Day 1: April 19

The post our parents have been waiting for.... All 13 boys and 4 chaperones arrived safely at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam at 7:30am this morning! Running on pure adrenaline, our group boarded the team coach bus and headed straight for the Amsterdam Arena for our first taste of totaalvoetbal.

The stadium tour allowed our group access to the press room, Queen's box, pitch side on the team benches, and also a shock viewing of the Ajax first team's final closed-door session prior to their appearance in the KNVB cup final tomorrow. We were even lucky enough to see the legendary Dennis Bergkamp.

Following the tour, the group raided the Ajax fan shop, picking up the first souvenirs of the trip.

The afternoon was spent at the Ajax training facility watching the Aegon Future Cup U16 tournament featuring Ajax, Benfica, AC Milan, Liverpool, Celtic, and more. You could see the awe on the faces of the boys from Vermont, realizing that the players on display were only two years older than they were. Between games, our boys in orange befriended some younger Dutch players and started a pickup game on the Ajax campus. While the language was somewhat of a barrier, their shared passion for the game led to hours of spirited play.