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Feira 2009
Five Herne Bay United players travelled to Feira, Portugal in February 2009 as part of the National Training development trip for under 11 boys and under 13 girls. This is a diary of their experiences.
There is also some information about the town of Santa Maria da Feira where we were based.
We shall shortly be added some comments from the players about the trip.
We all met at Stansted airport to fly out to Porto. All of the hockey players were up at the back of the plane and entertained themselves with a tournament on a number of Nintedo DS's. Although we'd been a bit late taking off we arrived in Porto on time with a bit of a bumpy landing which earned a cheer for the pilot.
After collecting our bags we got on the coach for the journey to Santa Maria da Feira and our hotel, the Residential dos Loios. The coach was a bit bouncy and very fast and the players 'entertained' the parents by singing 'Bob the builder' and 'Balamory'. It was about 10pm when we arrived and after a short meeting where Carlos explained what would be happening over the next few days we went to our rooms and bed.
Despite the late evening it was an early 7.30am wake up for breakfast and then a short walk to the rink which was to be our home for the next few days. We're not sure what the people of Feira thought of the long train of red tracksuited children but the great dane who lived down the lane from the rink was not happy about the noise of the hockey bags trundling over the cobbles! After getting ready the first training session started which lasted two hours and ended with a girls v boys match, won by the girls.
We then walked to the restaurant for lunch making friends with a stray dog on the way. After we'd eaten, the supermarket next door was raided for supplies before we returned to the rink and had the chance to sit out in the warm sunshine. The boys were given a ball by the cafe owner and enjoyed a game of football until Connor kicked it through a window to cries of "Great shot, Connor" and a round of high fives! Luckily the rink staff were very understanding (as long as we didn't break another one) even though they spent most of the afternoon clearing up the broken glass.
The afternoon training session lasted an hour and a half again ending with a girls v boys game which the girls won for a second time.
There was time to return to the hotel for a while before going back to the rink for the first set of matches. We were playing Academico da Feira with the younger England teams facing a mixed under 11/13 team and the under 19 girls, who were also on the trip, played Feira's under 15's. The under 11's were first to play and found their game quite hard. Max scored two goals but the boys lost 11-2. The girls played next and seemed to work better as a team. Although Feira scored an early goal the girls played well ending the match 0-1. The under 19's found their game very hard and lost 13-0.
It was then time for dinner at the restaurant and a chat to the stray dog again who we named Ronnie (after Christiano Ronaldo). We didn't see him after the first day, maybe he didn't like his new name! Finally we headed back to the hotel for a slightly earlier night than the previous evening.
We had another 7.30am start from breakfast and then the first training session of the day again for two hours. This time we did training for the whole session. After lunch there was another football match, this time on a bit of grass further away from the windows, although this meant the ball kept ending up in the road and there were a few near misses with the parked cars! The afternoon session was shortened to an hour with the girls again winning the training match. When the under 19's had finished their training we all got a coach to Gulpihares which had a full size rink. The club made a lovely atmosphere for us by playing music during the warm up and throwing sweets for the players at the end.
The under 11's had an injury-filled game and although playing better than the previous evening they lost 6-0. The girls also played well with both Emilys scoring a goal to finish 4-2. This was a great achievement for both these young teams as the Gulpihares under 11's are the Portuguese league champions and the previous weekend had beaten FC Porto 7-3.
The under 19's were able to play the Gulpihares ladies under 19's, another excellent game which they lost 5-0. After the matches were over we went back to the restaurant for a very late (10pm!) dinner and also a cake to celebrate Amy's birthday.
We were up at 7.30 for breakfast again before our two hour morning session. The afternoon session was shortened again and this time the girls v boys match was a draw. We had another coach trip, this time to Sao Joao de Madeira where we were to play Sanjoaense. The stadium was huge with two full size rinks and two standard size rinks. There was also about 3000 seats and after the hard plastic or wood seats which we'd got used to it was lovely to se chushioned seats. Unfortunately the games were being played on the far rink so our spectators had to sit on the concrete right at the edge of the barrier! We also noticed that a number of windows at the back of the rink were broken but this was nothing to do with us!! As well as our games, all the other rinks were being used (for football, basketball and handball) so sometimes it was a bit confusing with all the whistles!
The Sanjoaense teams were very good with all the matches being very tough. Again the under 11's and girls played their under 11's team and the under 19's played their under 19's ladies who play in the Portuguese premier league. The under 11's lost 10-1, Connor scoring the only goal. The girls were beaten 8-0 and the under 19's also suffered an 11-1 defeat, Chloe getting their goal. We had another 10pm dinner after returning to Feira before heading back to the hotel.
The two younger teams were allowed a lie-in this morning as we didn't have to get to training until 11am. With two hours training we had a later lunch today with a birthday celebration for Max. There was a shortened training session this afternoon ready for the final matches this evening. Instead of playing in their usual teams the boys and girls were mixed up because "the girls are better at defence and theboys are better at attacking". The goalkeepers swapped between the two teams.
The first team on was Emily B, Ryan, Max, Toni, Amy and David. After their first 15 minutes the score was 1-1, our goal being scored by Ryan. Next it was the turn of Connor, Alice, Robbie, Emily S, Michael and Charlie and they lost 0-4. The first team came back for another fifteen minutes losing 1-3, Ryan scoring again, and then the second group played the final fifteen minutes losing 1-2, Emily S scoring their goal. The total of the four quarters was 3-10 which was better than 2-12 that they scored combining the games from Monday! The under 19's also did better than Monday with their game ending 9-0. We were then off to the restaurant for a 9pm dinner before heading back to the hotel to pack.
We were up at 5.30am today so that we could have breakfast and catch the coach to the airport at 6.30 - it was too early! The flight was on time but takes half an hour longer than the flight out. After getting our bags from the carousel and retrieving our sticks from Carlos' bag it was time to head home after a busy (and long!) few days.
Santa Maria da Feira
The town of Santa Maria da Feira lies about 23 miles south of Porto in the Aveiro region of Portugal. The town gets its name from a long tradition of holding large fairs and weekly markets in the town square and the winding cobbled streets are lined with 18th and 19th century merchant's houses.
Dominating the skyline on the southern edge of the town is the Castelo de Santa Maria da Feira which was built on the site of a pagan sanctuary while the route to the castle takes visitors past the magnificent Convent of Loios.
The municipal holiday is January 20. It's the day when the whole area celebrates the Fogaceiras. This special local holiday celebrates the actions of the townspeople during the Middle Ages. The area was infested by the dark plague and to get rid of this calamity the locals offered a sugared bread, called fogaça, to the patron saint Saint Sebastien. The Fogaceiras have been celebrated for five hundred years, since the eradication of the dark plague.
Some views of Feira
The town centre and convent
Some pictures of the castle
