After breakfast, boys trained with Estudiantes coaches. Picked up several new ideas. Boys did well – the communication gap was fun to watch and listen to. Watching the players try to figure out what was supposed to be occurring was interesting.
Today turned out pretty good. We arrived in Buenos Aires, met our hosts and traveled to the Estudiantes training camp.
After we got the boys checked in, the coaches moved to their housing in La Plata and drove back to Buenos Aires to watch CA San Loreno play Rosario. All I can say is that it was intense. Even better than the Florida v Florida State American Football games I’ve gone to!
Checked on the boys around dinner time and retired for the night…
We have arrived in Buenos Aires. Waiting on bus… Everyone is tired – gonna be a long day (but a good one!).
Posted: November 20, 2011 in Argentina 2011
All of the players and coaches have arrived and we’re all at the gate. Plane is here and ready to go. A small soccer tennis game is going on, a bit of snacking and some sleeping. See you all in Argentina!
Posted: November 19, 2011 in Argentina 2011
Argentina… Who can even think about Argentina without thinking about football? After a phenomenal trip to Germany with my U18 girls, this trip presented itself and I jumped in. But this will be quite different for me. Planning the trip to Germany was an awesome challenge. The meetings with Bill and Udo as we laid out the plans were fun. Creating an itinerary, making the arrangements and raising funds were all good. But paying for the former East German charter bus (a big number by the way) in advance with a wire transfer and hoping the bus would meet us at the airport in Frankfurt (it did), well lets say there was some stress there. But Argentina? Well, this will be quite different.
I’m going to Argentina as a trip participant and not as the head coach or trip leader. I jumped at this opportunity for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I want to continue refining my skills as a soccer coach and I think traveling to Argentina on a football trip will help me move in that direction. Learning about the German soccer culture was fantastic. I think I’ll learn just as much in Argentina. I can’t wait to see their training sessions. What else? Culture… Food… People… And hanging out with some soccer junkies for a week in Argentina with a Florida ODP team? Totally cool.
So, for the parents, family and friends of the boys traveling to Argentina: Please feel free to comment on my posts, send messages or whatever. I’ll pass along your messages to the boys. I hope to capture some pictures along the way and keep you updated with what’s going on. I still go back to my Germany blog because it’s a great trip diary. I will try my best to make sure this turns out the same for your boys’ Argentina trip.
To my family: thank you for supporting me going away during the Thanksgiving break. All of you were awesome about it. To my wife Cheryl, thanks sweetheart – you supported me going on this adventure right away and I really appreciate that.
-Kevin
Kevin's Blog 