At 3am tomorrow morning, 55 of our Full time Academy Centre of Excellence Students, plus a full complement of tutors, coaches, media, catering, physio and support crew will meet on the A12 at the start of their journey to Chicago, Illinois to play in the Jr Irish 2024 Memorial Day Invitational this weekend.

Some have never been on a plane before, and few traveled long haul or visited the States. Aged just 16, some have barely been far away from home.

But why are we going to Chicago, when we could have chosen France, Spain or Italy?

We go to the USA because we truly value the importance of providing our students with experiences that take them out of their comfort zones – not least because we teach, learn, play and operate in a pretty sleepy corner of the world. We want to open their eyes in ways that will serve to broaden their horizons and help them grow as people. And yes, Paris, Barcelona or Rome could do that too, but the US of A still has a magical allure for young adolescents raised on Netflix and Apple TV. For 17 year olds, the setting for Stranger Things, the birthplace of Ted Lasso, the home of Outer Banks are so much more relatable than the Arc de Triomphe, Ramblas and Colosseum… Those things will come later.

And we will be looking for every opportunity to experience the culture. We hope to see many local attractions and visit the galleries and museums, parks, plazas and landmarks that comprise the Chicago loop.

A whole load of work goes into making this happen – it really is ‘a year for a week’. Students have been running micro-businesses to raise funds, there have been raffles, race nights and quiz nights. All great fun, and all getting everyone a little closer to take off tomorrow…

But there are four very important groups that really make this happen:

First, the parents who believe in what we do here and work so hard to help their children to be a part of this experience. We do admire and salute you. Thank you.

Next, the tour sponsors. This year our academic education providers, SCL, have made a very welcome donation because they see us as an exemplar for all they aspire to achieve in terms of leveraging sport to provide a broad, engaging and useful education and life chances for all. We are also very grateful to local companies, Beestons the family run coach and tour operator, Prill, specialists in all things classic Porsche and specialist sheet metal manufacturer and fabricator, Ad-tek. Thank you all. Our resident strength and conditioning coach BT Fitness will be attending the tour and has also kindly donated sponsorship.

Next, we have the club’s Vice Presidents. this group of influential local people, mainly with ‘time on their hands’, find ways to both enjoy each other’s company and raise additional funding for the club. However, they are very specific about how the funding they raise is used. Mindful that talent is universal, but opportunity is not, they insist that the funds they raise go to the students and young players who need it the most. At our recent Presentation Evening, VP Keith Neville presented a cheque for no less than £5,000 to contribute to this tour. So appreciated; thank you.

And last but not least, the tutors and coaches who will be getting up at 2am tomorrow to get to the meeting point, and then be responsible for 55 energetic, vibrant, noisy and wonderful young people for the next seven days! In addition, they have planned this trip, they have made sure it was affordable, they have completed all the risk assessments and they have arranged all the insurances, the flights and the logistics both here and across Chicago and beyond.

If the last six USA tours are anything to go by, these youngsters will come back a foot taller, with lifelong memories, and having experienced camaraderie that they will never, ever forget. Thank you to the supportive parents. Thank you to the generous sponsors. Thank you to the much-appreciated VPs. But, above all, thank you to the teachers and coaches for all the hard work that goes into making these tours happen.