About a month ago CASL contacted me about transferring the CASL Ambassadors domain names (caslambassadors.org and caslambassadors.com) to them. I had tried to hand them over years ago when I first set up the network of blogs for the first Amabassadors trip (in 2009) but no one at CASL was interested in taking responsibility. They have languished since the end of the 2009 Amabassadors trip. I am more than happy to hand them over, I’d love to see CASL do something like this blog for future trips although from our conversation, I don’t think they will.
In preparation for handover of the domains I wanted to preserve the content from the U12 Girls teams (Stars and Stripes) as it was only site that ever had any content added to it. In the two years since the inaugural Ambassadors trip some of the content and technology has changed so I have either updated the site or eliminated it. If you encounter anything broken, drop me a note and I will do my best to fix it.
A preview of the Girls video being produced by CASL has been posted. Stay tuned for more details on availability. The DVD is $50 (yikes) and can be ordered by contacting the CASL office.
The U12 Girls trip to Sweden and Denmark has been captured in a photo book. The photo book was created using tools available from Mpix Press. The result is a 10″x10″ hard bound book containting 32 pages. Featured in the book are pages for each of the players and coaches along with pictures from the trip and the opposing teams.
You can get an idea of what the book looks like from the video – if you are interested in ordering one, contact Mike Walsh. The cost of the book is $65 including shipping.
On Friday November 6th a group of the Ambassadors’ U12 Girls were ball girls at the UNC – Boston College semifinal game of the ACC Women’s soccer tournament. The Lady Tarheels won an exciting game, winning 1-0 on an own goal by Boston College in extra time. Coach Rob took pictures of the girls and the exciting game. After the game the girls were able to get autographs from the UNC players.
The trip concluded with a trip the Skovlunde Football Club in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Skovlunde is a large club with about 700 players ranging in age from 5 to 55! In Denmark, and most of Europe, players join a club near where they live and for the most part, stay with that club. Skovlunde fields two “95” (born in 1995, age cutoff aligns with the calendar year) girls teams. Players move between the “first” team and “second” team depending on their performance from week to week. Skovlunde’s first team will play the first team from other neighboring clubs and their second team will play their opponents second team.
The Stars faced the “first” team and the Stripes faced the “second” team. After a 30 minute half, they swapped opponents with the Stars facing the “second” team and the Stripes facing the “first” team. Both Ambassador teams played well, winning all four “mini” matches. The teams were fairly matched and the games were well played.
After the matches Skovlunde hosted a BBQ outside their clubhouse which was a lot of fun. The Skovlunde girls particularly enjoyed collecting the Trading Cards from the Ambassadors. Pictures of the matches and a few from the BBQ have been posted.
Some pictures of the girls in and around Helsingborg have been posted. Helsingborg is situated on the Øresund (the Sound), the body of water between Denmark and Sweden, guarding the entrance to the Baltic. There is a tremendous amount of ferry traffic going back and forth between Denmark and Sweden out of Helsingborg and the hotel was right up the street from the port.
Pictures from the final activities from the Eskilscupen have been posted. After the teams returned to the hotel they took team photos at several locations near the hotel.
At the banquet all the Ambassadors were treated to a visit from Henrik Larrson, a famous Swedish soccer player and current captain of the Swedish national team. Henrik Larsson took a few questions then posed for photos from each team. He is on crutches due to an injury he suffered in the game the Ambassadors attended on the first day they were in Sweden.
After the banquet all the Ambassadors teams were gathered up for one final photo sessions on the steps to the castle gate.
I have finally had a chance to upload some more of the pictures from the tournament. I was able to get pictures from the Stars games from Cathy Boney as well as take some of their final game of my own.
It was unfortunate that the Stars and Stripes played all of their games at the same times but on different fields. The Stripes were able to cheer on their teammates from the Stars only in their final game after the Stripes had been eliminated. Coach Rob actually had to talk the bus driver and tournament director into allowing the Stripes to come watch the Stars’ game! They wanted to take the Stripes back to the hotel.
I am sure you are wondering if they did anything besides play soccer!
I have some pictures of the girls from around town and also got some pictures from Cathy from their epic travel adventure getting to Copenhagen that I will try and post in the next day or so. Also keep checking back for some bonus material of the parents that has been collected from various cameras. Some of it is pretty funny.
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