Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Jan Pruijn update

sept. 17, 2008

CBC Dutch Touch is proud to announce the appointment of Jan Pruijn as Technical Director of Ajax Cape Town, South Africa.
Jan has a provision in his contract to return to St. Louis in July to conduct the CBC Dutch Touch International Camp.We congratulate him and look forward to his return in July for a third successful year of the International Camp.


Jan Pruijn - New Head of Technical Affairs
Ajax Cape Town is proud to announce the appointment of Jan Pruijn as the Head of Technical Affairs at Ikamva.
He has agreed to a two year contract that will see him at Ikamva until August 01, 2010.
John Comitis the Ajax CEO said, The minute we realised the sponsorship of MTN I did not hesitate to secure the services of Jan Pruijn. He has a vast reservoir of knowledge about the latest developments of football and his appointment at Ikamva will once again raise the bar within our structures.
There is nothing like having first world input and experience at your doorstep. Our association with Ajax Amsterdam keeps us abreast of the developments of the world game but having Jan at Ikamva will ensure that we continually develop our coaches in accordance with the latest technical and tactical global developments.
By educating our coaches we indirectly educate our players and how better to prepare them for football at a higher level.
Jan will also work with our scouts to ensure that players who come into Ikamva is of a high quality and fit the profile of an Ajax player.
Jan has worked extensively throughout the world teaching coaches and we hope to keep him here for a long time to come, concluded Comitis
Profile: Jan Pruijn
Jan holds a full coaching badge from the Royal Dutch Soccer Federation (KNVB), which allows him to coach at any professional level throughout the world. In this capacity, he travelled throughout the world to observe and work with many countries' most talented soccer players.
Jan recently served as the head of the Ajax International Youth Development.
He was responsible for the establishment and organizational structure in the “AJAX-way” for branches in South Africa, Ghana, and Belgium. He also worked with players and coaches in Japan, Urawa Reds; China, CFA, Shanghai; Spain, Real Sociedad; Portugal, FC Porto; Switzerland, FC Basel; and several teams in England.
After his semi-professional football career, he started coaching at De Treffers F.C in 1985. Since then he has coached with professional clubs N.E.C. Nijmegan, Helmond Sport, The Royal Dutch Soccer Federation (KNVB), Lebanon F.A. National Youth Team, and A.F.C Amsterdam.
Jan has a long history and experience in running soccer camps all over the United States and Japan. At one of these camps he lectured over 500 coaches from 42 different states as well as countries like Canada, France, England and the Caribbean who attended the WORLD CLASS COACHING International Coaching Seminar at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City in the USA.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Website is reloaded

Monday, Aug. 11, 2009

The website is loaded with pictures from the camp -- check it out !!!
also, updates for 2009 are posted-

enkoy !!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Updates

1. Check the website after Aug 11 as the Gallery will have pictures from the following activities: Camp, 4 vs 4 at St. Luke's, Pool Party, and Awards Ceremony

2. The spring trip to Holland is just about filled --
we are waiting on confirmation on a second set of tickets for a second group to go.
That confirmation should be very soon --

3. The website will have the events for 2009 posted after Aug. 11 --
check the Camp dates and Trip dates.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Updated Information

Tuesday, July 29, '08

Until Aug 11, this will be the source for new information. The person who updates the site is away for awhile, som please check this site regularly.

First of all, please check the website fot the International '08 Camp Wrap Up article
it can be found on the homepaqge scroll and a click here --

Second, thanks to everyone who had anything to do with the Camp -- it was a tremendous success.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

2 pictures





a picture from the dining hall and a picture of the players warming up

Saturday, July 26, 2008

The way back home

Saturday, July 26 - 6:45 pm

Everything went well at the airport this afternoon and the dutchies and Germans were checked in without problems. The St. Louis departure seemed to be very normal and we hope that continues until they reach home.

Friday night the families and the guests had a party at the Laufketters and karaoke was the main event. Groups combined and sang songs and had a great time. Once again, we have built new friendships and have lasting memories of the past week's experiences.

