreal. As we arrived at the hotel we all went up to our rooms to unpack to get ready for lunch and the afternoon training session. We arrived at Villarreal training ground and met all the coaches, who were very nice and helpful. They put us through a first hard day training session, where we learned new training drills, and practised on our skills. In the evening we were allowed free time to use the hotels training facilities.
The second day we woke up and went down for breakfast and continued our training sessions on the grass pitch, just down the road. We finished off the session with a small football tournament and went back to the rooms for some free time in the Swimming pool. Later that night, we went bowling and enjoyed the Arcades in the town centre, Where Bradley managed to walk out the complex with his bowling shoes still on his feet.
On the third day the weather was great, so we ventured down to the beach and stayed sun bathing and playing in the sea for a couple of hours. We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our Evening training session at the Villarreal Training ground, where once again the coaches put us through our paces; it was still really hot so lots of water was provided.
The forth day was what everyone had been waiting for, a training session on the beach, then we were playing competitive matches against a couple of local sides that where feeder clubs for Villarreal FC. Everyone had trained hard and was looking forward to the matches. We split up into year groups so the matches would be fair. The year 9′s had a great result and won 5-0. The year 10s put in a performance to be proud of with many players carrying injuries and lost 1-0. The year 11 team had tough opposition and were playing the Villarreal under 16s team, but they performed excellently and with lots of effort and determination, but could only manage a 5-0 defeat.
On the fifth and final day we had to be up and ready by 10.30 as we needed to be on our way for the Villarreal stadium tour, and to buy some souvenirs from the club shop, to take back to England. On the way back we went to the Villarreal training ground for our last training session and a rewards ceremony for how well we had done. Then we prepared our self for a long journey home, With Mr Peels favourite DVD, Remember the Titans, and headed back to England.
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