Day 1: The Longest Day

To start off, this particular first day has been long and it is hard to keep track of what day it is already. We successfully made it to Montreal and had a seamless flight over the Amsterdam. The girls were scattered all over the plane and they were too excited to sleep. 

We landed in Amsterdam at 7:30AM and hit the ground running. The passport process was seamless and we collected those right away. We then met Jos and Coen, our guides for the trip and headed on a premier bus to the Ajax training facility that was very impressive. 

The girls had their own locker room to get ready for the first training that began at 10AM. the boys and girls split the field and worked with two different trainers. The first was with Ronaldo who focused on the warm up, agility, running technique, core and balance work as well as positioning when openening up for the ball. This session was demanding mentally and physically and the girls did great even having it be 4AM EST. Ronaldo made sure to reiterate that it is really important to focus on the positioning of you leg/foot while running and accelerating on the field to make sure you are a fast, efficient soccer player. As a coach, it was great to be able to talk to him in between drills to ask why he was doing a certain move. He of course had an explanation for everything. 

The girls then switched with the boys to trainer Arnold Mühren. In the session with Mühren, the girls worked on technique for passing, dribbling, striking, heading and volleying the ball. The focus remained really high and the highlight of the session was when he said "man your better than the boys huh?" It was great to have them work with Mühren because he is a famous, renowned soccer player that has professional experience with the Netherlands, Manchester United, Ajax and more. 

Next was finally lunch. FOOD! The food and sun worked together to knock out every single one of the players while we were watchin a U16 Ajax Club match. This picture describes it perfectly. 

The Ajax stadium followed this quick nap in the sun. We got a full on tour and were able to see all aspects of the stadium including our seats for the game tomorrow (4/19), the news box, press conference rooms and last but not least, a chance to stand on the field. The stadium (picture below) was completely empty and will be a whole different scene tomorrow when we see an Ajax game. 

We finished the tour with a short film on the history if the team/stadium and headed to the hostel. By the time we arrived, most everyone was sleeping on he bus and were ready to crash. Dinner was at 7AM followed by a quick team meeting gearing up for A trip into Amsterdam in the morning as well as a 7AM run in the park, a game in the Ajax stadium and moving into the next leg if the trip in Maastricht. We will update tomorrow as long as the wifi works.