A special thanks to the host families who so generously opened their homes to our guests and provided them with a wonderful time. For many of our families, this is their second experience as host families and they enjoyed even more the second tiome around.

Thanks to our guests for coming over and making the week special with the European flair. We feel very fortunate to have this Camp taking off and doing so well and we look forward to another good experience next summer (July 19-24, 2009).

All of the guest left with a video of the week thanks to Ray Cataldo, one of the hosts. That will provide many moments to remember the week's activities and the people involved.

Thanks to so many for so much !!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Is it really over so soon ?????

Friday, July 25 9:00 pm
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Yes, unfortunately the week has come the end, the camp has ended and our friends,new and old, will return to their homes with manuy memories. The St Louis people involved, players, coaches and host families will carry the memories of the week with them for some to come. It was a great week, culminating in a sensational awards ceremony where Jan had an assortment of momentos from Holland for the players. He initiated a soccer player card raffle and trading event that really caught on and the kids loved it. The big winner ( National Team jerseys of Holland -Home and Away, and Germany- home) were Malik Hadjri, Spencer Holloman and Jordan Forrest.

The winners of the wooden shoe award - presented to the MVP of the Camp were - Henning Huigen (Holland) in the young division and Mara Keomanivane of Illinois in the older diivision.

Nick Imo establisheda Camp consecutive juggling record today in the individual juggling contes with 2400 consecutive juggles using a #3 ball - during which time he twice cradled the ball on the back of his neck as he dropped down to tie his shoe and also trapped the ball between his legs for a momentary rest -- it was very impressive !!

From Tuesday on we picked 3 Players of the Day and presented a T-shirt with the Dutch Lion, which they wore for the entire day. The winners were: Mara Keomanivane, Michelle van der Laan, Liz Hopkins, Sara Price, Matt Yankowitz, Corey Nolte, Nick Lehman, Ben Modde, Tony Siedler (from Germany), Justin Bilyeu, Nick Imo and Tyler Womack.

we hope that everyone had a good time and learned in some way how to improve as a soccer player. We do know that there were many opportunities presented for the players to learn and hopefully, as time goes on, they will realize some benefit.

The coaches selected some 20 players and extended invitations to them to travel to Holland on the Spring trip (March 18-29). Please check the website www.cbcdutchtouch.com for more information about the trip in the near future. W#e have 20 plane tickets reserved and we expect the trip to fill rather quickly.

In closing, tomorrow, Saturday. we will gather at the airport for the final time to see our visitors off and hopefully we will stay in contaqct thru email and see them again in the spring as we travel to Holland.

Thanks to everyone for making this a great experience.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Cool,Rainy Thursday

Thursday, July 24 - 9:40 PM LOCAL TIME

Yes it was a cool and rainy day -- we were in the rain during parts or all of the 3 training sessions. A late morning, heavy rain caught the last part of the morning session, with scattered rain in the afternoon, and rain throughout the evening session. The Cardinal baseball went on as scheduled.

The rain took some of the life out of the player's legs today and the recovery and rejunivation was slower than usual. It was much better than the high temps and humidity of Sunday and Monday.

Friday will close out the week with a morning session and a short afternoon session of awards and prizes. All in all,it has been a great week and many new friends were made.

I am having trouble with posting the pictures ---

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wednesday, July 23

Today was a bit of a break in the training schedule as the visitors were out on the town during the morning and afternoon and the St. Louis players trained in the morning. Some of the activities for the visitors included a trip to the Arch, the City Museum, Forest Park paddle boat and Boathouse for lunch,Six Flags, malls and shopping and go carts.

In the evening we gathered at St Luke's for4v4 on grass fields, BBQ and watermelon.
It was a great night and everyone was very enthusiastic and had a great time. Then we went to the pool for a fun-filled 90 minutes of all sots of water activities, including the "unofficial" diving contest won again by Michelle van der Laan of Holland. "Jumping" Jack Tettamble was an amusing 2nd with an assortment of flops that produced near tidal wave splashes in the pool area. Everyone enjoyed themselves throughout the evening.

Jan presented the host families with some momentos and then held a raffle where all the host families won a prize from Holland.

