AFC Bournemouth
Following on from the successful girls tour last month, AFC Bournemouth's Community Sports Trust have welcomed a group of boys, who are touring from South Africa, to Bournemouth as part of the South Africa Community Project.
Throughout the trip, the boys played three fixtures against teams representing the club's Football Education Programme, Premier League Kicks programme and Wimborne Town.
Alongside their games, the boys also took part in a series of training sessions utilising the 3G pitch facilities at Ringwood Community Hub and Vitality Stadium, along with recovery sessions and foam rolling activities.
The group made many visits to Vitality Stadium throughout their tour, including taking part in a stadium tour and having a look behind the scenes at the Premier League facilities.
They saw the home and away dressing rooms, warm up area and media suites before walking down the tunnel and out pitchside. This was all before they had the opportunity to attend a Premier League match, where they supported the team against Manchester United.
In their final few days of the tour, the boys had the opportunity to meet AFC Bournemouth Women’s player Daniela Kosinska, who spoke to them about her career to date, life in Bournemouth and what a standard week looks like.
Kosinska answered questions about the team's season so far, as the group later had the opportunity to watch them in the 5-0 victory against Torquay United that Sunday.
Speaking after the tour, head of community Steve Cuss told afcb.co.uk: “We were delighted to host the group from South Africa as part of our South Africa Community Project.
“The boys were a pleasure to work with and we hope that they have created some life long memories."
The Community Sports Trust coaches now prepare to travel to South Africa in May for the continuation of the project, where they look forward to working with students at local schools and football teams, as well as supporting initiatives within local communities.
