Belgium Football Tour 2024

 Last weekend me and Brandon travelled to Belgium for a long weekend as part of the Academy Soccer summer football tour. Initially I didn’t really fancy going on this trip but every other lad on the team had a least one parent or their family going and I felt it would have been unfair on Brandon to travel on his own. However I have to say I am so glad I went as the weekend was absolutely amazing with quality time spent with Brandon.

 

We travelled on ferry and after setting off 2am on Friday morning we had about a 12 or 13 hour journey to get to our final destination. Once we arrived the weather was pretty bad with heavy rain and flooding and the lodge we had wasn’t the cleanest to say the least (dirty floor, broken toilet seat, blood stain on my pillow case!!!!). Then me and Brandon had drew the short straw and shared with arguably the most boring, socially inept mother and son out of the entire team who pretty much shut themselves in their room and barely said boo to a goose all weekend making it very difficult to share with them! But those were the only negatives, the rest of the weekend was amazing and one me and Brandon will look back on with fond memories.

 

It was a fantastic experience for the lads to play International football with some good teams from Holland and Belgium. Ironically we travelled all that way and in Saturdays group stages , one of their games was against a team from Saffron Walden! Then on day 2 one of the teams they played was against Peterborough Academy. Out of 16 teams I think Academy finished in 5^th with 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. It really was small margins and tiny errors which cost the boys points that could have easily seen them in the top 3. In fact one of the Dutch teams that we drew against 1-1 on day 1 went on to win the tournament.

 

Probably the best thing about the weekend was the social side and seeing all the kids bonding and having fun together. After the football they would all head off to the water park and of an evening they would be playing pool, darts, beach volleyball etc. The first night we all tried to book a table in one of the restaurants on site thus bombarding them with a table of 40+ people. They seemed to struggle with this and the service was slow, but we managed to get a good steak dinner to set us up for day 1 of the tournament. The second night me and Brandon joined up with Simon and Tom Cushing in the all you can eat buffet and had some really good food and some great conversation. It was really good to see Brandon have good social interactions and interests with some of the adults as well as the kids. After the meal the whole team headed down to the beach where we set-up some music, bought loads of drinks and just chilled out talking, having fun and even a lads versus Dad’s volleyball game (which the Dad’s won – no cheating, honest!).

 

For our final night in Belgium we all chipped in and bought four cheap BBQ’s and then everyone bought whatever food and drink they wanted for the evening. Then we all met up outside one of the lodges and just ate some great food, drank far too much alcohol and was probably a bit too loud with the music and singing. Brandon had one of the largest steaks ever which cost us €10 in Carrefour and I had a £10 bet with him that he couldn’t finish it all (money in the bank!). Most of the lads were dabbling with some alcohol as the drinking age was 16 in Belgium and they were allowed to buy their own beers in the Sports bar. Prior to this trip Brandon hadn’t really taken to beer but that all changed in Belgium as he tried Leffe, Juliper and Kwak over the weekend. Then after the beers me and him would often have a few rum and cokes as a night cap (we stole a bottle of Mum’s rum from home!). Needless to say Brandon got quite tipsy most evenings but in a responsible way where he never got to the point where he was sick, or couldn’t walk back to the room etc. We have some absolutely fantastic video clips of the drunken boys all singing things like Careless Whisper and Bohemian Rhapsody. The site security came around at 11pm and told us we had to call it a night as apparently they had a 10pm curfew.

 

There is so much I could write about the weekend and some really great memories were made which I am sure me and Brandon will look back in fondly in years to come. Oh and we replaced Tina’s rum as duty free were doing four bottle for £40!

Anyway loads of pictures from the weekend and too many for me to sort out in a logical order. So the pictures don't really flow for the 4 days we were away, but here goes..............

Be and Brandon both took a liking to the Belgium Kwak beer which is a strong 8% red beer with a hint of liquorish.

Parents chilling on the beach.

