This July we were delighted to take our Under-12, Under-13 and Under-15 girls Centre of Excellence squads to the World Youth Gothia Cup in Sweden. This year was extra special as it was the 40^th anniversary since the tournament kicked off in the mid 1970’s. We were extremely honoured to be pulled out of the hat to represent England at the opening ceremony in the Gothia Stadium, where we flew the flag on behalf of the Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust and England in front of an incredible 50,000 crowd. The girls were an absolute credit on and off the pitch with everyone embracing the occasion and wearing the Swindon Town badge and Football in the Community logo, doing us all proud on the international scene. The Under 12‑s battled through a very strong group coming second and then meeting a strong German side in the knockout stages. The game was a tight affair with Swindon certainly edging the proceedings by hitting the bar and post but the game finished in a 1 – 1 draw. The infamous penalty shootout was then implemented with our girls narrowly going out in the sudden death shootout. The Under 13’s had a disappointing campaign in the main competition but battled well in the plate competition where they got to the quarter finals and were narrowly beaten on penalties by a team from Iceland. The Under 15s gallantly won their group with two wins and a draw before going through to the knockout stage where they met a really strong Swedish side, finding themselves 3 – 0 down at the interval. An excellent start to the second half saw Natalie Goodright score two fine goals to have the game evenly poised at 3 – 2 with ten minutes to go. A long ball over the top, which looked dubiously offside, ended in the Swedish side sealing the victory 4 – 2. The tour was a huge success on and off the field and we would like to thank all the parents, players and staff including Wendy Craig and Kirsteen Fraser for their support, with an extra special thank you going to Craig and James of Trak Employment who were a great support to all the teams whilst in Sweden for the week’s duration. At the airport, on the return on Sunday 20^th July, all the girls were treated to a presentation with each manager of their respective squads: Jon Holloway (Under 12s), Shane Hewlett (Under 13s) and Clive Maguire (Under 15s) presented player of each match within their respective age groups. Then each manager with their staff of each team picked a player of the tournament who will receive a pair of brand new football boots kindly donated by James and Carl from Trak Employment. In the Under 12 team, the gallant winner was team captain, Georgia Brown who had a very impressive tournament leading by example from start to finish. In the Under 13s, Becky Wilkins received this superb accolade with some tremendous performances in defence. Last but not least, Jess Clements justifiably won the Under 15s awards with some outstanding displays and 100% focus throughout the duration of the tournament. These three girls were an absolute credit along with the rest of their teammates throughout the week, both on and off the field. [gallery columns=“4” ids=“5198,5199,5200,5201”]