All in all, a great day-- busy for some , rest for others -- fun for all those who joined in the evening activities.

We resume normal camp schedule on Thursday with the usual 3 sessions, although the visitors will attend the Cardinals baseball game at night.

More tomorrow, with more pictures.

Camp photo and group photo at Rams park


Tuesday, July 22, 2008

2nd day --

Tuesday - July 22, 10:00 pm local time

We got the relief we needed in the weather with a night time thunder storm and today was very pleasant. The morning was actually a bit cool and the training was great !!
Enthusiasm today was very high and the players did very well in the activities.
We are looking forward to another nice day tomorrow as the visitors will have time to sightsee until the evening when we have a 4 v 4 event in a nother location, BBQ, and a swim party. Then Thursday will resume regular training back at CBC.

pictures to follow

Monday, July 21, 2008

First full day !!




I have finally received som epictures to post, hopefully more to come !!
Today was the hottest day this summer in St louis and we made it thriought the full day with plenty of necessary breaks. Lunch and dinner in the air-conditioned dining hall provided a very welcomed relief. In the evening, when the temps were lowering , the 11 a side games were played very competitively. The training in the morning and afternoon was very good and intensive and the players responded well. we are hoping for rain and a break in the high temps and high humidity tomorrow. If not, we will adjust the schedule to provide more indoor activities as well.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good second day and the weather will cooperate.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

first day in under the heat and humidity

Sunday, July 20 - 11:45 pm local St. Louis time

Just finishing up the long day -- Camp started well today despite high temperatures with equally high humidity. Everyone managed to make it through and the effort was very much appreciated by all the coaches. After a technical warmup session conducted by Jan, we then played small sided games of 6 vs 6 in different ways and then finished the evening with 11 a side games played across the pitch.

Following the session the visitors and the host families met in the school for pizza and refreshments, and a little bit of socializing.

So, all in all, we had a very successful first day and look forward to a full day on Monday, although we have another day of very uncomfortable weather.

Due to a problem with my email, I have not been able to receive any mail, much less pictures to post. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have some to post.

All the visitors seem to be adjusting quickly and are enjoying themselves.

more tomorrow ---

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Saturday, July 19 - 8:10 pm local St. Louis time

We enjoyed a nice visit to Rams Park this morning and then had the rest of the day to spend with the host families. Sunday at 4:00pm we will meet the players and begin Camp. By that time, the jet lag should be gone and everyone will be ready to traain and play in the St.Louis heat and humidity. The temperatures are expected to be high for the next couple of days (96,97 degrees F) coupled with high humidity will make it a very sweaty ordeal.

There seems to be a break in the heat possibly Tuesday with the chance of rain showers. With the artificial turf at CBC High School, the rain will not affect the training and will probably be a welcome relief.

Hopefully everyone is settling in and getting familiar with their new surroundings.
Plenty of pictures were taken to day and I will post them as soon as I get them sent to me.

We look forward to a great first day of Camp on Sunday and the arrival of the local players. In total, we will have 104 players in Camp, including 18 girls.
Also, we will welcome back many of our players from last summer as well.

more tomorrow after Camp --

Friday, July 18, 2008

........ and we're off !!! successful landing and arrival

9:45 pm local St. Louis time - Friday, July 18

We have welcomed our guests and new friends to St. Louis !!
There was a joyful reception as our visitors arrived and made their way down the hallway to the waiting host families. It was instant recognition and warm welcomes were exchanged as the host families presented the guests with Cardinal baseball hats and St Louis Rams t shirts. Everyone looked tired after the long trip, but happy to be here.

We have pictures taken and I will post them once they get to me.

First thing in the morning(11 am), we will meet and tour the Rams (NFL) training facility and then the rest of the day is for spending time with the families and spending time in various ways in St. Louis.

The good news is that they have arrived safely and we can mow proceed with our planned activities. More to come later ---

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Here They Come !!!

Thursday, July 17, 7:00 pm local time

In just about 24 hours from this very moment the plane will be touching down in St. Louis with our guests and new friends and some returning friends. We are anxiously awaiting their safe arrival and the time we will spend together.

