Captain's Blog

Hola mis amigos(as)... As you all know, the men's soccer team has been having a once in a life time experience here in Spain. Here in Spain we have had the amazing experience to play futbol against some very high quality and experienced soccer teams. Last night we experienced playing against a local team,  F.C. Vilafranca in the outskirts of Barcelona. As we got to the game we walked into a small stadium that had sprinklers wetting down the field with some local fans in the stands. We did not get the result we would have liked, but we are getting to play against some of the best teams we will ever play in our lives. These teams and players have been playing their entire lives, living and breathing the game. Playing against these teams is an eye opening experience, seeing the speed and accuracy of their passing and movements on and off the ball. This style of play has been very challenging to compete with but provides amazing practice for us and hopefully will give us a competitive advantage for the upcoming season. Although the results of these matches haven’t been in favor of our team, we look to take out positives from this experience and learn from each game.

We are currently in Barcelona and it is an amazing atmosphere that reminds me of a Spanish New York City. People of all ethnicity and cultural diversity swarm the street talking a mix of languages and accents. The city square, Placa de Catalunya, can be compared to Broadway. Hundreds of thousands of people walk the street of Las Ramblas shopping and eating the cultural food. Off this street are narrow alleys that sell anything from high quality olive oils, to one of a kind jewelry. Today we got to experience a three hour walking and bus tour of Barcelona. We left our hotel around 9:15 and took a bus ride up to the hills of Barcelona where we took our first stop at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic stadium. This stadium was located up within the hills that over look the city and it was an amazing view of the city. At the top of these hills our team was able to see Sagrada Familia that stood out like a sore thumb towering over the local buildings and apartments. After leaving the hills we soon arrived in a small marina/sea port. Here we took our second stop where we walked across a  board walk that over looked a  beach. This beach was a smaller and a quieter atmosphere compared to Valencia but was a nice view of the Mediterranean sailors port. Once leaving the shore we then hit the real part of the tour where we then stopped back at the city square where we followed our guide Anna through the small alley ways.The afternoon was spent on our on exploring the area and grabbing a bite to eat.

We had a light training session from 5 to 7pm followed by dinner at the hotel.

Your guest blogger, Chris Bruton, Captain (Management and Leadership major and Center Back)