The Boulder County Force U16 Red boys went to Trinidad & Tobago during spring break to play a series of four matches including a Saturday, March 28 game vs. the Trinidad & Tobago U17 National Team. The trip has provided an exceptional life experience for the boys. The tour matches were arranged by Liverpool U19 youth staff coach and former T&T National Staff Coach, Dion La Foucade. Coach La Foucade is a long time friend of the Boulder County Force. Below are the day-to-day reports by U16 Red boys Head Coach and BCF Director of Coaching Junior Boys, Jeff Frykholm:
DAY ONE Some more details from our first day... The guys are all doing
well. You should be proud of the way your sons are conducting
themselves so far -- they have been super in every way.
After arriving in the dark last night, we woke up to new sights,
sounds, smells, (and humidity) of Trinidad. The guys had breakfast
at the hotel, and then we went to a local private school for a
practice session with Dion. Dion coaches all over the world -- a
real treat for the kids to get the chance to experience a practice
with Dion, truly a world famous coach. The drive gave the kids their
first chance to see Port of Spain in the daylight -- a huge
spectrum. Some very nice houses behind fences, and some living
conditions that are pretty sobering to view. Dion worked with the
kids for about an hour -- a good session in the heat and humidity
which was good for the kids to get out and get the blood pumping a bit.
We returned for lunch and a quick swim in the pool.
At 2:30 we boarded the van again for the trip to our first match. An
interesting venue to say the least. We played a U-17 team from a
local club: Santa Rosa FC. They play in the top youth league in
Port of Spain -- a league of youth development teams from the pro
clubs. The field was inside the grounds of a juvenile prison. It
was quite an experience. We entered through a secured gate with
guards and the like -- no cameras, phones, etc. -- right after our
opponents. It was fun to watch -- both teams sizing up each other.
Our guys looked a bit intimidated... and rightly so. Big, athletic
kids. The field was in decent shape. The inmates were allowed to
sit on one end of the field to watch the match. They got more vocal
the longer the game went on. Pro-Trinidad, of course.
The first half was great. The guys played well, and after 20 minutes
or so, Tommy scored a great goal -- a long bomb from about 25 yards.
Another 10 minutes later, Paul scored a similar goal -- a beautiful
strike from quite a ways out. At halftime we were up 2-0 after
having played even if not a bit better than the other team.
The second half was a different story. The Trinidad kids came out
very aggressively, and put a lot of pressure on us for 45 minutes.
Our guys looked tired in the second half, understandably so after a
long 24 hours. We played hard, although they were by far the better
team in the second half. Very aggressive, physical, and skilled.
They scored after about 15 minutes, and then 10 minutes later, scored
again. But the guys hung in there and withstood the storm. The game
ended in a 2-2 draw. We won the first half, they won the second.
Afterwards, our guys shook hands, gave some shirts away to the other
team. The prison had prepared some sandwiches for the guys. We ate
those and then took a walk around the outside of the facility led by
the director of the prison -- a very nice man. We were welcomed
extremely kindly and graciously. Obviously a first... a bunch of
white kids from the States playing soccer in the prison!
Tomorrow we will return to this same facility for our second match.
We will be playing the team from the prison. These are kids who are
in jail and part of a juvenile rehabilitation program -- drugs,
robbery, etc. They will be 16, 17, 18 years old. It isn’t the big
house, but one step away. It was a great experience for all of us
today, and I think tomorrow will be really powerful as well. There
will be some great players who have found themselves on the wrong end
of the law. We are going to see the inside of the facility prior to
the match, meet some of the inmates, and we will be leaving them
with a bunch of balls and some of the gear we brought down. Then the
match at 4pm.
In the morning, we will be taking the guys to an orphanage where we
will drop off the donated equipment, meet some kids, etc. So...
should be another day filled with some unique experiences for the guys.
