The Hope College men's soccer team has concluded its trip to Europe. These daily reports were visited more than 2,000 times during their two-week trip. Our thanks to coaches Steve Smith and Lee Schopp for facilitating this means of communication.

Saturday, August 13

A Poet's Tale of the UK

by Bridget Schopp

Wow! What a tour - Scotland, England, even Wales
We leave with reluctance, but have many great tales.

Cheers to the Erskine, where the guys teambuilt with ropes,
Loved the food and the pool, but could we get some more soap?

In Scotland we learned that "changeable" meant rain,
Layering clothes, taking them on and off was kind of a pain.

We promoted antisectarianism with the bands that we sold,
A service project that raised $4,000 we're told.

We loved the Best Western with it's beautiful decor,
Great food, location, service with free toiletries galore.

We were thankful for McDonald's, but you better watch your pence,
4 pounds 79 for a burger meal just doesn't make sense.

And to the Bayswater Inn, "YIKES!" What can we say?
But the city of London just blew us away.

It rained from the ceiling, we were fearing a flood,
Here's a tip for you Macall - don't sleep in the tub.

The soccer was competitive - four losses, one win and a tie,
But with hard work and practice, for the NCAA championship we will vie.

"Wear your kits and boots on the pitch," "cheers to you mate,"
The way they talk in the UK is really first rate.

10 stitches, pulled muscles, broken nose and collar bone,
Ear infection, strep throat - it's time to go home.

Thank goodness for Dr. Butters, or more affectionately Big Jack,
Without his medical help there may have been an early departure back.

We're headed back to the states to get some good sleep,
Brennar's given us all souvenir rocks we can keep.

Huge castles, amazing soccer - the sights we did see,
For organizing this trip - a huge thank you to Lee.

To Alan, our driver, thanks for all the safe rides,
Nothing was more beautiful than your Scottish countryside.

And we can't forget Murray - coach, tour guide, and friend,
Thanks for putting up with us from beginning to end.

So here's to Hope Soccer, both old and new friends,
Let's have a great season, may the fun never end.

From CLYDEBANK, SCOTLAND POST -- August 11, 2005
American students lend a
helping hand in sectarianism fight

A message of hope for the campaign again sectarianism and support of the local hospice came all the way from across the Atlantic.

Soccer squads from Hope College in Michigan came to Clydebank last week to help St. Margaret's Hospice with the "Say No to Sectarianism" campaign.

The wristbands, originally introduced by the Strathclyde Police, were given to hospices to sell in a bid to raise essential funds.

The special visitors targeted a number of places in Clydebank and the surrounding area with the green and blue bands urging everyone to support the cause. The wristbands carry an important message of tolerance and respect. The sale of the bands raised funds for the hospice.

Sister Rita, chief executive of St. Margaret's Hospice, said: "We are delighted with the support by our friends ofrom Hope College. Their help on Wednesday was invaluable and their enthusiasm came across when out meeting members of the public.

"The 'Say No to Secretarianism' is very important to St. Margaret's Hospice, both in terms of the message it sends and the essential funds it helps raise.

"We are very pleased with the public reaction and hope people continue to buy the bands in support of the hospice."

The men and women from the college's soccer squads popped in on Councillor Alistair Macdonald at West Dunbartonshire Council's headquarters, they met with firefighters in Bathgate and staff at the Edington Distillery in Drumchapel.

Hope Editor's Note: The effort by the Hope teams raised $4,500 for the Hospice

We concluded our two-week adventure through Europe with a nice evening filled with shared memories, highlights, poems, tears, and laughs. We said our “thanks” and “good-bye’s” to the friends and guides we’ve met here and now look forward to our safe arrival back to the states.

Thanks for the interest in our experience as a team and we all look forward to seeing you down at 11th and Fairbanks in a couple weeks.

This is Hope men’s soccer 2005 signing off.

With butterflies in our stomachs, we stepped onto the pitch and quickly found ourselves down 2-0 partly do to some hometown officiating. We went into halftime down 3-0 and looking to regroup. We finally started to put some things together and ended the game and our trip on a positive note scoring two goals in the last twenty minutes to finalize the score at 4-2.

The remainder of the night was free for all parents and players to enjoy our final night out on the town in London.

Tuesday, August 9
by junior Jordan Goorhouse of Caledonia, Mich. and senior Bryan Johnson of Portage, Mich.
We left Manchester for a five-hour trip to London. The drive was quite scenic for those who were awake. Once we arrived in London, some went out exploring, while others relaxed. After an enjoyable dinner the team went for a run and stretch in Hyde Park, then cleaned up and watched the Manchester United match, played on the pitch we had toured the day before.