Parents Vs Kids beach volleyball - spot the ball.

Some of the U15 Academy team on the beach.

Parents team talk for tactics to beat the lads at beach volleyball.

We are always screaming at them to talk on the pitch, so lead by example.

Spot Brandon blended in to the sand with his beige outfit.

We definitely beat the boys, about 64-1 (no cheating of course).

More volleyball fun.

Lovely sun set across the lake / beach.

Stunning.

Academy U15's on tour in Belgium '24.

Another pic from the lake / beach.

Tom Cushing getting our parents nominated player of the tournament.

The team finished in 5th place overall.

Debrief and warm down after 6 games over 2 days.

Trips like this really bring the boys together and they have made some friends for life.

BBQ night outside some of the lodges.

Harry and Sam taking control of cooking duties.

More BBQ fun. Me with my boonie hat on which everyone took the mickey out of all weekend!

The before picture before everyone got a bit tipsey on the final night.

Once the beers started flowing the silliness started! Such a fun evening. Harry and Mark.

Sam and Dean,

Me and Brandon. Such a great weekend of bonding for us.

Last day and all chilling on the beach waiting for time to leave.

I think our group managed to take every chair available on the beach.

Drunken shenanigans, some great videos were taken of the boys singing Careless Whisper and Bohemian Rhapsody.

The coach out there, waiting for our ferry boarding.

On we get.

Dunkirk here we come.

Bye bye England.

Me and B on the ferry.

Sitting having team talks with Gaffa on the ferry.

And mainland Europe is in site.

Full coach load of 40+ for the 12 hour journey out there.

Some fishies and a little pond in the lobbie of the resort.

And even a little waterfall.

This was out accommodation for the 4 days.

Mine and Brandon's bedroom.

Dodgy wooden staircase that needed navigating in a drunken state each night to keep getting up for the toilet!

The downstairs kitchen area of our lodge.

And the living area, not that we spent much time there.

Brandon started drinking and liking beer for the first time, and strong Belgium stuff as well.

First night and we all met in one of the on-site restaurants for a steak dinner. Adults on one table.

More of the adults.

Then the boys were on a table of their own.

And despite being on a table of kids managed to order in rounds of beer!

Before heading off to bed me and B would settle down for a quick night cap (Tina's stolen bottle of Captain Morgan).

Day 1 of the tournament and the weather was teasing with rain and sun.

But our super loud group of parents had some shelter to watch the footy.

Team picture after the boys first match. With the coaches.

And without the coaches.

I didn't get many action shots of Brandon playing as they often came out very distant with him playing the other side of the pitch as right back.

But I did get a piccy of him doing a throw in.

More team talks.

Daylight view of the beach on our resort.

And another one.

On a hot summers day you could imagine this being a good little holiday spot for the weekend.

Another view out across the lake.

The resort had an indoor pool with loads of water slides, great for the boys to chill out and relax after the footy.

The only pictures I could get was from the window in the Sports Bar which doesn't do the pool area justice.

Responsible parenting 101 enjoying a diet coke with my son (honest!).

Brandon chilling and having a snack in between matches.

On day 2 with the threat of more rain the parents set-up camp under a large gazebo.

Warm down time.

Some of the boys with the trophy at the end of the tournament.

All the boys celebrating a great weekend experiencing international football with their trophy (which was given to Tom as player of the tournament).

Brandon with the tournament trophy.

Brandon's giant €10 BBQ steak with a German sausage, meatfest dinner time

Plenty of food going around at the BBQ, I think at the end of the night we threw so much out.

Drunken 15 year old's having the time of their life.

Some great pictures and videos to recall in the future at birthdays/weddings etc.

Finally some sunshine on our final day as we wait to get the coach home.

There are worse ways to kill time than chilling on the beach though.

But all good things come to an end.

And off we head in to the sunset from Calais back to the UK.

Me and Brandon were having a little comp to see who could get the best sunset picture on our phone.

They all look good though.