The rest of the schedule:
Saturday morning, 9am, vs. the Trinidad U17 National team. They are
leaving the country next week to play in an international tournament,
so this will be their last warm up before leaving. It could get
ugly! We will be playing in Ato Bolden Stadium, one of the main (and
nicest) stadiums in Trinidad.
Saturday night: Trinidad vs. Honduras, World Cup Qualifier. Dion
got us tickets for that match which will be an amazing experience.
Trinidad is expected to win -- should be a terrific environment.
Sunday morning: 9am match vs. the La Foucade Youths U17 team. This
is the club that Dion founded and directs. A very good team. He
told the boys tonight that he is going to instruct his team to play
keep away from us-- his goal is to have 75% of the possession against
us. So.. the challenge was put down!
Sunday afternoon -- travel to Tobago.
Monday -- beach in Tobago, and a match against a local team.
Tuesday -- more beach, not sure... perhaps another match if we still
have kids standing. We’ll be coming off 5 matches in 5 days, so
we’ll see how much more soccer they have in their legs.
All for now. A great day today. I will try to get some pictures
sent tomorrow.
All the kids are doing well.
Jeff
DAY TWO Wow... what a day.
I wish you all could be here to see your kids in action. You would be
proud. We had a great day today. The brief rundown...
In the morning we took the donated soccer gear to an orphanage about
45 minutes drive from the hotel. We were thinking this was going to
be an orphanage for younger kids, but what it turned out to be
instead was a correctional facility for troubled kids. They had
about 20 kids, 14-17 years old, waiting for us. It was a really
amazing experience. We were all together in a room, the directors
said a few things, and then slowly but surely a conversation emerged
between the guys. They were asking questions of our kids, and vice
versa. One of them asked if our guys knew any good moves, and so
Brooks stepped up and did his wizardry with the ball. As a number of
our guys suggested, it was good that they did not ask anybody else on
the team to confirm the skill level as nobody can do that stuff
Brooks does with the ball! After the conversation (some of our boys
really stepped up and articulated themselves really well), we all
went outside where we gave out about 20 balls and a bunch of shoes,
shirts, etc. It was great -- the guys just mingling, juggling,
talking, laughing. It was a special moment.
This afternoon we went back to the prison we visited yesterday for
the second match -- this time against the prison team. We went early
for a tour of the facility, and it was very sobering. This prison is
for kids between 14 and 18, with various sentences for drugs, theft,
etc., all the way up to murder. There were several levels of
security, and they took us into all of them. It was pretty intense
-- walking through the halls with the Trinidad boys behind bars just
a few feet away. You can imagine some of the things that were said
to this group of mostly white and presumably wealthy kids ... pretty
intimidating. They took us to the maximum security wing where the
hardest cases were. These kids get one hour of sunlight a day, and
eat only bread and water. It was an intense experience.
Obviously, that made the game a bit hard to prepare for -- the guys
walked out of the tour of the facility, and then had twenty minutes
or so to transition and prepare to play. The prison team is made up
of kids between 14 and 18... or so we were told. There definitely
wasn’t a fourteen year old kid on the field! These guys were huge
-- most of them 18 years old we were told by one of the guards. We
were on our heels as the game started. This is true... we had two
touches on the ball the first four minutes. They were knocking it
around us, we were chasing it. I think everybody at the field
assumed it was going to be a major thumping in favor of the prison
kids -- particularly the 150 (?) or so kids who were lined up behind
one of the goals making their presence known.
But... we weathered the storm early on. They had a lot of possession
for sure, but it was mostly in their half of the field, and they
never really did anything threatening. Our back line was playing
very well, and Phil came up with a big time save to keep it zero-
zero. Slowly but surely our guys got their feet under them, and
started to mix it up with the other kids a bit more. By half time
it had evened out a bit more, and our guys were starting to look good.
