Westchester gets English kicks
BY MICHAEL LINDSAY
ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
Every season, teams scour the area for challenges to prepare them for the upcoming season.
The Westchester Country Day boys soccer team, however, took a broader approach — an approach that landed it an ocean away amid some of the best soccer in the world.
Before starting their season a couple weeks ago, the Wildcats players, along with their coaches and families, spent a week immersed in soccer in England to help get them ready for their upcoming season.
“It was unbelievable,” coach Adam Schwartz said. “We’d been talking about this as a soccer program ever since the first state championship in 2003, and you have to have the right group.
“When we announced it last August, we thought it’d be about 25 people who wanted to go. But it was pretty cool that it was 50 for our 50th year — and me. It was better than I could’ve imagined.”
The group — which included 25 players, plus coaches, parents and siblings — spent just over a week in England, starting Aug. 12, and hit a number of the usual sightseeing spots. But, by design, it was a soccer trip.
The team played three games against three club teams their age and twice trained with coaches from some of England’s premiere clubs. (Most competitive teams in Europe are tied to clubs throughout the age groups.)
The Wildcats played games against Cobham F.C., Croydon F.C. and Vauxhall Motors F.C. — winning one and tying two, including rallying from two goals down with 10 minutes left in their second match to force a tie.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing,” senior Davis Privette said. “Our motto this year is: the golden opportunity. So, it was a good way to start off this year and kind of see where we are as a team and what we need to work on.”
“It was an awesome experience to get us ready for the season,” senior Erik Bauer said.
They also had training sessions with Tim Zobbo from Queens Park F.C. and Colin Littlejohns from Everton F.C. to work on a range of skills from individual work to set pieces to more team-oriented aspects.P
BY MICHAEL LINDSAY
ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
Every season, teams scour the area for challenges to prepare them for the upcoming season.
The Westchester Country Day boys soccer team, however, took a broader approach — an approach that landed it an ocean away amid some of the best soccer in the world.
Before starting their season a couple weeks ago, the Wildcats players, along with their coaches and families, spent a week immersed in soccer in England to help get them ready for their upcoming season.
“It was unbelievable,” coach Adam Schwartz said. “We’d been talking about this as a soccer program ever since the first state championship in 2003, and you have to have the right group.
“When we announced it last August, we thought it’d be about 25 people who wanted to go. But it was pretty cool that it was 50 for our 50th year — and me. It was better than I could’ve imagined.”
The group — which included 25 players, plus coaches, parents and siblings — spent just over a week in England, starting Aug. 12, and hit a number of the usual sightseeing spots. But, by design, it was a soccer trip.
The team played three games against three club teams their age and twice trained with coaches from some of England’s premiere clubs. (Most competitive teams in Europe are tied to clubs throughout the age groups.)
The Wildcats played games against Cobham F.C., Croydon F.C. and Vauxhall Motors F.C. — winning one and tying two, including rallying from two goals down with 10 minutes left in their second match to force a tie.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing,” senior Davis Privette said. “Our motto this year is: the golden opportunity. So, it was a good way to start off this year and kind of see where we are as a team and what we need to work on.”
“It was an awesome experience to get us ready for the season,” senior Erik Bauer said.
They also had training sessions with Tim Zobbo from Queens Park F.C. and Colin Littlejohns from Everton F.C. to work on a range of skills from individual work to set pieces to more team-oriented aspects.P
