Every two years the school sends a Secondary development squad on a tour to England. The next tour is in June-July 2014.
The following is the report on the 2008 tour. The 2010 followed a similar format.
Over the Term 1 holidays 21 players in the 1st XI squad and five staff from St Laurence’s took part the UK Soccer Tour. The tour proved to be the ultimate football experience for the boys.
The team was hosted by The Blue Coat School in Liverpool and seven games were played against school teams in the area. Liverpool is arguably the strongest region for schools soccer in the UK so the competition was exceptionally good. The tough games, together with the opportunity to receive some coaching from some highly experienced coaches and play in very different environmental conditions (snow, rain, wind and cold), provided excellent pre-season preparation for the squad.
The players also got to experience a different school and culture. All the boys were billeted with students from Blue Coat and spent time in lessons and socialising with their billets. They were quite a few hearts broken when we left Liverpool.
During the trip we also had the opportunity to see quite a bit of the UK. The squad really enjoyed their time in the North of Wales, at Warwick Castle, Chester and seeing the many sights of London. The highlight for all however, was going to English Premier League games at Everton and Liverpool and the visits to the home grounds of the top four Premier League teams (Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea).
Thanks must go to former St Laurence’s teacher and MP for North Liverpool, Mr Peter Kilfoyle, for organising the tour from the UK end and to Mr Jim McLauchlan for putting together a great tour for St Laurence’s. Thanks also to Mrs Michelle McLauchlan, Mr Eddie Wallace and Mr Gregg Steele for their assistance throughout the tour.
Andrew Kendall
1st XI Coach