The plans are all in place, the host families are very excited to welcome their new house guests and the soccer activities are just around the corner. Right off the bat, Saturday, we have scheduled a tour of the St. Louis Rams (NFL) training center in St. Louis. The rest of Saturday and a good part of Sunday will be spent resting up from the trip and getting used to new surroundings. Camp starts st 4 pm on Sunday and from then on it is busy,busy,busy. We have tickets for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game on Thursday night for the visitors and host families.

we will post daily pictures, hopefully, starting with the arrival on Friday night .

more to come in the following days ---

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Countdown to CBC dutch touch International camp

Sunday - July 6, 2008 - 9:10 pm local time

Hello all,

In 2 weeks time we will have just completed the first session of the International Camp '08 and will be busy placing the players in the respective groups for the week.
With just over 100 players, it will be a geat opportunity for eveyone to meet new people, make new friends,compete, learn and hopefully become better soccer players and better people as well.

We will welcome 14 Dutch players and 2 Germans to St. Louis along with 4 Dutch coaches and a group of parents from Holland and Germany as well. This is the 2nd International Camp and interest was outstanding as the registration closed at the end of April. We regret that we were unable to provide this opportunity to all those who wanted it. Perhaps next summer we will expand to a 2nd week and be able to accomodate more of the interested players.

It is our hope that everyone has a great experience and can take many positives from the week's experience. The opportunity to exchange culture and interact on and off the field with peers from Europe will be a new and rewarding experience.

Please check thios regularly as we will keep it updated and as the Camp begins, we will post daily pictures of the action on and off the field. Please visit www.cbcdutchtouch.com for Camp information, daily schedule and a photo gallery of last summer's Camp.

Anxiously counting down the days !!!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Friday - April 24, 2008

hello and welcome --

welcome to www.cbcdutchtouch.com
yes the website is now officially up and running
please check it out and leave your comments

I am also able to announce at this time that the 2008 CBC-dutch touch International Camp is sold out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a full camp plus some and it is only the end of April --
we will welcome 14 dutchies and 2 Germans to the camp this and many returning St. Louis campers with many new ones as well -- it should be another great experience for everyone.

enjoy the website

Friday, April 11, 2008

Friday - April 11, 2008

Hello everyone

I want to inform you thaat soon the cbc-dutch touch web site will be up and running.
You will find it at: www.cbcdutchtouch.com

it should up at going within 2 weeks time, I hope -- definitely by the end of April.

We will be loading Camp, travel and coacing education information along with other soccer and dutch soccer-related information.

As of this moment, the registration for the 2nd CBC-dutch touch International Soocer Camp is doing very well. I think we will be full in the near future and then will have to close applications. This summer we will welcome 14 dutcchies and 2 German players to St louis along with @ 60 St Louis boys and girls. we are very excited about the prospect of another successful week and look forward to making new friends with young players form Europe.

Our most recent trip to Holland exemplified the wonderful relationships that have developed in such a short period of time. We met the parents of the players from last summer and many of them hosted our kids while we were there. It is an extraordinary benefit from the soccer eexperience and we are all better becaus eof it.

We are definitely planning to return to Holland next spring with another group of St Louis players. We have March 19 - March 28 as the dates for the trip. Plan ahead and mark your calendar as this trip will be another wonderful experience. If you have any questions, please contact Terry Michler at michlert@cbchs.org -------

Please feel free to leave comments and ask questions ---

Monday, March 31, 2008

Monday 3-31-08


Below is a website that has TV footage of our game vs De Bataven in Gendt, Holland (Daan and Tim's team).
Follow the links and when you get to the list of programs, click the top left program. The game footage starts @ 17 minutes into the program.

On this site (http://www.tvlingewaard.com) go to televisie—> bekijk uitzending—> medaiplayer. You can view the TV Lingewaard broadcasting of the match that the St. Louis team played against the Bataven (at the end of the movie).


