Day 4- Liverpool style training session and visit to Mellwood

The boys are starting to get into a groove now that they are accustom to many of the English subtleties. The English girls who arrived yesterday afternoon aren’t quite as subtle, but they’ll be leaving on Thursday.

Just before the 10am training session, the goalkeepers and Coach Douglass were able to observe a one-on-one goalkeeping training session with the Liverpool Academy goalkeeper coach. We were able to watch the "best goalkeeper at 16 I've ever seen," according to the longtime goalkeeper coach from the Academy. He's sure that we'll be seeing him in the future, right now he plays for the U-20 Australian team.

Karl led our team training session again this morning, pictures above, and put the boys through quite a workout. It only lasted for an hour and a half, but it was exactly what we needed as a team. Karl came and watched part of our game yesterday and developed a personalized plan for the team based on communication, first touch and creating scoring opportunities.

We had lunch at the Academy and the guys raved about the chicken and beef stew- everyone agreed that it was the best meal we’ve had so far on the trip. We were able to eat with the coaches and some of the recruits who were brought in with their families to sign with the club. After lunch we had the chance to watch the U-18s practice, which reiterated a lot of the techniques and drills we worked on in the morning.

Frank Skelly was able to get us access to Mellwood, which is where the first team and reserve players train. It was a very exclusive tour hosted by Director of Operations, who happened to a friend of a friend of Coach Douglass from Wheaton College. He is part of the new administration at the club, which makes giving tours of the facility difficult, but he took the time to show us the press room, incredible fields and “boot locker” where all the professional players leave their shoes. As we pulled up the next prize signing for Liverpool pulled up right in front of us, the next great Brazilian Lucas Leiva came in to sign his new deal, which is quite amazing.

Our trip to Manchester United’s famous stadium, Old Trafford, was pushed back until Friday, so tonight we’re going to watch some soccer videos to prepare them for their game in the morning and trip to Liverpool’s stadium tomorrow afternoon.

Coach Douglass and Coach Parry