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Posted on June 4th 2013
Holland Trip
On Thursday the 28th of March 2012, 48 students from Years 7-9 were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to go to Holland. Some students thought it was a simple football tour, but little did they know this trip had a lot more in store…We hit the road about 7:30am.
The journey on the coach was quite long, as we had to travel through France and Belgium, but once we arrived at our hotel, no one minded. Our “4 star” hotel named the NH leeuwenhorst, had everything we could ask for: TV, table tennis, swimming pool, Jacuzzi and not forgetting their outstanding room service and FOOD!!!
The Thursday evening was mostly used for getting to know the way round the hotel. During our tour, we were shown a swimming pool, a games room and much more!
On Friday we were all in for a treat. The teachers were kind enough to treat us to a day at a theme park. This theme park was very impressive, and had a lot of familiar rides that are featured in England’s theme parks, but these were bigger and better. After our brilliant time at the theme park we had some fun in the waterpark! This was great fun and we had a variety of rides to choose from.
On Saturday and Sunday we started our football tournament. The Easter cup, hosted by a team named DCG, is a massive tournament held in Holland once a year. The Harris students were split into 3 main teams, Year 7&8, Year 8&9 and Year 9. The Year 7 team started our cup run at about midday on Saturday, facing teams of various qualities. In the end we were unfortunate and did not proceed into the final four, but we still had Sunday to win the 2nd cup.
On Sunday, everyone woke up feeling optimistic and ready for the challenges that awaited. Our team, managed by Mr. Shanks, performed well coming second in our group meaning we were entered into the third and fourth place play-offs. A long day’s work was reflected in our performance and we just about lost 2-1 . However, this meant we came 4th and we were the only Harris team to receive a trophy.
On the final day of our trip, we were fortunate enough to go to Ajax’s stadium. There we could buy souvenirs and tour some of their facilities. But then at about 1:30pm, we had ANOTHER trip to the Aegon cup! Here we saw the final of the cup between hosts Ajax and Anderlecht. This U19 cup is very well known as it features teams like Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Barcelona!
The final day was spent mainly getting our luggage ready and saying goodbye to the hotel. We left about 10:00am. We arrived home at Harris Crystal Palace at about 6:00pm and that was our fantastic trip over.
This wonderful journey really was a once in a lifetime experience, and to be part of it was an honour.
It really was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to everyone, even if football is not your thing.
KieranDamianAubrey 7TB