Below is the recap of the game vs SKV of Wageningen (Tom Menting's old team)

Just a short match report for our guests from St. Louis. Thursday, 27th march 2008, the match between SKV C1 and the college team from St. Louis. SKV started the match very good. It pushes St. Louis far back on its own half. The St. Louis defenders have their hands full, but they are doing a great job. It is good to see that both the boys and girls of St. Louis really enjoy playing football (or should I say soccer) very enthusiastic. Lots of energy and lots duels. SKV also uses this friendly match to try out several younger players from another team, because the C1 has some players with injures and they need some more time to recover. In the first half SKV is quite dominant, but it can not create much scoring opportunities. After 4 minutes the first shot on goal, but it is nicely saved by the goalkeeper of st. Louis. Unfortunately after 15 minutes our centre forward player must leave the game with an injury. Later in the hospital it is diagnosed as a small broken bone in his hand. He has a plaster bandage and needs to take a few weeks rest.

The first half continues with regular attacks from SKV, which result in only a few real good changes. One change for our centre forward, but it takes to much time to position the ball for his right foot. Few minutes later a fantastic save by the St. Louis goalkeeper prevents a goal. Just before half time a shot from Daniel but it hits the crossbar.

The second half is totally different. St. Louis starts much better. The combinations are good and especially dangerous are their fast attacks. It takes only a few fast combinations and the forwards are in scoring positions. SKV does not know how to handle that, and our goalkeeper needs to do some saves. Some of them require the assistance of the defenders. These fast attacks from St. Louis are really dangerous. SKV is playing 1 on 1 in the defense, and that can be quite risky. After 15 minutes SKV recovers a bit from the attacks from St. Louis. A beautiful cross reaches our centre forward, and he does not hesitate and shoots immediately at the goal. Again the crossbar saves St. Louis. A few minutes later Daniel can score after a pass from Lars. Daniel passes his direct opponent and shoots hard and low, 1-0. Being 1-0 behind inspires St. Louis to go for it. It starts to play passionately. It feels that it can still go for the 1-1. It pushes SKV way back in the defense. The attacks from St. Louis keep getting closer to the SKV goal. The players of St. Louis are pushing forward. It is with good combination football and fast forward that they can do this, but luckily for SKV the final shot or combination can be defended.

Five minutes before the final whistle SKV can score the 2-0. After an attack of St. Louis the ball is immediately played far out on our forward Daniel, He goes solo onto the goalkeeper, but unfortunately Daniel can not control the ball and the goalkeeper can pick it up. Finally St. Louis gets the desired result. A combination through the middle is not handle correctly by SKV and Tom (former SKV player) can score for St. Louis, 1-1. Almost immediately after the 1-1 the referee ends the game. After the game all the players from St. Louis get a small memorabilia (key ring with wooden shoes) to remember this game.

For both teams I think this was a great experience. It is always nice to play against international teams. St. Louis thank you very much for this game.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Sat - 3-29-08
9:45 am local St. Louis ( 3:45 pm dutch)

thanks for the responses to the blog about our safe return.
the link to Bataven provides some great photos - need some help with the interviews and write-ups (dutchies ???)

A very special thanks to Tim who was huge in the preparation of this trip. He was a valuable partner from the beginning to the end. He did all that was asked of him and did it very well. Trips just don't happen to go smoothly without a lot of reasons. Thanks Tim !!!

Also thanks to the adults who were on the trip with us to help in so many ways --
Norm, Cathy, Charlie and Marc. It was a team effort and we all have great memories that will last forever. Thanks to all !!!

We will definitely plan to return over next Easter with more experience and with young players who will enjoy themselves in the same way as the players did on this trip.

Any of the dutchies with photos could please send them to Terry or Tim and we are going to compile everyone's photos on a memory stick and give to everyone.(like we did last summer)

Also, for the dutchies, I will send the sweatshirts to Jan and he is planning a meeting for you and he will give them to you at that time.

