Mr Schlaefli, Trip Leader, writes:

Thirty three pupils took part in our Enrichment Week 2024 Football option, which involved four to five hours of coaching a day to enhance knowledge, technical skills, fitness and tactical understanding.

On Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 July 2024, Swindon Town FC came to Deer Park and coached the boys about the importance of keeping possession and attacking play. Sophie, (new) Year 11 Work Experience pupil, commented: Over the course of their first training session, pupils took part in some 1v1 skills, focusing on both attacking and defending, alongside other drills such as shooting and passing, dribbling, awareness of space, communication skills and fast movement to help improve their footballing skills. They ended their first day of training with a tournament of 4 teams competing against each other to show the use of the tactics they had learnt.

On Wednesday Mr Hillis and I put the pupils into a footvolley tournament to improve their first touch. This was followed by an indoor football tournament to develop their positional play and competitive resilience. We then had a restful afternoon at Cirencester Open Air Swimming Pool to recuperate.

On Thursday and Friday we travelled up to Tottenham Hotspur FC Training Centre. The facilities and quality of coaching was nothing short of world-class. The focus for our pupils was mainly on individual ball skills, before moving onto attack v defence conditoned practices. We trained in the indoor dome, where the first team train and we saw many youth sides incorporate the brutal pre-season training on the immaculate grass surfaces and within the gymnasium.

We also played a fixture against Goffs Academy School. Unfortunately we lost all three matches, but they were an unbelievable outfit, who play a very high standard of football, with links to Tottenham Hotspur. A great learning experience for our pupils, who played very well considering the level of the opposition.

The Stadium Tour and Spurs Shop were simply phenomenal - the club has probably one of the best football facilities in the world.

Overall, the boys should be extremely proud of themselves.  The effort levels, behaviour and focus were tremendously high during the whole week. There were also some outstanding performances. A special mention to the following pupils.

• Manager's Player: Seb P (new Year 9)
• Players' Player: Noah G (new Year 10)
• Most Improved Player: Milo S (new Year 9)
• Best Attitude of the Week: Ethan B (new Year 9) and Lore B (new Year 9)