Four of this year's squad which travelled to Italy had participated in the same tournament last year having played up an age group.

Having returned with a new squad playing in their own age group of 1995's, they were looking to improve on last seasons joint 5th place having been well beaten in the Quarter Finals in 2007.

Visiting the picturesque town of Genoa and residing in a small hotel on the seafront just 10km from the airport provided us with a lovely peaceful environment in which to set up camp for the week. With the sun shining throughout our stay it made our free time easy to fill with trips to the beach or walks along the sea front.

A short journey away we were driven to Borgorosso, a small professional club who looked after our every need. Paulo and Gianni organised the small team of people who were catering for us as we were treated to some wonderful Italian 3 course meals every evening.

Many of our games were played on third generation astro pitches, either high in amongst the mountains or directly above and next to the sea. As the tournament progressed we played on grass pitches at the athletics stadium and our last match took place at Genoa's training ground.

Genoa, a Serie A club and hosts of the 20 team tournament were the eventual champions defeating us 5-1 in the final.

Our route to the final was comfortable, winning the group with 3 wins from 3 games and scoring a large number of goals. Following the group stages was the knockout competition in which we were victorious in another 3 games against Italian, French and Serbian opposition to book our place in the final against Genoa.

Playing in front of a crowd of around 600 people was a good experience as the teams lined up for the tournaments closing game. Genoa were a very strong athletic group and were deserved winners and champions. Never the less the players had shown terrific attitude throughout the week and had gained many friends during our stay who we were very grateful to for their fantastic support and kindness and their speedy return to the airport to make sure we caught our flight which left 80 minutes after the final whistle!

The players returned home on Sunday afternoon to return to school on the Monday for the new school term. Having completed our European experiences for 2008, the players can look back on a year of challenge, enjoyment and education safe in the knowledge that they will continue to be educated through this means for 2009 with some excellent opportunities ahead.

Well done boys this week, as always a pleasure to be in your company.

Mark Bonner
Recruitment Officer

Squad: Joe Langenhan, Zac Toye, Daniel King, Dominic Iorfa, Connor Hammond, Lewis Webster, Jack Attwood, Daniel Ferrigno, Jack Bridge, Charlie Barlow, Rory Thompson, James Akintunde, Lyle Della Verde, Luke Webb, Lewis Creek

Coach: Steve King