MADRID DAY 1

Getting to Madrid wasn't easy.  First, the airlines were having a hard time with all the passports.  Their system kept crashing.  Second, our flight leaving for Newark was delayed almost two hours, which would put us missing our connecting flight to Madrid.  We left from Ronald Reagan airport (BWI), and flew over D.C.  It is seriously so pretty there.  I didn't get the greatest shot, we were on a tiny plane, but I did my best.  Below is the Potomac River.

Luckily, our connecting flight in Newark held the plane for us.  We got a little bit of special treatment as our group got to deplane first and we all had to run to our connecting gate.  Of course one kid left his passport on the plane, so Coach Neil had to stay back with him to retrieve it.

The flight to Madrid was pretty long, and the food was TERRIBLE.  It was probably the grossest thing I've eaten in a while.  I didn't eat much of it.  We tried to sleep a little, they served us another gross breakfast, and we were finally landing.  Of course when we got to the baggage claim, another kid apparently didn't get his bag he checked at the gate from the BWI to Newark flight, so he had no luggage.  Luckily he still had his ticket stub, so hopefully he'll get his stuff tomorrow.

The charter bus and our guides to us to our accommodations.  Yes... we are staying at Ciudad del Futbol.  That's where the Spanish National team trains.

They served us lunch, again, it was not great.  They did hand out an awesome surprise for the boys though... they received the brand new Real Madrid authentic jersey.  I was going to get a shot of the Utah boys, but Shashank and Yvonn were so excited they wanted to jump in.  Of course pokey little Marshall is still unwrapping his jersey from the packaging.  I need to find a way to speed that kid up.

We took a little tour to the field where the Spain National team trains.  It was pretty amazing.

These are the three coaches.  Coach Felix, who's from Florida and coaches the Florida boys, Coach Neil, and of course me.

We then did a light training session.  All the boys struggled, Utah boys especially.  Fatigue and probably poor nutrition and dehydration really showed.  The boys couldn't focus all that well.  They need to step it up now, though, cause they're in Spain.

After training, we showered and walked a few blocks to the mall where we ate dinner.  Neil and I went for the ice cream first.  The other girl is Nikki, who's there as our photographer.

While we were still trying to decide to eat, we ran into some of the U19 Spain National Team players.  These will be the future stars of Spain.  Adama Traore plays for Barcelona, Hector Bellerin plays for Arsenal, and Alfonso plays for Real Madrid.  There was another player that plays for Barcelona, but we didn't get his name.  It was pretty cool running into these guys.  They were very nice, and hopefully we'll get to watch one of their training sessions since they're here until Wednesday.

The night pretty much ended here.  We ate, got some more ice cream :) then headed back to the hotel so the boys could finally go to sleep.  Hopefully I can finally get up early and get a jog in before the day begins tomorrow.  All is well, though, the boys are having a great time, and we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Oh yeah, it was also nice to come back to my room and check my FaceBook page to see that my U12 boys defended their Cache Cup title and won the championship 4-1 over Wasatch.  Congrats boys!  I'll be home soon, enjoy your little time off.  :)