The first week of the summer holidays saw six boys from Lewes Old Grammar School, head to Gothenburg to compete at the Gothia World Youth Cup. They were travelling to the tournament having been selected for the Prep Schools’ Pumas, the Independent Schools regional representative football team.

They were selected following some competitive trials last November. Indeed, players were nominated for the trial from over 100 Independent Schools, so competition was fierce. Selection in itself is an excellent achievement.

With around 1,800 teams from 85 countries the Gothia World Youth Cup is the world’s biggest youth event and is larger than the Commonwealth Games. Our boys have said how inspiring it was to play against and talk to boys and girls from all over the world, South Africa, Mexico, Japan and many others, all with a common interest, football.

56,000 people, including many parents, family and supporters of the players were in the famous Ullevi Stadium for the Opening Ceremony. This was a very colourful affair, lots of music with an air of Eurovision, a multitude of X-Factor flames, and fireworks all added to by way of audience participation. “We are here to celebrate The Game!” was a chant none of us will easily forget, but it helped to represent the entire feeling of unity and positivity that was evident around the whole city during the tournament.

The football itself was fast and furious against teams which in many cases are professional academies and feeders for some of Europe’s top senior sides.  The standard was very high, but our teams performed well.  The coaching staff were fantastic. They were caring and considerate and encouraged the boys to enjoy every minute that they were there.

Our Under 13 Pumas team included five LOGS students; Stan Knight, Theo Claydon, Henry Brown, Charlie Milner and Toby Warren. Theo Summers played in the under 12 Pumas team where he also made some great friends despite not knowing any of them at the start. Although the teams hadn’t played to any degree together prior to the competition and were from differing schools, they all bonded and got on extremely well.

The team were set to go. We had Stan storming down the left-wing, Charlie crusading down the right. Henry hassling in the mid-field, Toby tenacious in defence and Theo tireless in goal! Drawn in a group with two Swedish teams, a German team and the only representative team from Lebanon! Out of our four games, we were victorious against one Swedish team and the German team but lost against the remaining two.

Both the Under 12’s and Under 13’s made it to the Plate competition but unfortunately lost the next round, so there our football ended for that year.

As parents, we were all amazed by how we saw our boys leave us to stay overnight with groups of children they’d hardly ever met before. Being in an unfamiliar country they totally embraced the whole project, growing in confidence and independence as the week progressed.

The trip was of course aided by Gothenburg being such a delightful city with great transport links, including the scooter hiring and an easy-going atmosphere. All of us enjoyed the social side in the evenings, meeting the parents from other schools and discussing the games earlier that day. The boys had great fun in the evenings as well at the school where they were residing.

It was an honour for them to be selected and to play representing their country. It was an experience for them all to remember and surely will. It’s not often that they will have the chance to pit themselves against some of the best young players in the world.