Monday, March 15, 2010

Germany trip comes to an end

I have arrived back in the USA after a great adventure in Germany. The last three days were exciting. On Thursday, we heard about the German coaching license program and how they structure their courses. From there we had some time to explore Cologne and catch our breath before two more long days of travel. I went back to visit the cathedral that I mentioned in an earlier posting. A couple of coaches and I climbed the 516 step, winding staircase in the cathedral. It was very tiring but the view was spectacular! We recovered by doing some shopping for our families!

On Friday, we traveled down to Frankfurt and visited the headquarters of the German Soccer Association. We had a couple of lectures and then got to see the trophy room. Germany's 1974 and 1990 World Cup trophies were on display as well as the 2007 Women's World Cup trophy. We traveled back to the hotel and then were quickly on the road again to watch the game between Schalke 04 and Stuttgart. Over 62,000 fans dressed in blue watched the home team win 2-1. It was an amazing game and the fans celebrations will be etched in my mind.

Saturday found us traveling to Monchengladbach to visit their women's academy and watch their women's first team train. From there we went and watched their men's team, which features American Michael Bradley, play against Wolfsburg. It was not a good day for the home team, as they lost 4-0. That night we had a celebration dinner with some traditional German food. It was then up early for a LONG flight back to Houston.

This was a tremendous opportunity to learn from some of the best coaches in the world. Experiencing the passion of the German soccer fans will be something that I will not quickly forget. I appreciate Sam Houston State allowing me to go on this professional development course and I hope I will be able to bring back some new ideas that will help us reach our goals for next season!

Go Bearkats!

-- Tom Brown
Head Women's Soccer Coach

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