Playing soccer and sightseeing in Germany and Italy is what the 26-member Sawtooth United Premier traveling group will be doing over the Fourth of July holiday in 2008.
Sawtooth United Premier, for the third time in five years, is sending a girls' team coached by Wood River High School head girls' soccer coach Greg Gvozdas to Europe for a series of games against some of the world's best international competition.
The 2008 trip includes 11 days in Europe from June 25-July 5. The girls will play at least seven games and enjoy much of the local flavor.
The team will be spending three days in Munich, Germany for team training as well as a friendly match against a local German team, on Friday. Sightseeing in Munich and the surrounding area will include a visit to the Dachau concentration camp on Saturday, June 28.
Next, the team will travel by bus to Italy, stopping for lunch and sightseeing in Innsbruck, Austria where the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics were held. The final leg will be in Cesenatico, a seaport town on the Adriatic coast of Italy near a larger Italian city, Rimini.
At Cesenatico, Sawtooth United Premier will compete in The Italy Cup, the largest tournament in Italy. There are 150 teams from 20 different countries (including the US, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, England, Australia and Poland) that participate in the Italy Cup. The festive opening ceremony is held along the harbor of Cesenatico June 30.
Six preliminary Italy Cup games are scheduled for Sawtooth United Premier, three against teams from Sweden, one against a Dutch club, one against an Irish team and one against a team from Petaluma, Ca. The Web site is italycup.com.
Final matches will be played Friday, July 4. The next day, Sawtooth United Premier will leave by bus for Venice and fly home to Idaho.
The Premier traveling group
Tryouts for the 2008 Premier team were held in October 2007. A total 19 players from Wood River High School and The Community School of Sun Valley were selected, including five players returning from the 2006 Premier trip to Europe.
The only graduating senior is co-captain Hannah Hennessy from The Community School (CS).
There are five juniors, who are incoming seniors at their schools. They are co-captain Laura Elgee (WR), Jazz Campbell (WR), Makayla Cappel (WR), Delaney Fox (WR) and Aimee Evans (WR).
Six sophomores, who are incoming juniors, are Nellie Brown (CS), Kelly Chapman (WR), Maddie Kate Currie (CS), Erica Eshman (CS), Ashley Hesteness (WR) and Kerri Lee Nelson (CS).
The seven freshmen, sophomores this fall, are Ellen Davis (WR), Freya Dickey (CS), Tanner Dredge (WR), Sierra Fox (WR), Madison Gove (WR), Kelly Hennessy (CS) and Emma Wilander (CS).
Premier team staff includes the following Wood River residents:
Team manager is Laura Gvozdas, a member of Wood River High School's first girls' state soccer championship team in 1995. She will bring 21-month-old daughter Clara.
Coaches are Greg Gvozdas, head coach for the WRHS girls' varsity soccer team, Sawtooth United F.C. coach and Idaho ODP Boys '93 head coach, and also Aaron Thompson, WRHS girls' varsity soccer assistant coach and also a SUFC coach.
The team trainer is John Koth of Koth Sports Physical Therapy based at the Wood River Community YMCA. His wife Sherri Koth and their son Taylor Koth will also accompany the Premier group.
Prior to the trip, the Premier team completed monthly fitness testing and team bonding activities. Team bonding ranged from Germany/Italy "Jeopardy" to team scavenger and dodge ball competition.
On June 2, the Premier team began four-times-a-week outdoor training sessions at the Sagewillow Soccer Complex in Elkhorn.
The team was fortunate enough to be sponsored by the national soccer gear company, Score American Soccer, which also sponsored the 2006 Premier squad. So, the team has been fully equipped with warm-ups, uniforms, practice shirts, balls, backpacks and duffle travel bags.
How it started
In the fall of 2003, Greg and Laura Gvozdas established the Premier soccer program, in conjunction with Sawtooth United F.C. (SUFC), to give high school girls from the Wood River Valley the opportunity to further their soccer experience as well as gain exposure to the sport of soccer on a global level.
The program allows girls the opportunity to play and train throughout the summer, enjoy a European experience and prepare for the upcoming fall soccer season.
In July 2004, the inaugural Premier team of 20 local girls traveled to Maastricht, Holland and trained with a Royal Netherlands Soccer Federation (KNVB) coach for three days and spent a week outside Amsterdam, competing in the Holland Cup. At the Holland Cup, the team finished second in the Challenge Cup division and was awarded the Fair Play award for the U-17 group.
In July 2006, the Premier team of 17 local players, including three players from the 2004 trip, participated in the Gothia Cup, in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Dana Cup in Denmark, where they reached the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Both trips created a lasting bond between Community School and Wood River players and contributed to both team's successes in the fall high school soccer seasons.
Sponsors and supporters
The Premier program would not be possible without the support of local businesses and individuals.
The following companies and individuals provided tax deductible donations to help purchase team uniforms, assist with trip costs for the staff and to minimize player fees:
They are Algis Pabarcuis, Clearwater Landscaping, Wayne and Cynnie Griffin, Happy Hawn, Hennessy Company, Heinz Family Philanthropies, Kearns/McGinnis/Vanderberg Builders, Joan and Michael O'Neil, Stephanie and John Perenchio, Power Engineers, Les & Estelle Reid, Peco Foundation, Sawtooth Orthopedics, Scott USA, Peter Smith, Smith Sport Optics, Stuhlberg's, Sun Country Management, Sun Valley Wine Company and Wood River YMCA.
Getting ready for its 11-day European tour is the 2008 Sawtooth United Premier traveling group, posing last Wednesday before a practice session at Sagewillow Farms in Elkhorn. Front row, from left, Taylor Koth, Kelly Hennessy, Freya Dickey, Nellie Brown, Tanner Dredge, co-captain Hannah Hennessy, Kerri Lee Nelson, Ellen Davis, Ricki Eshman, team manager Laura Gvozdas and daughter Clara Gvozdas. Back row, from left, team trainer John Koth, Sherri Koth, Kelly Chapman, Emma Wilander, Aimee Evans, Delaney Fox, Makayla Cappel, Sierra Fox, co-captain Laura Elgee, Maddie Kate Currie, Ashley Hesteness, Jazz Campbell, Madison Gove, assistant coach Aaron Thompson and head coach Greg Gvozdas. Photo by David N. Seelig