The second half was probably the most entertaining soccer I have seen
this team play. It was so fun to watch, particularly so because it
was obvious with each passing minute that our kids were starting to
enjoy the game more, were relaxing, gaining confidence, and starting
to take control. Perhaps it was the tropical rainstorm that moved
over head that helped... it came down pretty good for a few minutes
in drops the size of grapes which changed the nature of the game
too. It seemed like the guys were energized by playing in eighty
degree rain -- they kept looking more and more fresh, and stronger as
the game went on. We had several promising attacks, including a shot
by Brock that went ringing off the crossbar. A few minutes later
Brooks left a kid standing still with a great move, played a ball to
Willy at the top of the box. Somehow Willy got off a shot in traffic
and ended up on knocked upside down and backwards on the ground as
his shot beat the keeper to the corner. 1-0. Another ten minutes
later, we were still knocking. Beau picked off a pass in their end,
took a touch or two, and then hit a shot that came bouncing off the
left post. Paul collected the long rebound, and immediately hit the
left post again, but this time the ball took the right angle and
ended up in the back of the net. With ten minutes left, the guys
just kept attacking, and they really didn’t have another decent foray
into our end. The game ended 2-0 -- just a super effort by the
guys. They overcame a lot, and ended up controlling the game against
a pretty skillful and certainly much bigger and stronger team.
After the game we handed out shirts, some more balls, and the two
teams mingled a bit. Finally the ice was broken as the Trinidad kids
started saying funny things from American movies, and our guys
responded. There was a lot of laughing and conversation. The prison
brought out some sandwiches and all the kids ate together. It was
really moving for me to watch them all interacting... our guys from
Boulder, with a bunch of troubled kids in Trinidad who will likely
spend a good portion of their lives behind bars. (The warden told us
that 75 percent of those kids will be released after four years, but
will end up back in the prison system again...) Despite the
incredible differences between them, the guys were connected for a
few brief moments in a way that I am sure neither side will forget
for a good long while. Just a bunch of teenagers playing soccer,
laughing, talking... it was pretty neat. I was really proud of the
guys today -- they conducted themselves with such poise and humility
and class. And they played so hard.
After today, I am not sure how much is left in the tank for another
match tomorrow. And this one is the big one -- against the U17
national team. I spoke with Dion tonight about the team. 3 years
ago, there were 2000 players in the national pool at this age level.
Over the past three years, it has been narrowed down to the top 22
sixteen and seventeen year old players. This is their last training
session before the roster will be released for an international
tournament next week. So... they are going to be motivated to earn a
spot on the team. I am sure that my game summary for tomorrow will
have a slightly different tune, but... regardless of the score, I
know the guys will play hard, and will learn from the experience.
After the game in the morning (in one of the national stadiums),
we’ll return to the hotel for a few hours, and then it is off to the
Trinidad - Honduras match in the evening in the big stadium for the
World Cup qualifier. We’ll become Trinidad fans for a night, I am sure.
Everybody seems healthy and positive. A few kids are dinged up a
bit, but we have a fantastic trainer who is working with those guys.
From my vantage point, it seems like the trip is going better than
even I imagined it could. It seems like we have been here for a
great deal more than two days. We have packed in a lot, including
some great soccer.
More tomorrow... I think everybody is exhausted and in bed early
tonight, including the coach.
Jeff
DAY THREE Hello again,
This one is going to be short... it is late and we have another early
morning match.
Another great day... they just keep coming.
We got up early and headed to the center of the island to play the
U17 national team. This team recently qualified for the U17 World
Cup in Mexico, and is preparing to leave for that tournament in a
couple of weeks. They had 26 kids show up today, and they can take
22 to the World Cup. Can you say motivated? Can you also say
extremely physically fit? Oh man... quite a team. They beat the US
U-17 team a couple of months ago 3-0. So... no wonder the kids
appeared a bit apprehensive in the morning.
We watched the end of a U20 match between two pro clubs, and finally
took the field at about 10am. The Trinidad team warmed up right next
to us which was a bit intimidating to be honest. They were huge.
