Our Youth Girls and Youth Boys teams travelled to the UK this week to start a 2 week footballing tour starting in England, giving them the opportunity to train and play football at an international level.

After settling in the first day, the parents, players and coaches ventured out to explore the local area and enjoy some of the sights of the city.

On Wednesday, it was back to football when the players had the opportunity to train with coaching staff from the prestigious English Premier League Club Wolverhampton Wanderers, giving them the chance to focus on developing their footballing skills with some challenging progressions and movements. In the evening, everyone enjoyed the Flame Team Trivia Night, which was full of laughter and jokes as parents, players and coaches all competed and cheated to win!

Thursday saw the players and coaches attend a presentation at the Loughborough University and listen to a seminar run by Richard Allen, a FIFA High Performance Specialist and Talent ID lead. Players had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the importance of player wellbeing and the necessary performance qualities required of a professional footballer. That evening the boys teams were excited for their first fixture against Nottingham Forest, and although the U14’s lost 4-3 and U16’s lost 2-0 there were plenty of positives to come out of the games. Our girls played Loughborough Dynamo with a convincing win 6-1, an exciting game to watch our girls in action at this level.

Friday saw the teams depart England for Glasgow and after arriving at Celtic Park for lunch, the players spent the afternoon training with coaches and players from the Scottish professional football Club Celtic FC. Saturday sees our Flame families and players attending the Scottish Premiership game Motherwell Vs Celtic FC and having some free time to explore the city sights of Glasgow.

What a fabulous experience for all our Flame families and players so far. We are lucky to have such dedicated coaches willing to travel and give the gift of international football to our players.