23 July 2011

Last day in Europe.

Well, it has finally arrived, our  last day, and guess what, it is raining.  Oh well, we pack our  bags after breakfast and move all bags into a luggage  room as we don't leave  until midnight but hotel  is booked solid.  Around noon, we walk towards the  harbor and take a 30 minute boat ride to an old Swedish Fortress with a lot of history and meaning. We spend 2 hours there and have a blast. Sun comes out, gets hot and kids have some lunch overlooking the sea.  Priceless!!!

Upon our  return we head to  the  Stadium to watch the finals and see the 18s final, tough  to watch as the boys feel that they should have  been there.  Guess we can use it as motivation for  the  future. 

After dinner we have  our annual SnS tour awards and winners are below;

San Marino Players          
girls-  Alex Copp    
18s - Nick Lopez          
16s red-Zach Hays       
16s blue - Max Lopez

Germany players 

girls- Marissa Huges 

18s-Chris Haberer 

16s-Brad Dweck 

15s- Darren Maguire 

14s- Ivan Rodriguez

Gothia Cup players       
girls-Luise Stenstrom    
18s-Eddie Puskarich    
16s-Daniel Antoniou   
15s-Daaron Mcfarling      
14s- Roman Cano

Players of tour              
girls-Abby Bailey         
18s-Brenden Lee     
16s-Michael Freeland      
15s-Jordan Cano              
14s-Jonathan Otto

John  Koutoupis award    
girls -  Kaitlin Russ         
boys - Chris Haberer

Golden boot                    
Max Lopez with 11 goals, Eddie with 10, Abby with 6

Lennart Award                    
Chris Haberer

After our  awards, one of our  best nights on tour awaits as we always head to Liseberg Amusement Park. We have a blast.  Apparently, the  boys have made friends with a girls team from Minnesota and they also join  us.  Ummmm!!!!  All fun and kids enjoy themselves.  As we close the park at 11 and gather  for our count off, we notice a ton of winners as the kids won chocolate bars, lots of them, some 4 feet tall.  Good thing tour is almost over as they have  to eat these on the  bus. 

It may have taken awhile for this group to find their  singing style but they found it as we sing all the way home and create a crowd.  Not too many American kids chant and sing and loads of people take notice.

We finally arrive  back at hotel and time to pack the  busses. We have 2 groups, one  to Oslo and one to Copenhagen, early flights to Paris where  they will  meet up again for the long  flight to Houston and then of course the  bus ride home.

What a great tour and all kids are fine.  I will do a proper recap in the next few days once all are arrived  back home safely.  I am still in Sweden and two of our boys, Eddie  and Matt Pitcock, are training with a professional club, BK Hacken, so wish them luck.

Ciao,
Ed