St Louis parents may also order a sweatshirt and I will send an email about that soon.

thanks to Rody's parents for taking on Nico for the entire trip and for seeing us off at Schiphol. Rody and Nico were the perfect pair --

Thanks to all the dutch parents for visiting at our Hotel on the Thursday night to say good-byes -- that was very special that you were there with us. We are vey lucky to have established this new friendship with people who live in different parts of the world. When any of you want to visit America, especially, St Louis we will have everything for you. Please take us up on this at some time.

all the best

Terry

Friday, March 28, 2008

Friday 3-28-08
9:00 pm St Louis local time (3 am Dutch time)

We have safely arrived home after a very smooth flight from Amsterdam to Chicago, and then a 30 minute delay in Chicago and then, the final touchdown in St Louis to complete the return trip of the CBC-dutch touch International Soccer Experience.

Wow !!!!! What a trip !!

Special thanks to the St Louis players and parents for making this happen --
it's a great idea, but it must have a following.

Special thanks to Jan Pruijn for his expertise in arranging this wonderful trip for our kids. We had everything possible for the best trip possible. Jan had 10 teams from outside of Holland over during this 2 week period and managed to pull it off very well.

Special thanks to the Dutch host families: The families of Jip, Daan, Tom Menting, Michelle and Jordie, Tim, Rody and Irene. The hospitality and friendship was tremendous and greatly appreciated. They became our cheering section for each of the games and spent time with us even after the boys left and came into the Hotel.
We have made new friends through this soccer experience and we are better for it.

Special thanks to the 'dutchies' - Jip, Jordie, Michelle, Rody, Tim, Daan, Tom Menting and Tom Stuve who trained and or played games with us. Your friendship, influence, laughter and style of play is important to us.

Special thanks to Harry and Theo, our Dutch trainers and friends. They trained the boys and coached them during the games and shared with all of us their passion and knowledge of the game.

We look forward to the July camp (20-25 July) with 12 Dutch players and 2 German players coming to St Louis. We also will plan a return trip next Easter back to the Netherlands with the St Louis players.

We are all home, but hwne asked at the airport about retunring to Holland, one of our group said - yes, tomorrow !! That says it all.

thanks again to everyone for all that you did to make this trip a lifelong experioence.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wed - 3-26-08 8:45 am local (2:45 am StL)

yesterday was a busy day with training, shopping in Nijmegen, toured the NEC stadium, played a 'friendly'with a nearby team of Jordie and Michelle (L 1-4) and then finished the night watching a soccer blooper DVD back in the Hotel.

Today's schedule calls for training or morning game with visiting Canadian team, back to Nijmegen for the soccer shop, tour the War Museum of '44-45 in Groesbeek, then an evening game ve de Bataven (Daan and Tim's team).

Cold and dark clouds with a bit of snow to start the day.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Tuesday - 3-25-08 12 noon local time (6 am StL time)

we just finished the training session ahead of the first dose of snow for the day.
It seems that we get every form of weather in the same day, except warm temps.
Yesterday started with snow, cleared, sunny, rain, sleet and snow and some form of freezing sonw/rain/ hail. It certainly was a mess as some of us were trying to get out of Amsterdam and back toi the hotel.

the first night at the De Oude Molen was fine and the morning breakfast was plentiful and good. We are now back for lunch and then to Nijmegen for the day --
watch professional training, tour the stadium, walk the city along the river, and shop at the local soccer shop. this evening we will have a 'friendly' - although due to the weather and poor field conditions, it has been changed to a turf field in the city where we are staying.

more pictures will foolow as many have been taken.

yesterday was the day with the families and many activities took place --- a castle was visited and lazer tag was played, bowling, ice-skating, sightseeing, taking in as much Dutch culture as possible.

ok for now, more later.

all is well to date

Monday, March 24, 2008

Monday 3-24-08 10:30 am local time- 4:30 am St Louis time

a day off today to spend with the families, visiting sites in Holland.
The day started with snow and is a mixed sky with the sun peeking out occassionally.
The week's forecast is for much the same all week with temps rising from 5,6,7.8 celcius as the week goes on.

starting tonight we all gather in the De Oude Molen (Old Windmill) hotel for the rest of the trip. Tuesday is training and spending the day in Nijmegen watching NEC (por teasm_ train and then sightsee and visit a soccer shop. In the evening we have a friendlie vs the team from Michelle and Jordie.

we are off to see some youth games of the NEC pro system and then a driving tour of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the north.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Vroluk Pasen - Happy Easter






I see Terry already posted information on the tournament, and it is now my turn to post a few pictures. I am keeping a daily log and have much to share about Nederland in general. Irene informed it is no longer Holland!

