Visits

Molly Dawson and Dominic Woodward-Lebihan were among the 56 students, accompanied by the PE department teachers, taking part in a two-day tour visiting the homes two great London football clubs.

Here they tell their stories of a memorable weekend.

First Dominic:
On 2 April 2011 at 7:00am we arrived at Dane Court in our training kits prepared to play at some of the best football facilities that this country has to offer. We soon arrived at Fulham training ground after a journey where the entertainment was provided by Mr White and his numerous stories of encounters with footballing royalty. After being introduced to our coaches we began training on the same pitches that many of the men we love to watch at the weekend develop their skills. Next came the Stamford Bridge stadium tour and a chance to sit in changing rooms where the likes of Ronaldo and Messi have laced up their boots. Then on to the Fulham F.C . Academy where we were fortunate enough to see many of the players leaving in their luxury cars!
We spent the night at the Wimbledon Premier Inn knowing that the following day we would be up early to play on the Chelsea training ground. From the moment we arrived, it was obvious that this was a multi-million pound complex. We played on one of the 32 available pitches and upon leaving were lucky enough to see the Chelsea first team in training. To end our great weekend, we travelled from Chelsea on to Craven Cottage still excited from seeing Torres and Terry in action, and took our seats to watch Fulham destroy Blackpool with a 3-0 victory. We all took time on the journey home to contemplate what a fantastic trip it had been (before Mr White started again.....!)

...and now, Molly's story:
On Saturday 2nd April 2011, at 6.45am, around 55 Dane Court students and staff gathered outside the school, eagerly anticipating luxury travel to London. An hour later we were on our way, on a double-decker Travelmaster bus!

A couple of hours later we arrived at our first destination, Fulham FC's Academy Training Ground. We were introduced to our coaches, split into groups and began our first-class training session. We practiced different drills and team games to prepare ourselves for our mini tournament, which we would be doing later that day. After a hard session we sat down to eat our packed lunch.

After lunch we boarded the bus once again, this time heading for Fulham's first team training ground, hoping we may bump into Fulham's first team players. As we arrived, the players were leaving in there flash cars, but we had to wait in the bus until they had left the ground. After that, we headed straight for the 3G pitches, to play a little tournament within our groups. Everyone enjoyed playing, especially the people that won.

We had a brisk changeover, as we were short of time. Now we were on route to Stamford Bridge, the Home of Football, for a stadium tour. We were shown all aspects of the stadium, including the changing rooms, the press rooms, the tunnel, the dugout, along with the Chelsea Museum. Where we saw a variety of memorabilia and silverware, including the Barclays Premier League Trophy. Which fascinated Tottenham fans, including Mr Wallace, who had never seen anything like it before! After the tour, we took to the Chelsea megastore, where many people purchased David Luiz wigs and other Chelsea souvenirs.

After a long day, we finally headed to our hotel, where we enjoyed a lovely dinner and quiz, before settling down to our rooms for the night, for a well deserved and needed rest!

Early next morning, we all got up and had a full English breakfast. After breakfast we headed to Chelsea's training ground in Cobham. When we arrived we were all amazed at the quality of the pitches and the facilities there. We began training, which was very different to those drills that we practiced with the Fulham coaches, but still really good. After a slightly shorter session we had another quick tournament. After the excitement of playing at Cobham, we went into the changing rooms to wash and get ready to head to Craven Cottage to watch Fulham v Blackpool..

So, once everyone had washed and changed, we headed to Craven Cottage. When we arrived, we got given our tickets and headed into the ground. We had really good seats and could see the match really well! It was a really good match and the result was 3-0 to Fulham, and we even managed to get on TV! After the match we headed to the official shop, which a few people went in, but most of us waited by the Blackpool bus and managed to get photos and signatures from Blackpool players! After the excitement of the match and meeting some players we headed back to the coach, so we could begin to head home.

So, after a long, tiring but amazing trip, we headed home, all looking forward to seeing our parents and telling them that it was money well spent! Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip and a great experience for everyone that went on it! Everyone had a great time and we are all happy we got to go on it.

Thank you to Mr Wallace for organizing the trip, and all other staff that went on the trip with us and looked after us over the weekend.