The Marine Harvest Riptide U-16 boys came back home from their 11 day trip to Barcelona, Spain on
Wednesday, March 30, following a whirlwind overseas adventure full of sightseeing, shopping, soccer practice,
and international matches. On their first official day in Barcelona, they played two games side by side for about
30 minutes to help shake out their heavy plane legs. The next day was spent training with a coach from RCD
before heading to Camp Nou, and then touring for a few hours and going to the BARCA store. The boys had a
low-key day after that, with an hour and a half of training in the morning, and then some lunch and beach time
where they swam in the Mediterranean Sea. Afterwards they played some three on three soccer at the hotel's
mini soccer court before calling it a day.March 23 was the day the Riptide played their first game against
Girona, a very high quality Spanish team, which was an eye opening experience for the young team. The next
day, the boys had a professional training session for 1.5 hours and then went to watch the U18 Mediterranean
International Tournament that was held locally. The Riptide spent the 25th enjoying some Spanish culture. They
visited some sights and saw the famous Gaudi architecture in Barcelona. The day after, they started their
morning off watching two games from the Mediterranean International Cup U-19 boys, Malaga FC vs.
Caribbean FC and Seville FC vs. RCD Espanol. The boys then went shopping in La Rambia in Barcelona,
where they spent some more of their money. The Riptide played a match against Llagostera on their last full
day in Spain, which ended tied 2-2. "The boys played well," said Coach Mark Purcell.