Stantonbury International go to PSV Eindhoven

Stantonbury International School went on a football development tour to PSV Eindhoven in November 2018. Their coach departed quite early in the morning but despite the hour the children were kept entertained by the coach driver who they all loved!

Upon arriving in Carlton De Brug hotel the group was impressed with the hotel. The party leader – Mr. Simmonds commented that there was a certain “WOW factor” about every room and facility, and he could not recommend it highly enough.

Stantonbury’s second day began with an hour long training session. While the pitch hire and transport were organised by inspiresport, the school chose to train with their own coaches for that first hour. This was followed by free time and lunch before the children transferred to ‘De Hedgang’ where they had a training session with thePSV Eindhoven academy  coaches.

The following day began with another hour long own training session at the  indoor Carlton Hall. Later the group got a transfer to watch the championship youth league game PSV vs Barcelona which was followed by an evening training session with PSV Eindhoven. The day ended with bowling before everyone got back to the hotel. Mr Simmons shared thatthe children could not stop smiling the whole time.

Thursday began with a 3rd training session with PSV. The children couldn’t believe how involved and friendly the coaches and staff were. That experience was followed by a behind the scenes tour of the Philips Stadium that impressed the young players with the unrestricted access they were granted. In the afternoon the some of the children got to use their newly acquired skills in a fixture with a local team. Mr. Simmons shared with us that the children were inspired by the overall professional, sporting environment they were surrounded by that whole day. One of the highlights was the opportunity for the group to take pictures with some of the first team players and staff, and watch them train. There was even the opportunity to get a team photo with PSV’s U19 coach Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Unfortunately, due to unexpected circumstances the girls could not compete that afternoon, however, inspiresport’s  local rep – Niels  took the opportunity to fill that afternoon with  a mixture of enjoyable and meaningful activities for the group. He arranged to take the children to play laser quest and took a short detour to show them some of the key sights of the city. On their impromptu sightseeing tour, the group saw St Catherin’s Church which was the first church in Eindhoven, Stratumseind, a well known street throughout the Netherlands and City Hall (square) where PSV have celebrated s their league title wins. Mr. Simmons shared with us that he is extremely happy that despite the unavoidable circumstances their inspiresport rep took ownership of the situation and managed it in a way that was overall beneficial and educational for the group.

On the last day the group had a their final scheduled training session with PSV and travelled back to the UK in the afternoon… with their favourite coach driver.!

For more information on our PSV tours: https://inspiresport.co.nz/tours/football/europe/netherlands/psv-eindhoven/