The Under 11s enjoyed a fantastic experience away in Loon-Plage France over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and were all filled with massive amounts of energy and excitement the boys enjoyed a few games of pool and cards meaning we had four games against Coulogne The day started with a healthy French breakfast and we then proceeded to have a walk around the massively impressive facilities This was followed by three more 4G pitches which the boys (and coaches) played multiple times over the weekend the players remained true to our principles and played some incredible football against massively unknown opposition to carve out opportunities which the players did fantastically with Harry scoring a great free kick versus Coulogne as my pick of the bunch Day two saw our last game of the initial group The game saw us qualify for the Champions League and in this group we were drawn against our British friends and last year’s winners Kent Schools as we had qualified in second place in the previous group but the players continued their fantastic level of performance with their movement ability to play under pressure and play in the final third being of exceptional quality Following a tight game against last year’s winners and an unfortunate loss on penalties following a draw the boys were knocked out by a single point but the club we are part of involves the development of players in a long-term process with the focus being on their performance to develop their skills for when players are fully matured Myself and Danny were extremely proud of the boys as they did throughout the whole tournament It’s great to see our team develop into such talented footballers Creating memories is a huge part of football A special highlight for us was a great game of football played against Kent Schools Both teams battled hard and played some great football It was great to see two teams show such respect for each other too as the game started with a handshake and finished with one Our final day finished with our play-off games and the players were still as up for it as they were on the first day where the boys played fantastically on a carpet of a pitch The one and two touch combinations were a class above the rest Following this was a game against Gravelines we had discussed staying true to our principles no matter the opposition and utilising all of the space to our advantage which proved crucial as we had to unlock their defence we had to draw the defence out to create spaces for the front three to exploit and they did this ever so well we faced the hosts Loon-Plage on a fantastic 4G pitch circled by a running track as all of the locals had swarmed around to support their team along with our friends Kent Schools who were cheering the players on the game was celebrated by players from both teams doing the Icelandic clap with a Loon-Plage parent it was great to see the players socialising with a team from another country not even letting a language barrier get in the way the best part followed as the players finished off with a water fight in the 25+ degree heat of Northern France the tournament was a great experience for both the players and the coaches and it was great to see the players grow closer and bond The social aspect of this tournament played a massive part as players were on top of each other every moment of the day I’m really happy to see how these players have developed into great people over the past two years and how the newer players have established their position within this squad The players were a credit to the club and their parents as they were fantastic on and off the pitch and I can’t think of any more superlatives to use to describe the football in which they played who won Top Goalscorer at the tournament too This is the second year a TNS Player has won this award and Harry showed great determination and quality in the final third all weekend This well deserved award was celebrated by the whole team as they had played a massive contribution in providing chances for Harry myself and Kieran Lee-Birch had the pleasure of taking our U13 age group (19/20) as we took part in an international tournament against teams from Holland We departed on Friday morning from The Venue heading towards Dover the players were very energetic and excited for the trip gelling well with each other and the new players in the group really understand the importance of the social activity within the group when young players travel to tournaments abroad as we would like them to feel comfortable around others and of course We arrived at the Hotel in Coulogne around 7pm local time and after a full days travelling we unpacked our bags and checked in to the rooms and went straight out for dinner at the local restaurant The boys represented our club really well showing full professionalism and manners when ordering food attempting the language and acting extremely mature at the dinner table we headed straight back to the hotel for our evening meeting discussing on and off the pitch expectations for the weekend and then for some chill time in their rooms with a sharp bedtime due to breakfast being at 7am Breakfast consisted of cereal and baguettes and the players knew that a long day was ahead of them and eating all food was extremely important to them and their energy in matches we had some time to relax and see what was around our hotel complex We took a trip to the local supermarket and by the time we returned it was very much time to get all bags ready to head to the football pitches for the opening ceremony there were 35 other teams waiting for the opening ceremony We were handed our fixture schedule and our first game was at 1:30pm playing four out of the five fixtures on the same day with our final group game on Sunday morning making ourselves hard to beat in the 14 minute matches along with being creative and building through the thirds sticking to our playing style The matches were shared between the grass pitches and the Astroturf we had dinner at the same place as the games were played players knew that all meals were important for their bodies to perform on the long days we headed back to the hotel where we set up for our evening meeting looking across the lake on the balcony of our hotel The boys then had 90 minutes chill time in the hotel before heading to bed ahead of the early breakfast shift at 7am again They continued to make more friendships with the French players as they were staying in the same complex also Sunday morning’s game at 9am consisted of avoiding defeat to make it through to the last 12 in the competition The boys competed in every game and ended up winning their final group game the celebrations were really pleasing to see as they earned this achievement We found out shortly after that we now move into a group of three with the winner of this group of three heading into the semi-final The boys handled the pressure extremely well as we learnt very quickly that most of the French sides here in this tournament play very quick physical football and can really put you under pressure at set pieces throughout the game You can only imagine the celebrations of the players when the final whistle went in the very evenly matched game to determine who went through Our semi-final was against a club we knew very well from other tournaments we have been with different age groups but unfortunately we came out losers in the shootout as all of the French locals watching the game gave a huge round of applause for the togetherness of our team encouraging our teammates after every penalty The players all made each other feel better with lots of support and that made us feel really impressed as the togetherness was fantastic We came just short in the 3rd/4th play off place especially seeing their faces when collecting the trophy in the closing ceremony Kieran and I would like to thank all players for being fantastic and representing the club in such a positive way over the weekend We would also like to thank the parents that travelled for the great support Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative