This week is Parents in Sport Week and we are celebrating all our Westbourne House parents who support our children in sport, home and away, week in week out, season in, season out.
Here, we hear from our parent Tristan Gooley, who went to a sporting fixture in Sweden with three of our pupils earlier this summer.
The Gothia Youth World Cup 2019
Every year since 1975 many of the keenest young footballers in the world have descended on Gothenburg in Sweden for the Gothia Cup - the biggest, youth football event in the world.
In 2019 three Westbourne House pupils, Henry, Ollie and Vinnie, qualified at the UK trials and the tickets were booked. A couple of months later, in July, the eager boys were dropped at the airport and waved off to presumed glory in their minds and fun in ours.
After many years of trips to matches in such far-flung spots as Twyford, Windlesham and Highfield, it felt quite surreal to be getting on a plane to watch a tournament.
Arriving at the pitches on the Monday, there were very strict instructions for parents. We were to watch the matches, but not talk to our boys until they were given permission to speak to us. This was serious stuff: three dedicated coaches, for a squad of 12 boys, 5am starts, tactics talks with whiteboards, 40-minute intense warm-ups and a team physio. Our team was called, ‘Prep School Lions Pink’, and the head coach, Ed, was charm personified with the parents, but he was not mucking about with his squad. He meant business.
The first match saw the Lions beat a Swedish team, IK Zenith, 11-2. They played like a well-drilled unit, incredible considering that many of the boys had only met a couple of days before. This cohesion was to prove vital as the standard got tougher.
The following day’s opponents were the German team, KFV Segeberg, and they were a big step up. Losing 2-1 was a fair and honourable result against a very good team that played together all season.
The next morning the Lions dusted themselves down, knowing that victory in the third and final group game would guarantee passage to the knock-out stages. This was all the incentive the lads needed. They blew another Swedish team, the wonderfully named, Boo FF, off the park. Lions 8, Boo 1. They were through!
The boys were allowed some downtime each day before returning to their base, but Ed was zealous, possessed even, about their diet. NO fizzy drinks! NO sweets! Under any circumstances! His smile disappeared and his face was serious. His eyes said it all: “This is not a holiday. This is a tournament! If you want to guzzle junk you’ve no place in this team!” The boys pretended to hate the strict rules, but secretly loved him for it.
After another 5am start on the Thursday, the fourth day of the tournament and a heatwave, there were some weary faces and tired legs. But this was the knock-out stages of an international cup and Ed didn’t need to fire up the team. They knew that the standard would go up another notch, but nobody expected the brutal physicality of Lillestrom SK.
The Lions were faster and more skilful than their opponents and this maddened them. Literally. They started shoving, then hacking, then arguing and shouting. They received one red card and many yellows. Our boys kept their cool through a bitter, unpleasant and very tight first half. It felt like it might go either way. Then composure under pressure from the Lions won the day and slowly Lillestrom fell apart. The Lions won 8-2.
The next knock-out match would be filmed and broadcast over the Internet. It was against another British side, Phoenix Football Academy, and as their name suggests, they were indeed an Academy team. Their squad had played together at a high level for two years. This was going to be tough.
Phoenix showed extraordinary skill levels, but amazingly they lacked the passion and esprit de corps of the Lions, who fought for every ball and yard. It could not have been closer.
Over a year, Phoenix may have been the better side, but on the day they had met a team that would not lie down. It was a thrilling end-to-end game that finished level and went to penalties. They pipped us on penalties, but looked mighty relieved to have scraped past the Lions.
It had been a week packed with small victories, many of them off the pitch. My favourite moment was the reaction of the Phoenix parents and coaches after that last match. They simply refused to believe that the team that they had just played had only been together for six days.
Prep School Lions Pink got the furthest of any English prep school team - an amazing achievement. In their excellent football and brilliant attitude they did us all proud. For the boys it was an experience of a lifetime. The thing they loved most is that they were treated like pros for a week, with all the ups, downs and junk food bans that entailed.
