ISC Gunners Tour of England - Feb 5th Update

Dear Parents & Players - sincere thanks for your prompt response & feedback. We are delighted to say we've had over 150 responses from parents & family members, with over 75 responses from ISC Gunners Players. At this current time we wanted to provide some feedback on where we stand across 1) numbers of players interested in their respective age groups, and 2) in terms of playing ability comparatively across those players interested. We are committed to providing this experience to as many players & parents as possible but please note - we have to be cautious/selective as to which groupings of players will provide the best experience for all involved.

Moving forward as of today - Friday February 5th - we have 3 potential groupings forming - with 1 further group needing additional work/interest to move forward:

Boys U11-U12 Group (very likely)

We have approximately 14-16 players interested at this age grouping - with the vast majority coming from the Boys U11A and Boys U12A Premier Teams. This would be a high level playing ability group, for both training & competition when in England, with the potential need to add 1-4 players to the group in the next week to two. Our honest recommendation to any interested parents and players would be to touch base with Boys DOC Neil Riddle to confirm ahead of time - but that only players of a strong/experienced playing background should consider this group.

Boys U14-U15 Group (very likely)

We have approximately 14-16 players interested at this age grouping - with the vast majority coming from the Boys U14A & Boys U15B Premier Teams. This would be a good level playing ability group, for both training & competition when in England, with the need to only add 1-2 potential interested players to the group in the next week to two. At the moment we have 1-2 interested Boys U16 Age Group players and we will work through this interest for options on a combined U14-U16 Boys Age Grouping. We would also recommend this to any current U14/U15 Premier Player playing here at ISC Gunners. Again, please touch base with Boys DOC Neil Riddle to communicate further.

Girls U11-U12 Group (?)

Unfortunately at the moment, we do not have enough interested players to consider this a strong possibility for the UK Trip August 2016. At the moment we have approximately 7-8 players interested at this age grouping - with the majority coming from the Girls U11A and Girls U11B Premier Teams. This would be a decent level playing ability group, for both training & competition when in England, with the immediate need to add at least 7-8 interested players to the group in the next week to two. We would recommend this to any player involved at the higher levels of competition at the U10-U11-U12 Age Groups at ISC Gunners. Please touch base with Girls DOC Alex Cunliffe to communicate further.

Girls U14-U15 Group (very likely)

We have approximately 16-18 players interested at this age grouping - with the vast majority coming from the Girls U14A, Girls U15A & Girls U15B Premier Teams. This would be a good level playing ability group, for both training & competition when in England, with minor need to add 1-2 potential interested players to the group should others drop out. At the moment given the strength in numbers and of similar playing ability at U14-U15, we would unfortunately not be able to welcome any further interest from U16/U17 Players. Please touch base with Girls DOC Alex Cunliffe to communicate further.

Continued Timeline:

* Today - Feb 12th: Update on Player Groupings & Interest.
* Feb 13th - 18th: Finalizing Player Groupings & Commitments.
* Feb 19th: Each committed Player/Family pays $100 deposit on trip.

Dear ISC Gunners Players, Parents and Club Members,

Welcome to the proposed 'ISC Gunners Player and Parents Tour of England 2016'. We are exploring the option for August 2016 to take several girls and boys teams to tour England next year. As part of the tour the players will get to experience playing against some top English Academy teams as well as train with coaches from top professional clubs and academies in England and even get to stay and train at St. George's Park the very same facility the England National teams use!

In addition to games and training we will be taking the group to watch two live games from the English Premier League with the option to possibly add mid-week European and English Championship games! Also included in this fantastic tour will be visits to the home of Manchester United and Wembley Stadium the home of English Football as we take personal guided tours of their stadiums.

However, it's not just soccer as we will be taking a tour of London and seeing the famous sights such as Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London plus seeing famous castles and incredible walled cities, cobbled streets and even the home of Shakespeare. The hotels we stay in are going to be 4 star city center locations meaning parents have the chance to do their own sightseeing when the team is training. Breakfast and dinner is all taken care of as part of the tour cost meaning full English breakfasts available daily of and group dinners every night. In addition we will have a luxury coach with us at all times to transport the group meaning we have flexibility to add extra events.

We will be working with XL Sports Tours to provide this once in a lifetime experience who have been taking USA teams overseas since 2001 and are considered the premier travel organization in the states. They will be handling registrations, offer assistance in booking international flights, available to answer any questions and even offering a fantastic fundraising program to ensure every player can afford to go! To highlight what a great tour XL provides please watch the movie file at https://vimeo.com/64761760 or for more information head to www.xlsportstours.com.

For more information on the tour including fundraising options, general information about England and other frequently asked questions please check out the following link at http://www.xltravel.com/#!my-tour/c6wh then click on ISC Gunners Tour of England 2016 where you will be asked for a password which is iscg16 and always in lower case.


The schedule for the tour can be accessed with the link on the right and based on initial feedback we expect this tour to fill up as we have a limited number of spaces for players and parents. This is going to be an incredible event for everyone involved and a fantastic opportunity to further our players and coaches' soccer education and development.

The Club will be providing a formal Information Meeting on Wednesday January 20th at 7:00pm Swedish Hospital Issaquah. An XL Staff Specialist will be in attendance to answer any and all questions, before we finalize & confirm the trip in full.


Thank you,



ISC Gunners