The Glory Days of Youth

I came across this picture today. Every time I see it I instantly smile. It is an under 16 Lewis Select side that I represented in the Aberdeen International Football Festival, which is a competition that lasts for a week.

As a bunch of teuchtars, with no hope of winning the tournament, we got to play against incredible players, some of whom now play for Lyon in France and Inter Milan in Italy - to name a couple.

I vividly remember going for breakfast on the first day and loading my plate with a greasy full breakfast. While devouring the nutritious meal I watched all the other, very professional, youth teams show their coaches that they were having fruit and porridge.

To cut a long story short that breakfast we ate was a meal for champions - almost!

We played 7 games in 8 days winning 5, drawing one and losing 3-1 to Clermont Auvergne in the final, who we had previously drawn 1-1 with in our group. To this day I have no idea how we got there but it was decided recently that it must have been thanks to our diet.

It is without doubt one of my most enjoyable experiences and best achievements.