Men’s soccer team heads overseas to experience culture and play soccer

Over Spring break, the VTSU Castleton men’s soccer team traveled to Scotland, where they played soccer in a tournament hosted by the Celtic’s club team.  

The team had spent around four years fundraising for this trip by doing small fundraisers here and there, and a major raffle that was the main source of their income to make it happen.   

Throughout the trip, the team traveled with a company called Aspire Sport, which is associated with the Celtic Football Club. There are two main club teams in Scotland – the Celtics and the Rangers. Essentially, these two teams are divided by Protestants and Catholics. 

First-year player Nate Lurie explained the significance of these teams amongst the Scottish. 

“Whenever we would go out, our tour guide would tell us to not wear any team colors or jerseys to the pub because it’s actually a serious thing,” he said.  

 The Spartans played three games in Scotland against international teams, winning two and tying one. Coach John O’Connor reflected on the learning experience this trip provided and how the team can implement skills they learned in the future.  

“It was different…it was physical. They do certain things in the Scottish game that they’re really good at, like playing long passes or crossing the ball,” he said. 

Lurie also emphasized the level of physicality these teams possess and talked about what he took away from playing against them. 

“The style of play is definitely different. I mean, here we struggle against physical teams that play very direct. But we ended up beating two teams in Scotland,” he said 

First-year player Charlie Bell elaborated on the experience of playing soccer in an international country. 

“My time spent playing was nothing short of spectacular. I learned a lot from professional academy coaches, and the games were a new level of physicality that I haven’t really seen in the U.S.,” he said. 

Not only was it a learning experience with regards to playing soccer, but the trip also held a historical aspect. Although the teams had a game on Monday and Tuesday, they had Wednesday off to explore Edinburgh. Lurie said it was a surreal experience. 

“It was kind of mind-blowing. Most of Edinburgh Castle hadn’t been rebuilt, so it was really cool to walk around and see how big it was. It was also really cool to see all the artifacts, like the crown of the Queen. Another really interesting thing was a cannon they had that they set off once every week,” he said. 

The team also went to Sterling, as well as the William Wallace Memorial. Along with this, the team also got to tour the city of Glasgow. Glasgow was an exciting place to explore, as the huge city offered many stores, restaurants and street buskers. The team was able to venture around, basking in Scottish culture.  

The Spartans also went to a Celtics game, which was an immense deal to them. Bell emphasized that this was his favorite part of the trip, as he got to watch some of the best soccer players in the world.  

Ultimately, the team had a fantastic and successful time going abroad to play soccer.  

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Lurie said.  

When asked about his favorite part of Scotland, Coach O’Connor reflected with elation. 

“I think one of the things that was really cool was when we were traveling places, we had this really funny Scottish guy, Dave McKay, who would make you sing if you were late to the bus. But my favorite part was the camaraderie. I loved watching the guys. I think really, for me, it was seeing how the guys kind of got together,” he said.