Day 3: April 21

This morning, the boys began training with KNVB coaches Leo and Ber at Scharn Futbol Training Facility in Maastrict. They had a session in the morning and one in the afternoon followed by a game versus the RKVVM futbol club at 6:30 PM. Many towns in the Netherlands have community supported soccer clubs with a clubhouse, canteen and locker rooms. The boys marched out together with coach Sam.

It was the worst of times and then it was Patrick's time. The boys were a bit deflated and disheartened being down 0-2 at the end of the first half, but came storming back in the second half and scored within the first minute of play. From there it was all Far Post as the boys put on a scoring display. Nico absolutely drilled a shot from 40 yards out. Then Wyatt shot around a wall on a free kick. In the end, Sam's master stroke to move Patrick up front made a huge difference in the game as Patrick proceeded to rack up a hat trick plus one. Our RKVVM hosts and provided a small cup of free beer and flat pepsi, which we had to pay for. (but seriously they were gracious.)

The boys had their first team meeting after the game and were excited to have won so convincingly despite having a full day of training and still recovering from jet lag. Journal spines were broken and Sam had the boys consider some interesting questions. The boys went to bed walking like old chaperones, but looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.