The NSCAA provided a unique opportunity for a group to travel to Manchester, England, on an exclusive Special Topics course about long term athlete development led by Rene Meulensteen, first team coach for Manchester United. Chris Clements, NSCAA Membership Development Coordinator, provided recaps and photos from each day of the tour.

Catch up by reading the Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 recaps.

Today's theme: Saturday is made for football.

Today we started with a trip to Carrington, home of Manchester United first team. To be more specific, not only the home of the first team but the home of the entire top academy Manchester United teams. This complex consists of an indoor facility with a full field, two turf fields and roughly 16 beautiful grass fields.

This morning we were able to watch the U18 Manchester United team play the U18 Reading team. A great high paced game with a great physical presence from both teams. Manchester United got an early goal by Andreas Pereira, a talented forward in the academy system. While at this game, I was able to meet a great Manchester United fan and academy reporter Ian Brunton (@manutdreserves). Ian provided some great insight into the level of play of the reserve team. Ian watches all the home reserves' games and has seen all the greats come through the academy system. After the game, we returned to the hotel for an afternoon with no plans. No plans for soccer coaches visiting England means time to find a game to attend. Blackburn being close to Manchester and playing at home against Ipswich Town meant a short trip to attend Ewood's stadium to watch Blackburn pull out a 1-0 win over Ipswich with scoring in the second half. 

I am sure that Ewood Park is a great place to start in order to whet the appetite and prepare for tomorrow’s game at Old Trafford.

Related Links

Man U Special Topics Attendees Get Inside Look at Club

A Surprise in Day 2 of the Man United Special Topics Course

Thoughts from Day 1 of the Manchester United Special Topics Course

Identifying Potential, Developing Talent, Building Successful Teams the Meulensteen Way

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