Scotland - Day 11 - All Good Things Must End
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A word from head coach Ben Schneweis
The Cobber Men's Soccer team has landed in the United Kingdom! Sunday, July 26 was the first of our 12-day tour of Scotland and England. After a long day of flights, the team arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland from various US and International airports over the course of the day.
We'll be spending most of our time in Scotland in the town of St. Andrews, which is a 45-minute drive from the Edinburgh airport. St. Andrews is considered the "Home of Golf" and has about 17,000 residents.
By 7 p.m. local time, the team was gathered at St. Leonard's School, which will serve as our home until Friday. The school opened in 1877 and is home to students ages 5-19, though they are all away for the summer. It is also just down the road from the famous St. Andrews University, which just celebrated its 600th year anniversary in 2013.
We are also just steps away from St. Andrews Golf Course (yes, the one where the 2015 British Open was held). Professional teams such as Everton, Manchester United and the Houston Dynamo have all done pre-season training here at St. Leonard's. The facilities are fantastic and the playing field will one of the best our team has ever set foot on.
Over the course the trip we'll be playing several games against local teams in both countries, training almost every day (sometimes even with a guest coach), sightseeing, doing some volunteer coaching for a local soccer club and going to professional games. A different Cobber Soccer player will be writing about each day on the trip. Today's excerpt was written by Ben Deetz, a junior from Harrisburg, South Dakota.
Day One - by Ben Deetz
As my plane heads across the final stretch of ocean between the U.S. and Scotland, I am thinking back to how interesting this journey to get here has been. This was my first trip to anywhere outside of the U.S. and I've had a pretty positive experience with my travels. All my flights were on time and the airplane food was surprisingly pretty tasty in my opinion. The only complication I ran into was my luggage tag getting jammed in the printer machine, which I was able to resolve after bouncing around a few waiting lines to seek assistance in reprinting it.
I'm not entirely sure what to expect upon landing, but to be honest that's super thrilling to me. Right now it is around midnight back home and it's rolling around 6 am in Scotland. The time adjustment will be weird, and I'm sure there will be some strange cultural differences I run into as well. However, I couldn't have chosen a better group of guys to take on the exciting possibilities of this new unknown with. I was lucky enough to meet up with a few teammates after first flight before the international flight. It is nice to be around guys who I know that I can trust and that are looking out for me just as I am looking out for them as we approach the awaiting adventures Europe offers. I am lucky to be traveling with what I would call family alongside of me. I can't wait to land in Europe and get after it with my fellow Cobber soccer lads.
Day Two - Sam Bennett
The alarm goes off at 8:30 am (2:30 am Central Time). You're lying in an unfamiliar bed, in a new place. Get up, and don't forget to grab your Concordia Soccer windbreaker. In St. Andrews it is currently 11 degrees Celsius (52 f), cloudy with 15 mph winds and a slight drizzle - the perfect Scottish morning. The players begin to gather around the table in the common room. At first, conversation is slow, but it soon begins to pick up. We're excited for a proper Scottish breakfast, and even more excited for our first training session.
For breakfast we have bacon, sausage, beans, tomatoes and potato scones. It's a bit different than breakfast in the North Gym, but it's clear that they feed us well in St. Andrews. Now fueled up, we clear our plates and make our way back to our rooms.
We put on our gear and headed over to the pitch (soccer field). St Andrews is a beautiful place to play soccer. One net faces the ocean, the other, the town with its picturesque stone buildings and monuments. The grass is short and covered in white seagull feathers. Today our session is coached by Dundee United youth coach Steven Leahy. Also, we are joined by Louis, a local player from AM sports club, and Savio, a player visiting from South Africa. Steve runs us through some drills focusing on passing with vision of the field, possession, and transition defending. We end by splitting into three teams for a finishing competition.
