ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - ADELAIDE UNITED SCHOLARSHIP EXPERIENCE!!

ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - ADELAIDE
       UNITED SCHOLARSHIP EXPERIENCE!!
Tim Henderson (Year 10 Student of BPIHS and U19's player at Modbury
Jets) and Mr Paul Jones (Soccer Focus and PE Teacher at BPIHS) went to
Japan with Adelaide United on Friday 26th March 2010. They attended the
Asian Champions League game between Adelaide United and Sanfrecce
Hiroshima. The game was played on the 30th March and they arrived back
in Adelaide on Thursday 1st April 2010.

Below is a copy of Tim’s daily journal whilst he was away.

         Tim Henderson practicing with United's Daniel Mullen (left)
             and Mark Birighitti (right) at Hindmarsh Stadium.
           Photo from the Advertiser, Tuesday 2nd March 2010.
                       Taken by: Campbell Brodie

Day 1 – 26th March 2010

We arrived at the airport at 10:30am. We met with Ryan Peremiczko (Football
Operations Manager) and Adelaide United staff and collected our tickets. We
then passed through security and went to the travel exchange place. I
exchanged 400 Australian dollars and received 29,000 Yen in return. We had
Hungry Jacks in the airport before going through customs at about 12:00pm
noon.

We boarded the flight at 12:45pm along with all the players and staff. The
flight departed at 1:05pm. We flew with Singapore Airlines and they supplied
games, movies, TV shows, and language learning. I thrashed Mr Jones in 2
games of chess (edited by Mr Jones - I actually won both games) and I taught
Mr Jones 10 basic phrases in Japanese.

These Included:
·     numbers 0-10: zero, ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku, nana, hachi, qu, ju
·      Hai – yes, iie – no, konichiwa – hello, siyanara – goodbye, boku wa
Paul desu – my name is Paul, sakka ga ski desu – I like soccer, onamaewa –
what is your name, arigatoo – thanks, genkidesu – I’m good thanks.

The temperature got down to minus 63 degrees outside while we were flying.
We were also travelling at speeds of over 900 kilometres an hour. We arrived
in Singapore at 5:30pm local time (8:00pm Adelaide time). The temperature
was a humid 32 degrees.

After a long walk through the terminal we boarded the team bus with all
Adelaide United players and staff. Cassio, Flores, Dodd, Griffith and Dom
Rinaldo were singing and clowning around.

We travelled a short distance to a nice hotel in Singapore where we had a
buffet dinner and opportunity to chat with the players and staff.

Adelaide United players on the bus in Singapore   View out of the plane just before landing in Singapore

Day 2 – 27th March 2010

After a 7.5 hour stop over in Singapore we boarded the plane to Fukuoka,
Japan. No sooner that we got on the plane all the players and I fell asleep.
We finally arrived in Japan at 8:00am local time (9:30am Adelaide time). It
was 3 degrees when we landed and quite cold. After a little wait in line at
customs we collected our luggage and took a short ride to the train station
where we boarded a bullet train to Hiroshima. The train got up to 300
kilometres an hour and it was a very smooth ride. I even fell asleep for a little
while on the train.

We finally reached our hotel in Hiroshima at 12:00pm (noon) - Over 24 hours
after we departed Adelaide airport. Everybody was very tired and after a quick
lunch I went for a sleep. It was so good to finally lay down in a bed. I can
appreciate how hard it is for professional players to play at their best after a

long trip. The view from my room is awesome. I’m on the 17th floor looking out
over Hiroshima.

Around 5:30pm, Val who works for the Advertiser, then interviewed me and
Mr Jones about the scholarship and we had our photo taken out the front of
our hotel with Matthew Leckie. I think he said the story will be in Monday’s
paper. I’m now preparing questions to ask the players and coaches tomorrow
before going to bed. I can’t wait to get a good night sleep.

Tim at lunch in Hiroshima Hotel (Righa Royal)   Adelaide United players in Fukuoka Airport

Day 3 - 28th March 2010

It was great to finally have a proper nights sleep in a bed rather than an
interrupted sleep in a plane. We woke up at around 8:45am and went down
for a buffet breakfast. We had bacon, eggs and sausages whilst the players
ate their 'set breakfast' upstairs.

At 10:30am we joined the team and walked to a memorial site in Hiroshima.
There was an old building's remains from the Atomic bomb. It was quite
shocking to think that a bomb of that size was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
It apparently killed over 100,000 people instantly and nearly another 100,000
through the radiation effects over the following years. This walk was again
another great opportunity to talk to the players. I got a few nice photos with
some of the players and had a long chat with Lucas Pantalis, who is a great
bloke.

