Local girls with the European Football School (EFS) soccer program are taking road trips of global proportions.
Between April 26 and May 1 Danielle Sweeney traveled to San Diego with Jaime and Calli Wessells along with their EFS teammates from the North Shore. Two teams took the trip to California, an under 14 squad and an under 15 team.
Two teams made up of older players left for Europe last Friday (May 13).
The travel plans for the two trips were coordinated by Dave Sweeney, an assistant coach with EFS.
According to Sweeney, EFS leader Sabio Talic likes to give his top players international experiences.
The U14 and U15 teams played state and division championship teams from the San Diego area.
Sweeney said the U14 squad won two games, tied one and lost one while the U15's won one, tied one and lost two games.
"It was a good experience," Sweeney said. "They all grew tremendously and learned basically to act as an ambassador."
Calli didn't get much playing time because she injured her ankle in the first game and she had to sit out the rest of the games on the trip.
The local girls on the U16 and U17 teams jetting to Europe are Amy Sweeney, Charlotte Hagedorn, Courtny Banbury and Jordan Neumann.
Amy, Charlotte and Courtny are grade 11 students at Howe Sound Secondary playing on the U17 squad and Jordan is at Don Ross Secondary in grade 10 playing with both the U16 and U17 teams.
Sweeney traveled with the girls on the San Diego trip and he's also making the trip to Europe.
The squads will play eight games in Europe; three in Amsterdam, four in Duisberg and two in Paris.
Sweeney said the first game will feature all 25 of the Canadians playing as one team to iron out the rust from the long flight.
In Duisberg, Germany the teams will play a German national development team.
When the teams are finished in Germany they will take an overnight train to Paris to a team called SC Juvisy. Sweeney said the French team is the equivalent of a metro level team here.
The teams will stay mainly in hostels while touring Europe.
"The nice part about this is they are all at the age where they are being looked at by universities," Sweeney said. A girl who went on a similar trip with EFS last year was scouted in Paris and later accepted an offer to attend a university in Paris to play soccer.
The players are serious about their game. They started training for the trip two months ago and they practiced five days a week the last few weeks for 90 minutes each practice. All the practices are held on the North Shore.
Sweeney said the EFS players making the trip are all good students who excel at the game.
While exploring Europe the players are expected to do homework. Sweeney said the trip dates take advantage of a long weekend and a professional development day at the schools to minimize the number of school days missed.
The teams return to Canada on Tuesday (May 24).
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***Correction - The photo accompanying this article in The Chief identified the three players in the photo as Danielle Sweeney, Charlotte Hagedorn and Jordan Neumann when in fact the three pictured were Amy Sweeney, Charlotte Hagedorn, and Courtny Banbury. The Chief regrets the error.