After training, we quickly hit the showers and walk over to Nando's for lunch. Nando's is a fun restaurant with painted stone walls covered in abstract designs and paintings. The music and atmosphere feels modern and fun. The food is tasty, and there are a variety of sauces to choose from. Some of us went with lemon and herb, while others who were more courageous opted for the extra, extra hot.
After lunch, Callum and Steve (our tour guides) walk us over to St. Andrews golf course. The British Open was held here just last week. We split into groups for a 18 hole mini golf competition. The rolling hills proved a formidable, yet amusing challenge. Once we finished up we headed back to campus to eat and prepare for our first match against AM Sports Club.
The whistle blows and we are head to head against the local men's team, Callum and Steve amongst them. Louis and Savio join the Cobbers again for our match. Our last competitive match as a group was in November, so we're not as sharp as we hope to be by the end of the trip. We enjoyed a good, competitive game where we did many good things. We look forward to getting back to work tomorrow and are more than excited for our next match. 
Day Three - Matt Fulks
We started off our morning bright and early at 8am breakfast in St. Andrew's. The breakfast is typically pretty good! The friendly staff serves eggs, ham, sausage, fruit, beans and something more Scottish than the rest of the food. After breakfast, the team geared up and headed down to the pitch (soccer field) to do some light stretching and running to keep us loose for the day.
The morning run was surprisingly relaxing, and a pretty good warmup for our day. After our warmup we proceeded to Edinburgh, to spend the majority of our day sightseeing and exploring around the city.
The leaders of our group, Steve and Callum of AM sports, led us to Edinburgh Castle which was an incredible structure erected in the 1600's. Similar to the rest of the city, the castle was a dark stone which gave the city a different ambience than what most of us are used to back home at Concordia.
After my party separated from the group, the six of us went off to explore the entirety of Edinburgh in a little less than five hours. We started off at the Scott Memorial, this memorial overlooked all of Edinburgh - and it was worth the 287 steps it took to climb up there.
After our upward climb, we decided to head towards food and had an excellent meal at a well-known pub named Deacon Broadie's.
At lunch we devised a plan for the rest of the day and made our way to important sights of Edinburgh such as; the Elephant House Café where J.K. Rowling thought of the Harry Potter novels, St. Giles Cathedral, the patron saint of lepers and cripples, a couple shops to buy gifts and clothes, and many other places in our short time.
All in all, I had an awesome day in Edinburgh we a great group of guys. I'm excited to see what adventures tomorrow will bring.
Day Four - Will Bennett
The day begins the same as any other day. A full volume alarm from my iPhone jolts me awake.
On any other morning I would groan, hit snooze, and roll over for another precious five minutes of sleep. However, this isn't like every other monotonous morning - I am in St. Andrews, Scotland with all of my best friends. I excitedly got dressed and ready for another action packed day in the United Kingdom.
Refreshed from a good night's sleep, I headed off to breakfast with my teammates. The breakfast is the same as before: simple, hardy, and tasty.
After breakfast we were joined by coach Ross from AM soccer club. Ross took us through various technical passing and possession drills, a few small sided games, and of course a crossbar challenge to end the training session (losers clean up the gear).
After training, half of the team quickly departed for Kirkcaldy, Scotland to help volunteer as coaches for a youth summer camp run by AM Soccer Club. For me personally, it was my first time coaching soccer at any level. I was surprised to find myself slightly apprehensive. However, all the nerves quickly faded away as soon as I met the young players. They were ages 8-12 and all of them were full of boundless energy, personality, and a genuine passion for the game of football (soccer).
It was a real gift to have been able to spend the afternoon coaching them, and I can tell they had a lot of fun getting to kick around with a few American blokes as well.
One of the highlights of the day was walking home alongside Phil and conversing about the medieval history of Scotland. I was a kid who grew up loving knights, castles, and fantasy, and Phil's knowledge and passion of various castles and cathedrals really helped bring the history to life.