Once we got back from our walk we interviewed Andrew Young. He is the
high performance manager of Adelaide United. It was a very interesting
interview and it has made me realise that this could be a job that I would be
interested in doing in the future. After this interview we met with Dom Rinaldo.
He is the media manager for Adelaide United. Again this was an interesting
interview which made me realise how much work goes into organising all the
media behind the scenes. He has certainly done a lot for the club and South
Australian soccer in the 5 years he's been involved.

Early in the afternoon Mr Jones and I went for a 'nosey' in Hiroshima. We
went into an Adidas store where we saw some good stuff and we also found
some good shops, which we'll explore further tomorrow. We haven't really
seen many vending machines in Japan (only 1 every 20 metres on every
street).

At 3:30pm we then departed the hotel for a training session. It was a real
highlight getting to see the players prepare for their big game on Tuesday. We
had a little kick around with the players at the end of training before returning
to the hotel at 6:00pm. We had dinner in the hotel at 7:15pm and after that
we saw some of the players receiving treatment in the medical room. Robert
Cornthwaite even received some acupuncture, which was very interesting to
watch. Apparently most of the players use this as one form of treatment.

It's been a great trip, but I am missing everyone back in Australia. Hello to all
my friends and family and I can't to get back and tell you all about it.

Safrecca Hiroshima Stadium   Cassio,Flores, van Dijk & Griffiths   Tim, Flores, Cassio, Diego & Reid

Tim, van Dijk & Mr Jones      Leckie & Tim                          Adelaide United in Fukuoka Airport

Day 4 - 29th March 2010

Today we joined the team for a walk at 10:00am. We walked through Peace
Park and visited the Hiroshima Memorial Museum. The museum was all about
the Atomic Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The bomb was
detonated some 600 metres above the ground and at the point of detonation
temperatures reached around 5,000 degrees Celsius. Everything in a 4-
kilometre radius was burnt to a crisp.

I joined Cornthwaite and Galekovic for the walk back to the hotel and met
back up with Mr Jones. Shortly after, we interviewed Dodd, Leckie and Daniel
Mullen. They all gave me good advice such as: be patient your time will come,
work hard, be ruthless and really want it (to be a professional footballer). After
these interviews we met up with Aurelio Vidmar and I asked him about some
of his coaching procedures. It was interesting to hear about the coaching
aspect and his explanation about his 4-3-3 formation.

Mr Jones and I then went looking for some decent shops. We found an
Adidas shop where I bought some shoes and some small gifts for friends. We
also luckily found a soccer shop in Parco shopping centre. Mr Jones and I
went in hoping to find a decent sports shop and after going up 5 floors of

women’s fashion we were disappointed. As we were about to head back down
Mr Jones grabbed a store brochure to see what was on the floors above. To
our surprise on the 9th floor it said ‘soccer goods’. We visited the shop and it
was the best shop I’ve ever been in. I bought some new soccer boots, which
were half price and I got an away Japan national team shirt (for a third of the
original price). This was a great bargain.

We then caught the team bus to the Big Arch Stadium and observed the
players familiarisation session. On the bus the players were giving me a bit of
a stick and calling me ‘Robbie Slater’ – As they think that I look a bit like him
with my shaved head. They now call me Robbie or Slater, which is all a bit of
fun. Once we arrived at the stadium we watched the players train which was
the main session before the big game on Tuesday. It was extremely cold
while we were watching and we’ll have to make sure we rug up for tomorrow
nights game.

We came back to the hotel after that and walked 3 kilometres to McDonalds
where we had a bite to eat for tea. On the way back I raced Mr Jones in the
underpass where he likes to think he annihilated me. Can’t wait for tomorrow
to see the big game. My prediction is United will win 1-0.

Galekovic at Big Arch Stadium              Mr Jones and Tim at Big Arch Stadium

Interviewing Daniel Mullen and Leckie     Adelaide United paying their respect at Peace Park

Day 5 - 30th March 2010

We got up around 8:30am and went down for breakfast at our usual spot in
the hotel. It was brilliant again. After breakfast we met with Michael Petrillo
(Football Director) and Joe Mullen (Head Coach - as it appears on the team

sheet anyway). They were both interesting interviews and I took away some
good advice about what I need to do to make it to the highest level I can. Joe
said technique, athletic ability and character were the main things he looks for
in a player.