Monday, August 8
by sophomore Bryan Mulder of Kentwood, Mich. and junior Bain Rumohr of Mason, Mich.
‘Twas a very eventful day here in Manchester, England. After getting up, the team walked a few blocks to the local practice field to work on new formations and new tactics. Coaches continue to learn more and more about the game from our awesome tour coach/guide/representative, Murray. Following the training session, the team and parents loaded up on the “Firth,” our luxury double-decker bus, and departed to Old Trafford Stadium, home of Manchester United Red Devils. Man U is internationally known for their football success and former club of supermodel/super-stud David Beckham. The stadium is the biggest stadium in the UK and is under construction to enlarge its capacity to above 67,000. Season ticket holders spend anywhere from £500 ($1000 US dollars) to £5,000 ($10,000 US dollars) for seats around the stadium. Sky boxes around the stadium, which hold eight people go for about £47,000 (do the math) for a season. These have a 10-year waiting list on them. Seating sections for visually impaired, which have earphone jacks to enable spectators to listen to the game, and sections for the physically handicapped are available as well. The tour around the stadium took us through the players tunnel, player’s lounge, player’s locker room, etc, etc… Highlights from the tour also included using the same restrooms as the Man U superstars. The team really came away from the tour in awe of what a big business the soccer world is over here, but more importantly how beautiful the game can be.

After leaving the stadium, the bus headed back to the hotel where the players and parents loaded up with a great dinner and took off for the game field just over the border in Wales. The match was against Team Airbus, a U-19 Academy team. With a new formation and great intensity, Hope went up 1-0 ten minutes into the game with a goal from THE Karter “Keith” Klingenberg off a pass from Bain Rumohr. Hope continued to control the play, but gave up a goal 35 minutes into the half that tied the game 1-1. That was how the half ended. Second half was completely dominated by Hope’s play. Lee Schopp showed that he still had the golden boot when he put one away two minutes into the second half off an assist from Gunnar Martin. Nate VanHorn added to the score off another assist from Martin, putting the Dutchmen up 3-1. Hope went up 4-1 when Bryan Mulder put a penalty kick in the back of the net after he got tripped in the box while cutting up multiple defenders on his way to the goal. Dan Tresslar bent a free kick around a wall of five Airbus opponents to wrap up the scoring. Hope’s first victory on the trip proved to raise spirits and confidence and now look to finish strong in the next two games.

Cheers for now from Manchester. We leave tomorrow morning for London where we will finish the trip.

Saturday, August 6
by senior Phil Lepper of Midland and junior Nate VanHorn of Pinckney
Today came early. Our wakeup call was at 7:00. We enjoyed a tasty breakfast and then headed off to Wales where we played our third match against Chester city. A hard first half resulted in a 3–0 deficit. In the second half we bounced back and managed to outscore out opponents 2-1. The game ended with a 2-4 finish. After the match we boarded our bus and headed to Blackburn to watch an international club friendly between the Blackburn Rovers (English premiere) and Espanyol (Spanish premiere). A very exciting game ended with a 4-0 in favor of the Brits. The game was well played by both sides. After the professional match we headed back to the hotel for a delicious dinner and a relaxing evening.

Friday, August 5
by sophomores Gunnar Martin of Mason, Mich. and Timothy Nelson of Saline, Mich.
To further enlighten all of you delightful folk on the details of yesterday’s match, it had been a rainy before the match and the pitch was quite saturated. To further complicate the condition of the field, it began raining halfway through the match. The Dutchmen came out flying and created 2 prime scoring chances with the 25 minutes. One came of a 65-yard cannon fired from the arm of sophomore keeper Mike Amerman to the feet of senior Geoff Meyer, who was fouled just outside the Scot’s box. The other came after senior Devon McNeil toasted some Scot down the sideline and hit a low, powerful cross into Meyer, who deflected the ball into the unprepared keeper’s side. The Scots scored their goal just past midway through the first half, when a Scot forward skilfully volleyed a well-struck cross into the back of the net. The second half ended with an brilliant excitement as Amerman made a fantastic save on a Scot penalty kick. The second half of the game was filled with more hard work by the Dutch and more unfortunate results. The last quarter of the game was filled with exciting opportunities for the Dutchmen, including a laser beam fired from the 18 by sophomore Dan Tresslar that whistled inches wide of the post. Though the game ended in defeat for the Dutchmen, spirits remained high, as the team learned a great deal from the game and also showed fantastic heart, even during the waning minutes of the match. The evening then found us tiredly drifting off to sleep in our less than supporting mattress’ for our last night in Scotland.

We awoke rather late. This well deserved extra sleep was much appreciated. The morning was devoted to breakfast and preparing for the ride south to Manchester. During this ride the parents and players partook in plethora of different activities.

The activity of choice was definitely napping on the bus while others such as Joey Orr took time to play a spirited game of “Trouble” with the very young members of our tour, namely Brenner and Tanner Schopp. I think they soundly defeated their elderly opponent. The scenery on the southbound venture was absolutely breathtaking. The lush, mountainous, green hills rolled forth from the land with a elegance and vigor that embodied the true spirit of the Scottish Highlands. Dotting these geographic pinnacles were many woolly sheep and milk-laden cows. We then stopped over for a lunch break at a “bonnie wee” village that resembled a Scottish version of the little Dutch village tourist trap that one could find just north of Holland on US 31. The air surrounding this quaint settlement was saturated with the pungent odor of fresh manure (Swiss Perfume) manufactured earlier that day by Scotland’s finest. For lunch the majority of the team was fiscally taken advantage of by the local food merchants. Other more frugal members of the squad had packed either Cliff Bars and/or sandwiches assembled during the mornings breakfast. After a wee bit of shopping the entourage resumed the journey southward into England, specifically Manchester.