After dinner we set off for a brief walk to the home field of St. Andrews' semipro football team to play our second match of our UK tour. We knew they would be a good side because many of them are grown men who are paid to play soccer. We didn't let that get in our heads; we know we are a capable team that can play with the best of them when we play with all of our physical and mental ability. Guest players Louis, Savio, Dan, and Steve helped us in our match.
It was a hard fought game against a very physical team. However, we matched their physicality and we raised our game to a new level. It was a very fun game to play and watch. Now we will rest up for our next match tomorrow afternoon against Dundee United.
I woke up for 9 A.M. Breakfast, where a breakfast buffet was awaiting us in the dining hall at St. Leonard's. I spent the rest of the morning walking around the St. Andrews Golf Course area with about 10 other teammates. We spent a lot of time looking through the golf pro shops in the area, including the official pro shop of the oldest golf course in the world.
While others played the mini golf course for the second time this trip, I joined a couple of teammates in walking on the shores of the North Sea and checking out the monuments it had to offer.
At 2 p.m. local time, we played the U20 Dundee United squad, who plays in the Scottish Premier League. It was a hard fought battle, especially because it was our third game in four days. I ended the game feeling exhausted and accomplished, along with a bitter feeling towards a particular referee.
After the game, half of the team went to coach a U15 squad, and were responsible for about half of the practice. We noticed how hard the kids worked, and how they actually thought that we were the ones who had accents!
We finished the last night in St. Andrews going into town as a team, and celebrating our accomplishments thus far. It is sad to say goodbye to St. Andrews, but we are excited for what awaits us in London.
Day Six - Alan Scheuermann
Our first full day in London began with an early wake-up call in order to get to our friendly game against Reading Football Club, which would be our fourth game in six days.
After a buffet breakfast at the hotel and lots of coffee we took an hour drive to the academy complex where we would play our game. Once we arrived at the complex we headed out to the fields which we discovered were turf. Although the turf was not the worst any of us had played on by any means, the harder surface was an unwelcome surprise to tired muscles and aching joints.
A groggy start from both sides saw us go into half time disappointed. The second half was an improvement in our mental focus and determination, but ultimately we dropped the game.
Our busy schedule wouldn't allow for much time to relax and recover and soon we were off to London after a quick shower.
Compared to the smaller town of St. Andrews we had stayed in while in Scotland, London was an awesome spectacle as soon as we stepped off the bus. We split up for a very quick lunch and I went with several people to an Italian restaurant which was probably too classy for us. But no matter, time to explore London awaited us.
We began with a bus tour on an open top double decker bus in true English fashion. The most remarkable thing to me was the mix of classic and very antique architecture with modern commercial shops which have renovated the insides to very modern standards. Most of the buildings in the commercial districts we drove through were made of stone and looked down upon the streets from several stories high. The faces of the buildings were decorated with intricate stone work denoting the time period in which they were built.
After the bus tour we piled onto a sightseeing barge to see some of the bigger, more popular monuments and tourist attractions. We began near the base of The Shard- the highest building in Western Europe standing at over 1000 feet and overlooking all of London. This is definitely something I'm looking forward to going to the top of when we take another trip to the city.
We made our way down the Thames at a leisurely pace learning about the history of the surrounding buildings and bridges as we crossed under them. Finally we came to the end pier with the Eye of London on our left, and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament on our right.
After an hour drive back to the hotel and a quick stop at a local super market, we sat down to an amazing 3 course dinner. It was a great end to an adventurous and exciting day.
Touring London has me very excited to take in all the sights and culture that London has to offer, and each day continues to leave me anxious for the coming days. Cheers from London and congrats to Patty for getting married!
After yet another delicious breakfast on our trip, the team and I set out for the Bisham Abbey National Sports Center in London which was the old training ground for the English National Team.
Prior to arrival I didn't really know what to expect as I was caught up in the groggy hour-and-a-half long bus ride through London traffic from Cobham to Bisham but once I stepped off the bus I was in awe. From the old-fashioned buildings to the modern tennis courts to the astonishing football fields, everything was incredible.