After midday Mr Jones and I caught a taxi to a local shopping centre where
we had a look around. It was called 'Diamond City'. I bought a 'Willy Wonka'
chocolate, but missed out on the golden ticket. After a fun cab ride back
practicing my Japanese with the local taxi driver, we went and had another
look around the shops near our hotel.

At 4:00pm we headed down to the stadium with Milan (the kit man) and
helped put out all the players strips. This was an exciting thing to be a part of.
Around 5pm we went into the stadium and found our seats. The weather was
icy cold and so were the so called 'hot' chips. Although I was wearing 4 layers,
a beanie and a scarf I was still extremely cold.

The game kicked off at 7:00pm and Adelaide United got off to a slow start.
They went down 1-0 on the stroke of half time and although they dominated
the second half they could not find an equaliser. This was a bit disappointing.
The crowd in Hiroshima were beyond brilliant. It's nothing like you would ever
see in Australia. They were singing and bouncing around for the whole 90
minutes.

After the game while we waited for our ride back to the hotel. Some young 12
year old Japanese lads came over and said 'hello'. We had a bit of a kick with
them. For 12 year olds they were amazing and they will probably be part of
the national Japanese squad in the coming years. While we were waiting we
also bought a couple of mementos from the game. I bought a Sanfrecce
Hiroshima scarf and Mr Jones bought a Hiroshima T-Shirt.

When we arrived back to the hotel Pim Verbeek (The Australian National
Head Coach) got off the bus with the team as he was watching some potential
players for the up coming world cup (ie: Galekovic, Jamieson, Mullen, Leckie,
Cornthwaite & Reid). I managed to meet him and get a photo with him. He
also had dinner with us and the team in the hotel. He is much taller than what
I thought.

We leave around 4am in the morning so this will be our final ‘blog’ from
Japan. We hope to give a quick update in Singapore on the return.

          Tim and Pim at our Hotel           Tim setting out the strips before the game

Some Sanfrecce Hiroshima supporters before the game   Tim at the Game before kick off

Tim in the change rooms next to Mullen's strip      Mr Jones, Tim and the boys at Fukuoka airport Japan

Day 6 - 31st March 2010

We're now in Singapore airport and we have a few hours until our flight
home. We got up this morning at 5am and caught the bus to the train station
where we got on the bullet train to Fukuoka. From there we checked in and
boarded our flight. While we were waiting the boys played 'Chase the Ace'
(card game) and Mr Jones got a few signatures. Just before boarding the
plane we had a photo with most of the players (see above).

On the flight to Singapore I had a bit of a sleep and played Pokemon silver
version for 3.5 hours (my favourite game growing up). When we arrived in
Singapore I had my first taste of Burger King and Mr Jones and I also did
some duty free shopping. Our flight leaves Singapore at 10:50pm local time
and we are due to arrive back in Adelaide at 9:00am in the morning. I have
had an amazing trip and am looking forward to getting home to tell everyone
all about it.

Photo that made the Advertiser whilst we were away:

Nikon Photographers for a Day
Liam Brownlie & Katy O’Shea

For the Adelaide United vs Sanfrecce Hiroshima home game, two students had the
opportunity to take photos of the game as part of a Nikon promotion. Year 10
students Katy O’Shea and Liam Brownlie (and their parents) were given free tickets
and took photos while the players were warming up. Below are a couple of shots
from their experience.

                     Asian Champions League – Ball Crew
 For the Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Shandong Luneng home games of the Asian
 Champions League, BPIHS were fortunate enough to be the ‘Ball Crew’ at each of
 these games. Their job was to collect the balls when they were kicked out and
 pass the players a new ball to keep the game moving quickly. The lucky students
 involved included: Sharda and Somdeo Nettle, Josh and Alex Brownlie, Isaiah
 and Saxon Staple, Luke Mitchell, Rachel Bassett, Eloise Herraman, Brock Ford,
 Anthony Cox, Tiffany Vette, Daniel Nolte, Cody Tonkin, Aldren Arrighi, Trae
 Williams, Jazmine Camplin, Andrew Thornton and Danielle Odgers.

Handing Out Flyers
On Saturday 6th February 2010, five students from BPIHS, went to
Hindmarsh Stadium to help Adelaide United hand out fliers about their
upcoming academy. Sue Tripodi from United said ‘the students did a fantastic
job. They were full of enthusiasm and handed out a complete box of fliers’.
Well done to Liam Brownlie, Erin Scott, Ryan Playford, Dylan Turnball and
Alexander Brownlie on doing such a great job. As a trade off the students
were given tickets enabling them to watch United’s last home game (which
they won 2-0) from the grand stand.