But our kids had a good warm up and seemed excited to play, despite
being pretty tired from playing a draining match only 16 hours earlier.
The game started well. They had the possession, but didn’t really
hurt us too much in the first ten minutes or so. A couple of nice
opportunities, but our defense held (and they couldn’t hit the
frame). At about ten minutes in, we had a dead ball from just inside
midfield. Cody played a ball into the box, and their keeper came
screaming off his line. Tim out-jumped his defender and got a head
on it, beat the keeper, and the ball bounced just inches wide. A
couple of minutes later, Tommy got loose behind their defense, and
hit a great shot that curled around the keeper and into the upper
right corner. BCForce 1, T&T U17 National Team 0. It stayed 1-0 for
another 8 or 9 minutes. We tried to call the match and run to the bus
but... they wouldn’t allow us to do that. They had their chances, we
were defending. About twenty minutes in, they got a corner, and
somehow it squeezed in on the near post... a goal that definitely
left a bit to be desired. A couple minutes later, another goal for
T&T on a scramble in front of the net... another one that could have
been prevented. A few minutes later, Ryan tackled a guy who landed
in the box, and the ref gave them a PK. So... 3-1, but all three
goals were ones that easily could have been avoided. (Granted...
they had plenty of other chances). THe half ended that way -- 3-1.
It just as easily could have still been 1-0 us if not for some weird
goals.
I could tell at halftime that the guys were pretty much done. They
played so hard and tried to dip into the reserves but... the second
half got ugly after a while. We had several kids get knocked around
and hurt. They got a goal after about 10 minutes or so into the
half, and could have had more. Phil made some great saves. We kept
hanging in there, just as they brought in a handful of fresh kids. I
am not sure what the coach said to them at halftime, but they came
out really motivated. It was obvious they were trying to score 10
goals on us by the way they were talking... The game fell apart in
the last 15 minutes, and they scored 4 goals or so in a short span.
It ended up 9-1, but given that Jared, Soren, Paul, Rojesh, and
probably 3 or 4 others were limping around or on the bench, it was
not really indicative of what it might have been had we played them
with a full and rested team (to say nothing of Colorado altitude!)
Our guys did a super job -- I was proud of them. Playing the third
game in less than three days, against a fresh team with 26 kids, on
their way to the world cup... the boys should be proud of what they did.
I have to say... these kids could play. No doubt, some of them will
end up playing in Europe at some point. THey had a couple of players
that were just amazing... so gifted physically, so talented with the
ball. And their teamwork was something to behold at times. All in
all, an amazing experience. We were up 1-0 well into the first half
before the wheels fell off. I was pretty excited about that. Tommy
notching his first goal against an international side... pretty
cool. We gave them shirts and took some pictures afterwards, and
then headed back to the hotel, stopping on the way for some authentic
Indian food.
Tonight we went to the Trinidad-Honduras match... a World Cup
qualifier. It was fantastic. Great, great atmosphere. The crowd
was loud and excited. Honduras played the better game, leading 1-0
early in the second half. But T&T kept pushing late, and got the
equalizer at the 89th minute. The place went nuts which was cool.
It was a great evening... we walked to a restaurant and got some
pizza on the way home. Another terrific experience.
All for now... tomorrow morning we play Dion’s U17 team. He told
our boys the other day that he was going to ask his kids to play keep
away from us -- to maintain the ball possession for 75% of the time.
The kids took that to heart... we’ll see how we do. It will be
another tough match. I hope I have 11 healthy kids to start the game!
After the match, we go straight to the airport to fly to Tobago for
two days. Monday night we have our last match against a Tobago
selection under the lights. Should be fun. Plus the day on Monday
and most of Tuesday to hit the much-awaited beach!
The kids are all doing well, healthy, happy, and having fun. It has
been another super day.