Here in Manchester we found our accommodations to be exquisitely elegant. The decorative lobby is scattered with extravagant statues, well appointed woodwork, and quality upholstered leather thrones, not to mention an unlimited supply of delicious white mints garnishing the front counter. The training session tonight was directed by our Excel Sports Coach, Murray. His new approach to the game is refreshing and is a great help to the team. The field we played on was a short Astro-turf filed covered in fine sand. This lead to some fun and interesting complications. Though the practice session went well, as planned, members of the team still found it all to easy to slip around on the sand as if they were walking on ice for the first time as toddlers.

The team then headed back to the Hotel for showers and some well deserved rest and preparation for our match tomorrow morning, and to follow, another exciting day of the European Tour.

Thursday, August 4
by sophomores Mark Dishnow of Saline and Brady Jensen of Northville
Early this morning we had breakfast then loaded up the bus to go sightseeing in Edinburgh. There we were able to visit the oldest castle in Scotland, the Edinburgh Castle. The castle was full of Scottish history including the crown jewels, a highly decorated armory abounding in period weaponry, and of course the castle itself. Atop the castle we enjoyed a breathtaking view of the city in all its glory. Then we spent the rest of the time enjoying the shops and restaurants around the city.

Eventually we got back on the bus to return to Erskine Bridge Hotel for another fine dinner. Many players decided to spend the bus ride preparing for the match in the evening by napping before dinner. Then we were off to play our evening match against the Knightswood Juveniles. Unfortunatly we fell 1-0 to the Scots. After the game we were invited to a local pub to enjoy sandwiches and chips. It was great to chat with the players and just get to learn more about their culture and share some of ours with them. Today was a day full of culture, both ancient and current, which lead to another informative and eye opening experience for us Dutchmen.

After a successful morning all the players came back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and soon headed out to Loch Lohman where we witnessed some of the beautiful land Scotland has to offer the world. After a quick peak at the lake we soon headed out to do a little more shopping in the town mall.

Many opportunities arose for families to go out and explore the nature scene of Scotland. After all the scenic views were witnessed the team and family members soon piled back into the double decker bus where we headed back to the hotel for dinner.

After a quick bite to eat and a short nap we were headed to our team building activity. Our coming together as a team took place in the lawn outside of our hotel. In all the activities that we accomplished we learned a little more about our team as a whole. In the sense that we had to work together to accomplish each goal, Butters actually felt as if he was accepted in the team. At the end of the session each player gave one word to represent his feelings about the activity. Some of the words used were; patience, teamwork, focus, and of course...dynamite.

Thanks for keeping up with our trip.

Upon returning to the hotel and grabbing quick showers, we departed for downtown Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. Riding in the lap of luxury, we took a double-decker bus, with the following specs: 71 seats, full air conditioning, an emergency-only toilet (#1 only), 6 CD changer, 4 exits on top, 2 on bottom, and a great view. We walked around the city, shopped some and tried to stay dry as it rained for a while.

In the evening, following our early dinner, we left for our very first match overseas. Our opponents, Hamilton ACCIES, a youth professional club, gave us a great game, resulting in a 1-1 tie. We saw dramatic improvement from the first half to the second, learning a lot from their intensity and creative style of play. Our game-tying goal was scored by Geoff Meyer, resulting from an excellent tackle by Nate Van Horn in the second half. Overall, it was a great first game in many ways, leaving us with some things to work on, as well. We are looking forward to a good night's sleep and an exciting afternoon with the Hope women’s soccer team, doing some mission work in a nearby town. Thanks for checking up on how we are doing over here, we appreciate your interest. Go Hope!

Monday, August 1, 2005
by Senior Geoff Meyer of Grand Rapids
Well, our first day in Scotland was a gorgeous one. We arrived this morning at 8:30 after completing our seven hour flight. Everything went very smoothly, with a great deal of thanks owed to Lee and Coach Smith’s careful planning. We were welcomed by a very cool and refreshing climate, and felt no guilt leaving the humidity and heat behind us.

The first half of the morning was spent settling in to the hotel, followed by a quick trip to the local shopping mall. After nearly every player bought a pair of soccer socks to use for the morning training session, the bus departed for the local high school soccer field. After a short training session in the beautiful Scottish sun the team made its way back to the hotel for a trip to the pool, showers, and finally the beds. After several of us napped for awhile we were awakened by the dinner bell. Dinner was served in the hotel dining room which overlooks a beautiful river running through the rolling hills of Scotland. There are many tired eyes and I assume it will be an early night for everyone.

There is much anticipation for tomorrow, as we have plans of sightseeing, training, and also participating in our first international match. All has been very well, and we hope the trip continues to go as well as it has thus far. Until the next update, we send our best from the famous land of "God’s Country."