Regards,

Tim Tettambel
Easter Sunday (5:30 pm local time - 11:30 am St. Louis)

It was a nice day throughout today for the weather with the sun shining for all 3 games. The boys played very well in the first game of the day vs England, but had bad luck. We lost 0-2, in what very easily could/should have been a 1-1 draw. A penalty kick not given and a very questionable late, offside second goal was the story of the game. That English ended playing for the championship of our division. In the 2nd game, we lost 0-1 on late misplay goal that left all of us a bit disappointed. We had our fair share of chances throughout the first 2 games, but failed to capitalize. In the final game of the game, the position game, we prevailed in an exciting game that saw 5 goals. We took the lead twice only to have the Denmak team draw level with us - but in the end , in extra time, Jip Ukusare completed his hat trick for team St. Louis dutch-touch. So, we ended on the right note, with a much deserved victory, and on the day we played 2 very good games.

Monday, the players will take a day off from soccer and spend the day with the families. Easter Monday, in the Netherlands, is a holiday, so everyone, all the parents, will be involved in the day's activities. Then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are busy days with 'friendlies'at night. The players will re-group Monday night and stay in the De Oude Molen Hotel for the remainder of the trip.

We have tons of pictures being taken and we were all given a team photo of our St Louis- Dutch team, very nice !!!

look for pictures and the girl's results to follow.
I apologize for not info on the girls but they are playing in a different location than we are. Look for comments to this post and the girl's result will be posted by the vd Laan family.

I was just informed that the English team that we played well against this morning, won the Championship 1-0 vs Scotland. That was our best game and as I said, it should have ended 1-1.

Hope everyone is enjoying a happy Easter - things are fine over here and the weather is till cooperating - dry and not so cold !!
Easter Sunday

The easter bunny has arrived and brought a stranger to town today -- the sun with clear skies !!!!! Hopefully, that will be an omen of good things for the day. The boys resume pool play today with games vs England and Denmark and then the position game, while the girls play for the championship of their division. There is a comment posted from yesterday's post from the vdLaan family with the good news that the girls finished first in the pool and today will have the chance to play for the championship.

This tournament consisit of 450 teams from 15 different countries = it is the European equivalent of the Dallas Cup !!

more later today with hopefully good results

we need to leave now in a hurry while the sun is still hanging around.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

SAT AFTERNOION 4:15 PM dutch time (10:15 am St Louis time)

another day of cold, wet weather -- and 3 shortened games.
adue to the weather and field conditions, the games were 20 minutes long.
first game vs Austria 0-0,
2nd game vs SC Venray (Holland, the host city's club) 0-3,
and the 3rd gaame vs Denmark, 0-3.

We are still looking for our first goal.
The boys were joined by the dutchies from the St Louis camp in July:
Tim, Dan, Rody, Jordie, Jip and Tom.
The dutchies rained with us on Friday as well.

The girls joined a local team as guest players and did very well in their games.
I do not have specific information om their results. Tomorrow, concludes the tournament with 3 more games.

frpm all indications, everyone is adjusting very well to their new ´digs´.
I have spoken with everyone, and all is well.
Having many of the dutchies around from last summer is really special and the interactions between the groups is fun to watch.

Tim will be posting photos and that will be nice to the activities of the group.

all the players are with their ´families´ until game/time tomorrow.

more tomorrow //





It is now Saturday morning and we are able to post pictures!!!

It was a long day with the children having two -1hour- training sessions and the premeirship game. All were extremely tired when we left the match at 11 pm. The children also experienced a seasons worth of weather in one day - rain, sunshine, and snow.

