The Easter weekend saw our U16 girls and U18 girls teams travel to Limburg in the Netherlands and compete in the Easter Open tournament. Both teams came up against teams from Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and England offering them different challenges against very different styles of playing!

For the last 4 years these girls teams have been on tours, starting with a UK tournament in 2023. In 2024 the teams went to Paris where they played two friendlies against local opposition and had an academy led session at Paris FCs training facility where they got to also watch Paris FC Women's first team training. The players and coaches also went out to experience the city, venturing up the Eiffel tower! Before returning home they had a tour of the PSG stadium, Parc des Princes. Last year the teams went to Almere in the North of the Netherlands to compete in the Holland Cup where all 3 teams were really successful over the weekend.

Going on a tour is incredibly beneficial to the players, it takes them out of their comfort zone being away from home and playing against the unknown with teams from different countries who all have different ways of playing, all whilst playing on top class facilities!

The tours aren't just about a football experience, it's helped the players have the opportunity to learn valuable life skills as they experience different cultures, make memories with teammates and strengthen friendships off the pitch which then brings them closer on the pitch! We get to see this every year in the final matches of the season once we're back in England where the teams look at their best in the games that follow the trips!