We immediately had to get over how lucky we were to be training on such a great field and zone in on the upcoming practice. Our practice session was run by a well-spoken elite coach from Reading Football Club. Practice was light to some extent and more mentally challenging but it was a lot of fun and a great open-minded atmosphere to be in.
After practice we headed towards Upton Park. Upton Park is the home field for English side West Ham. We were lucky enough to have tickets to see West Ham take on German side Werder Bremen in a pre-season friendly. Watching a professional game was a great experience and even though both teams seemed to be resting certain key players it was still a gripping experience that saw West Ham lose 2-1.
We closed off the day on another bus ride back to Cobham with the lads testing out our Harry Potter wits and reminiscing on our childhood memories, which were of course filled with laughter.
I love my team.
Day Nine - Sage Thornbrugh
What a day!From the early morning breakfast to the eventual victory in our final game in England, I can't think of a single moment today that wasn't enjoyable.
We woke up and had our usual continental breakfast. We eventually gathered our belongings onto the bus and making our way to the training facilities of Charlton Athletic Football Club. Charlton is in the second highest division in England, and even spent time in the Premier League; they're a pretty good team.
We started training at about 10:30 a.m. and our light training session ended up lasting until about 12 p.m. After that we watched the Charlton Athletic first team train for about twenty minutes and then went back to the hotel for some down time.
After our down time we played Ascot United in our final game in the United Kingdom. It turned out to be a pretty competitive game. After a tough battle in the first half which ended 0-0, we ended up winning 2-1. Afterwards we were allowed to come back to the hotel to celebrate with pizza and soda, which really topped the whole evening off.
All in all, it was a day extremely well spent.
Today, since we have no more games on our trip, we were allowed to sleep in. Our wonderful UK adventure continued with a tour of my favorite soccer club's stadium.The stadium tour felt like a dream, as I got to walk the same halls as my childhood heroes. The stadium is named Stamford Bridge, home to Chelsea FC, the current Premier league champions.
After the amazing stadium tour we spent time in the Chelsea museum where we got to reminisce in the successes of Chelsea's past.
When we left the stadium complex there was still some time before we were scheduled to eat dinner so we walked around Piccadilly Circus to visit some shops. One of the shops was an eight-story sports store, with every soccer jersey you could imagine (except Nick Koerbitz's favorite team, Norwich). It was amazing how massive this place was.
Afterwards, a few teammates and I walked over to the Nike store that was located in the Oxford Circus. From there we had a delicious dinner at TigerTiger.
Unfortunately the day came to an end and we had a debriefing on our travels home, and the conclusion of our trip.
We have one day left and we can't wait to make the most of it!
Day 11 - Trip Wrap-Up
The final day of the Scotland-England trip features a wrap-up of different quotes from several players on what the experience meant to them.
- "Trip of a lifetime with my best friends. I'm not ready for it to end."
- "Even though Chelsea lost in the final event of our England trip, it didn't really put a damper on anything. Everything about the trip was awesome, and the guys on the team made the experience incredible!"
- "Our free day in London began with watching the changing of the guard ceremony, followed by wandering the riverside attractions. For a final farewell to London, you couldn't have asked for much more."
- "The men's soccer team's endeavors in the United Kingdom are impossible to compare to any other experiences I think we will ever encounter. The bonds we created as we saw some of the most incredible sights in this culturally dense island will only make us grow closer together and I think that will reflect positively in terms of friendship and competitive soccer. In an attempt to not care about sounding cliché, I think this is a trip that we could not possibly ever forget."
- "One of the most remarkable experiences of my life so far. There is nothing better than playing soccer in Europe and hanging out with my team."
- "The trip to the U.K. with my team will be forever one of my favorite trips. We grew on and off the field and learned a lot about my teammates I didn't know before this experience."
- "We explored the most famous parts of London to cap off an amazing trip spanning 11 days, two countries (or one), 5 games played and 2 professional matches. Along the way we created so many great memories - what a great trip!"