I will post more later today, for we are off to the matches.
sat - 3-22-08

a quick short note as we are off to the tournament -
the weather today should be dry -- dmp and cold, but dry.
yesterday was a good day of soccer and alousy day of weather, but we all made it ok.
the game last night was exciting as the home team - Vitesse - was losing 1-3 at halftime and scored 2 second half goals to earn a draw. There was a banner in the stadium, in our section that Jan had done -St Louis USA greets Vitesse - we had pictures taken = and oh yes, we have the banner !!

more later

Friday, March 21, 2008

3-21-08
9:00 am local time (3:00 am St. Louis time)

As we get ready for the first of many long, exciting days, we actually had a teaser of sunshine, followed quickly by the ominous dark clouds, suspicious of the possibility of rain.

we have 2 training sessions scheduled today on turf fields, so the weather will not affect that. Tonight, we go to Arhnem, nearby city, for the professional match, and that will be played as scheduled.

As I am sitting here right now, it has just started to rain and the sky looks very unforgiving -- more rain, for sure !!

I am hoping the players got caught up on their rest as theysettled nin with their 'new'best friends. The comments posted here regarding yesterday's report, indicate that all is well and we are off to a great start.

Hopefully, we will be able to post some photos. We took a group shot outside of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam as we were awaiting our bus. Pictures were also taken when the host families arrived for pickup.

In the time it took me to type this far, the weather has gone completely bonkers. As I just looked up and it is now a slanting, rain, sleet and snow combunation, The good news is that we are 2 hours from our scheduled training time, plenty of time for the sun to show it's most welcomed face again.

Oh well, I better stop while I'm ahead. Who knows if I stay on here any longer and the weather keeps changing, we could have that last St. Louis snow.

more later after the match tomight.
thanks for the comments. The kids have been great to date !!!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

3-20-08

yes we have arrived to the land of tulips, windmills, bicycles wooden shoes = and RAIN !!

Our flight from Amsterdam was smooth and arrived 50 minutes early !!
we were taken by bus to our meeting point, Hotel de Oude Molen, in Groesbeekn The Netherlands for a meeting with our host Jan Pruijn and the host families. After a short meeting with Jan, a Dutch lunch of soup, kroketten and sandwiches of ham or cheese, the host families started arrivingg for introductions and meeting the players. It was great to see some of our 'dutchies'from last summer - Daan, Tim, Rody, and Tom - their parents - plus the mother of Jip and Michelle and Jordie.
The players were then taken to their dutch 'homes'to settle in for the next 4 days.

Rest was in order after the long trip - with training in the morning and afternoon tomorrow, follwed by the Vitsse - NAC game in the Eredivisie, the Dutch 1st division.

we will try to update this post as often as the schedule will allow and post pictures as we can.

the anticipation has been realized and the reality is now - we are here and ready for the busy days ahead.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Off to Holland

March 10, 2008

CBC - Dutch Touch Off to Holland

Off to the land of tulips, windmills, wooden shoes, bicycles …… and oh yes, some very good soccer as well. The CBC – Dutch Touch International Soccer Program is sponsoring a soccer trip to Holland March 19 through March 28. The group will compete in an Easter Holiday Tournament, play a series of ‘friendlies’ with local Dutch teams, train with Dutch coaches and visit training sessions and attend matches of the professional and youth teams of Holland. In addition to the soccer, the players will stay in the homes of our new Dutch friends and experience the culture of Holland.
This is a continuation of the program that was initiated last summer when 12 young Dutch players and 3 fully licensed Dutch coaches attended a week long International Camp at CBC High School. Our players will stay in the homes of the players who came to St. Louis last summer -- a great way to strengthen new friendships.
The group of players going to Holland are: Austin Adams, Jimmy Bruenning, Nico Cruz, Greg Evens, Stephen Koeller, Clair Laufketter, Brian Murphy, Maxine Peat, Alex Severino, and Zac Vogt. Terry Michler and Tim Tettambel will accompany the group and Jan Pruijn will coordinate the activities in Holland.
The plans are in place for ’08 International Summer Camp to be held again at CBC High School from July 20 – 25. With enrollment limited and the interest in the camp very high, applications will fill quickly. If you are interested in attending, please see the advertisement on www.stlsoccer.net which also includes an application. Any questions, please contact Terry Michler at michlert@cbchs.org