Ormiston Park Academy go dutch on sports tour

Ormiston Park Academy’s PE department went on a five day sports tour to Valkenburg, Holland. The eight basketball players and fourteen football players set off for Valkenburg from the Academy in April and have not long arrived back.

They travelled to Dover and took a ferry across to Calais, then travelled through France and Belgium into Holland. Upon arrival both the football and basketball teams were amazed at the quality of the Dutch sports facilities. The football team had luxury changing facilities with quality showers and toilets, a physio table and kit room. Outside were two 3G pitches with flood lights and three ground pitches of a very high standard. The basketball team trained at a Primary School on their own full size basketball court with special flooring, made just for basketball.

The basketball and football teams played 3 friendlies against good Dutch opponents. The football team first played SV Merssen, a team who play in the Dutch B league team, where Mark Van Bommel (the Netherland International Captain) started his footballing career. The second match was played against V.V. Scharn under flood light on a 3G pitch and the third match was against Maastrichtse Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht, M.V.V. Maastricht for short. OPA played the under 15 team of the professional team M.V.V. Maastricht team. The most recent noticeable player who has played for this professional team, was Wilfred Bouma once of Aston Villa and now plays his football with PSV, and is a squad member of the Netherlands national side.

The basketball team’s first game took them across the border into Belgium to an impressive leisure centre. Their opponents were big, strong and fast, and dominated the first quarter. Their passing and team-work started to come together in the second quarter and Ugnius rallied the team and scored an amazing basket after some fantastic individual skills. Tomi made a great block as the “gems” number 12 drove towards the basket. Half way through the third quarter Elliot stole the ball and went round his marker to set himself up for a shot on the three point line. The ball sailed through the air and went straight through the hoop – swish! The second game was against Kimbria, a team which train in top facilities and have 3 coaches! OPA scored the first points of the quarter and continued to work hard throughout the game against tough opposition and made the most of their attacking plays, scoring some fantastic baskets. Our third and final game was against Merssen, the tallest of all the teams we played. OPA started strong and were enjoying playing against good opposition. Abel, Lewis and Munro all scored three pointers in this end-to-end game.

On the Wednesday both the teams had a rest from training and went to nearby Maastricht’s town centre to shop. For hours they explored the local Dutch shops and couldn’t believe the difference in lifestyles. They were amazed by talking to local people that the majority of Dutch people use bicycles everywhere and that not everyone owned a motor vehicle. As much as they couldn’t believe the differences in lifestyles, it didn’t stop the teams visiting KFC and McDonalds!

On the final evening the teams got together at the hotel and dressed up for an awards evening to celebrate the success of the tour. The teams voted for Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player & Golden Boot for football and Most Baskets for basketball. The football awards went to Calvin Wilson for Most Valuable Player, Jamie Martin for Most Improved Player, and Stephen Davies received the Golden Boot. The basketball awards went to Ugnius Ginevicius for Most Valuable Player and Most Baskets and Elliot Francis for Most Improved Player. When speaking to the students on awards evening, they all said they loved it and that the sports tour to Holland was a great experience and one which will stay with them forever.