Jeff
DAY FOUR
Hello again everybody,
I apologize for the delay in getting off this next report. We were
in Tobago the last three days, and I did not have computer access
there. Again... such a lot to report. I will try to be brief! I’ll
also try to finish up with a summary after we get back. There is a
lot to reflect on. The guys continue to be stellar... they are
having a great time on the pitch, in the waves, around the hotel, on
the bus... in every way. The team building going on this week is
phenomenal. Even the kids who perhaps were on the fringes of the
team have found their niche. It had been so powerful to observe the
transformation, the new friendships, the laughs, the bonding.
Sunday morning we played our 4th match in 4 days. It was against
Dion’s club team -- a mixture of U16 and U17 players. Again... very
strong kids physically, technically, and tactically. I think I might
have mentioned in an earlier email that Dion told our kids that his
team could possess the ball 75 percent of the time in the match. We
took that seriously and the kids were pretty driven to turn those
numbers around. We started out well, and as we had done in each of
the matches in Trinidad thus far, got the first goal. Jared scored
on a driven header off a nice cross to put us up after about 10
minutes. We were controlling the game, playing mostly in their end.
Dion told me after the game that he saw we were the better team with
the ball, and therefore changed his tactics around a bit. He put an
extra kid up on top, and started to bypass our midfield since they
were doing so well. He had one kid in particular who was very
dangerous. After pumping a dozen balls over the top, they finally
got one. Later in the half, they scored again and were up 2-1 at the
break. Our kids took control again in the second half and had a
number of chances. I am sure Dion might disagree, but I think we
were the better team throughout. The last ten minutes it was getting
hot, hot, hot on the field. But our guys kept going. They were
relentless and had Dion’s team on the ropes. Finally we got the
equalizer. Ryan drove a deadball into the box from about 35 yards
out, and Tim Jozwiak got above everybody and headed it home. It was
a beautiful goal. If we had another 5 minutes, I am sure we would
have scored again. The kids were really going for it. The game went
to PK’s, into the 6th round. Unfortunately we came up short on that
end, but the game had a great feel to it. The kids knew they had
played well and subdued a pretty good team. After the match, Dion
gave out a jersey for the player of the match, Tim Jozwiak being the
very deserving recipient. The kids exchanged shirts and pins, and
talked a bit together. It was one of those feel-good moments. A
great finish to our time in Trinidad, made all the more sweet because
the kids knew that from the field we were going straight to the
airport, and subsequently to Tobago and the much awaited white beaches.
Sunday night we all rode some monster waves at a beautiful beach, and
saw one of the most amazing sunsets I could imagine. The sun dropped
into the ocean in a blaze of red and orange... truly stunning -- as
we all were enjoying the salty bathwater. All the bumps and bruises
of the past 4 days and games seemed to melt away.
Monday morning we took the guys to another beach for some more fun in
the surf. I am not sure how many times we heard "white boy" on the
trip, but soon that description no longer fit the bill. I have never
seen a group of pale skinned boys turn red so fast... uneven
distribution of SPF 30 sunscreen was definitely evident. But nobody
seemed to mind -- more body surfing and hanging on the beach.
Monday night we were lined up for our last match of the tour -- our
fifth game in five days. I didn’t really know who we were going to
play. I had heard from Dion it would be a group of U16 kids from the
island, played under the lights. The second part was true -- an
awesome night under the lights, with a healthy crowd of locals
filling the stands. The former, however... not true. Turns out the
match was against the U17 Tobago national team. That is how the
players described themselves anyway... the best U17 kids on the
island. Turns out that three of those players we had played two days
earlier when we went against the U17 national team of Trinidad. The
coach told me so, and the guys recognized some of the players.
In any event, I knew we were in for a stiff test when I saw them come
out of the locker room. Big, strong, fast, athletic, technically
awesome. No other way to describe them. Plus, the field was
enormous. Huge field against a bunch of speedsters... I knew the
kids would have to play their best to have a chance.
