Folly. Food. Football.
As I was wading through the never-ending internet versions of “24 Hours in Manchester” and “11 Instagram-worthy Spots” (for the record, you will not find me clicking on the latter), I came across a blog by a local Mancunian I can no longer find. In any event, she said something to the effect of, when you’re little your dad picks your football club for you. The end. I read it and snickered out loud.
Back in 2018, James came across the sports documentary series All or Nothing on Amazon Prime. We loved it. We watched Juventus, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and the Brazilian National Team. But our favorite season was Man City. Dad chose our football club, and we’ve been loyal Premier league fans ever since.
Around January 2021 is when I wondered aloud if Man City has a soccer camp. My friend Emily trained me to begin planning summer in January and she’s always been right… except for that one time when I planned the whole summer and then a pandemic destroyed me in a penalty shootout.
So I’m wondering about overseas soccer camps… I do a little research. How did we live without Google? My children will never know. “Hey James, what if one day we take Nate to England, drop him off at soccer camp, and then we all go do stuff?”
“Yeah, let’s do it.” James was always down for just about anything I proposed.
Pure decision-making chemistry. I’m still working on this with his children.
Then it’s January 2023. Our entire game plan has changed. What are we waiting for? England in July probably isn’t sweltering hot. I’ve been saving airline miles for my entire adult life. Yeah, let’s do it.
First, I ask Nate if he wants to go.
He hesitates, “I wouldn’t know anyone would I? I don’t know.”
Then I show him a couple of pictures from the online brochure.
“Yeah, I’ll go.”
Brilliant. Fast break to our first night in Manchester, after leaving Nate at the University of Salford. I facetime him on his iPad. Normally he wouldn’t have a screen at camp, but during the check-in process, they were gobsmacked that my 12-year-old son didn’t have a cell phone. #Winning. They expected all kids to have a phone so they could download the CityPlay app to analyze their cleat tracking data.
He didn’t have a cell phone, but he did get his own room. Every dorm room was a single with its own bathroom. Having always shared a room with his brother, Nate might rate this the #1 reason to attend this camp.
Then he makes at least six friends from all over the world in one day. There was a player from Saudi Arabia. An American who was currently living in India. A kid from Texas. Some Brit-ish lads. These boys loved football as much as Nate.
Every morning they’d get onto a British double decker bus and ride it over to the Etihad training facilities. They’d train, eat lunch there, train again, and then get bussed back to the dorms. Nate was up at 6am and in bed at 10pm and when I’d facetime him at night, I’ve never seen him so happy. He was walking on air. I’m sure the cleat tracking data would back me up.
It took courage for him to go to camp alone in a foreign country. To put himself out there. To walk onto the field not knowing where he’d stack up (according to him there were two kids his age that were better than him… but the number mysteriously dropped to one by the time the week ended. Hmmm). They got a backstage tour of the Etihad stadium. They sat in Pep’s chair on the sideline. They took pictures with Kevin De Bruyne’s locker. And they enjoyed a closing ceremony at the stadium with their academy coaches.
During that ceremony, I especially enjoyed learning more about the language camp, drawing players from all over the world to improve their English and their football. No boring “Dónde está la biblioteca” language lessons here. These kids learned English via “player interviews, commentary and punditry, telling their personal biography, and press conferences.”
Toward the end of camp, Nate’s group scrimmaged some boys from the language program. There were four or five players that had all come together from the same club in Argentina. It was a tough game. Nate’s team lost.
When I asked him about it he shook his head and said matter-of-factly, “They had chemistry Mom. Chemistry.“