They played extremely hard. It was a very, very physical game. They
(Tobago) were clearly the better team, but nobody could take away
anything from our intensity and commitment. It was 1-0 at half, and
I was actually pleased with the way the game had sort of evened out
after the first 20 minutes of all out assault. They got two rather
unlucky goals shortly into the second half which didn’t help, but the
kids kept fighting. It was a very spirited game, and the night
lights and noise continued to attract the locals to the field. I was
proud of my guys. They played so hard. Tim Jozwiak was involved in
the play of the night -- he went up for a header with a big kid and
they smashed heads. Both went down in a heap, and by the time I got
out there, Tim’s white jersey had a lot of red on it. After all we
had gone through for 5 days, it was amazing that we had made it that
far without a serious injury, but this was definitely one to be
reckoned with. Ingrid (who has been just amazing this whole trip)
took a taxi with Tim to the emergency room. We were getting the
hourly updates via text message back at the hotel... "Arrived an
hour ago... looks like the worst day you can imagine at the DMV..."
"Been here two hours... nobody ahead of us in line has been seen..."
"Doctor is apparently delivering a baby goat..." "Two chickens just
walked through the emergency room..." No joke on the chickens.
Anyway, Tim finally was seen by the doctor after 1AM, and returned to
the hotel at 2am with stitches and a shaved spot on his head. In
Ingrid’s words, "He was a stud." Both Ingrid and Tim made it through
that rough experience in one piece, and with a heck of a story to
tell. In the end, we lost 5-0, but there was no shame in it at all.
I said it a hundred times to the kids... we couldn’t buy competition
like this in Colorado. It truly was a completely different level
physically, technically, tactically. We learned a great deal.
One last thing... I can’t forget to mention that Dion spent these
three days with us in Tobago. It was just amazing. I learned so
much from him about the game, about technique, about coaching, and
about motivating the players. This guy is an absolute legend in
Trinidad and Tobago. Honestly... everywhere we went, he was stopped
by total strangers, asking for autographs, wanting to know what was
up with the national team, etc. The media called him for interviews
three or four times that I was aware of... he is an icon. As a
coach, Dion can command just about any fee he wants. He gets offers
of four or five thousand dollars a week to coach at camps all over
the world. We had the pleasure of learning from him all week long.
He spent the entire time -- sitting by the pool, walking to the
beach, in the hotel rooms -- talking to the kids, giving them
pointers, asking them questions, interacting with them around the
game. Again... money just couldn’t buy what we experienced this
week, and I am so grateful for all that Dion gave to the team
collectively, to the individual boys, and to me. He truly is an
amazing person, and so generous with his time and affection for the
kids.
Today we took the guys on a glass-bottom boat excursion to a coral
reef. They all got to snorkel, and walk around on an "ocean pool" a
mile or two off shore. It was amazing... a sand bar in the middle of
the ocean, with two or three feet or warm water to walk around in.
Such a unique experience. Back to the hotel to pack up, grab lunch,
and then fly back to Trinidad this evening.
Tomorrow morning we’ll wrap up this adventure and head back home. I
hope -- I am sure -- it will be an experience these kids will not
soon forget. As Dion told them today as we were saying goodbye, now
it is up to them. They need to make this trip count for something
more, something greater. I know he was speaking about the soccer
aspect of it but... if the kids were listening (and I think they
were), they would have understood the power in his words as they
applied to something way more profound than soccer. Make your lives
count for something more, something better, something greater.
Although they might not all be able to articulate it right now, I
think at some level they got it. I asked a lot of kids today what
was the highlight of the trip. Some of them talked soccer, but more
than half of them said something about our interactions with the
people, and specifically the under-privileged kids we met. I think
it was an eye opener, which was what I was hoping for. Maybe not all
of them... but many of these kids got it. They could see the bigger
picture.
Thanks again for all of your support of this trip. It was all I
could have hoped for, and then some. And a special thanks to Tim and
Rick for all of their contributions to the experience. One last
time... none of it would have happened without Ingrid. She was
amazing, and certainly deserves a medal!
Thanks,
Jeff
