IF Borg sign up for a training camp in Luton

Norwegian U13 boys team IF Borg from Skien have booked their next training camp with GoBYSA.

The lads from Norway will be staying at the Premier Inn, Luton for 4 nights next April as they prepare for their next round of matches. They will be training on the lush green pitches of the Vauxhall Recreation Centre which recently hosted Stuart Pearces’ England U21 team who also trained there as part of their preperation for the European Championships.

Training Camps are important to Scandinavian teams. The teams not only train together but they live together, eat together and socialise; a training camp is an ideal way for a team to bond.

Luton might not be the Worlds number one tourist decision (!) but the hotel we use is excellent with our groups, the good quality pitches are within a 5 minute walk of the hotel and then a further five minutes away is Luton Parkway rail station with a 2-3 times per hour service directly into central London. All of this and the prices available make our Luton Training Camps very popular.

Costa Blanca Friendship Tours

We have just returned from the Costa Blanca where we work with a fantastic hotel in Albir, which is close to Benidorm and ideally situated for our touring groups.

You can visit the hotel by clicking the link here, you will see it is a fantastic property ideal for an end of season tour or a mid-season training break.

Take a look at the special prices we have negotiated for 2010 below.

Rates are per person and include full board at the hotel for 4 nights together with either use of nearby training facilities or matches against local teams.

April 1-4th: Twin £239.00 per person – Triple £226.00 per person
April 5th-May 28th: Twin £185.00 per person – Triple £175.00 per person
May 29th-July 9th: Twin £199.00 per person – Triple £188.00 per person
July 10-30th: Twin £219.00 per person – Triple £206.00 per person

We haven’t included transportation costs as each group has different needs, however we can arrange coach hire to transport your complete group together, or we can arrange for car hire (4-9 seaters) which will give you a lot more flexibility during your stay. Ask us about either option.

Please complete our tour enquiry form so we can send you more information about this tour. Click here to access the form.

GoBYSA sponsor Rachel!

When Sheffield Wednesday Ladies FC forward Rachel Skeemer contacted us for sponsorship recently we took the plunge and said yes!

It’s a first for us, but we are keen to encourage girls and ladies football as it continues it’s growth within the UK. We get more and more tour enquiries from female teams every year as they, like their male counterparts, realise how important overseas travel is to the development of the team as individuals and as a unit.

Here’s a potted history of Rachel’s football career so far:

“I played for Chesterfield Ladies for 12 years where I picked up the passion for football and made some life long friendships. I worked my way up the age groups and at the age of 16 I was part of the 1^st team squad playing regular open age football.

In the season of 2003-04 even with a very young team we gained promotion to the Nationwide Premier league (North Division) which was a massive achievement for the players and club as a whole. The 1^st season in the new league saw me playing around 7 games before I tore the ACL in my right knee resulting in me having to have an operation followed by rehab, which in total took me 9 months before I was back kicking a ball in training.

Halfway through the 2005-06 season I signed for Sheffield Wednesday Ladies where I continued my rehabilitation and finally got back on the field playing regular football.

In the 5 years being with SWLFC we have gained promotion back to the northern premier league and beat Doncaster Belles in the county cup final. Hopefully the club will push for promotion into the national premier league which is the top flight league in women’s football.”

Good luck to Rachel and her team mates, GoBYSA are happy to do our ‘bit’ to help them.

You can follow Sheffield Wednesday Ladies on their website. www.swwfc.net

COMO CHAMPIONS CUP – Italy – Easter 2010

Come and play in the largest International Youth Soccer Tournament during the Easter time in Italy

Como Champions Cup

More than 50 teams from over 10 nations

From 1st to 5th April 2010

The tournament will take place in ITALY on the VIP area of  Lake Como close to Milan

Boys & Girls Categories U12 to U19

Possibility to visit the famous Museum and Stadium of San Siro Milan (AC Milan & Inter FC)

you can also purchase tickets for the evening match : SERIE A LEAGUE PRO MATCH – F.C. INTER vs BOLOGNA F.C.

Extra Excursions available on request in Venice – Florence – Milan – Verona – Padua – Swizterland Lake Lugano - Lake Como

To get more information, send us a request by clicking here

The Hunger Site

The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger. Since its launch in June 1999, the site has established itself as a leader in online activism, helping to feed the world’s hungry. On average, over 220,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click the yellow “Click Here to Give – it’s FREE” button at the Hunger Site. To date, more than 300 million visitors have given more than 657 million cups of staple food.

The staple food funded by clicks at The Hunger Site is paid for by site sponsors and distributed to those in need.  100% of sponsor advertising fees goes to their charitable partners. Funds are split between these organizations and go to the aid of hungry people in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America.

Hunger: Do you know the facts?

The FAO is projecting a rise in the number of people facing chronic hunger worldwide to 1.02 billion as a result of the global economic crisis, which has exacerbated unemployment issues and lowered incomes globally. FAO Director-General Jaques Diouf states: “the silent hunger crisis — affecting one sixth of all of humanity — poses a serious risk for world peace and security. We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions.”

About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.

Famine and wars cause about 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families facing extreme poverty are simply unable to get enough food to eat.

How You Can Help In Mere Seconds — Every Day

The Hunger Site provides a feel-good way to help promote awareness and prevent hunger deaths every day — through easy and quick online activities.

With a simple, daily click of the “Click Here to Give – it’s FREE” button at The Hunger Site, visitors help provide food to those in need. Visitors pay nothing. Food is paid for by the site’s sponsors.

Please remember to click every day to give help and hope to those most in need. Every click counts in the life of a hungry person.

Outrage at conditions for Burmese refugees

From an article printed in the latest Medecins San Frontieres Dispatches……

“The makeshift Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh is where thousands of unregistered refugees from Myanmar (Burma) are living in appalling conditions.

There is an official camp holding around 14,000 people but in the ‘makeshift camp’ there are about 25,000 people who are not recognised and registered as refugees. Their shelters are made of bits of plastic and wood on the muddy, swampy slopes below the official camp. The sludge, the human waste from the latrines in the offical camp, runs directly into and around the homes of the people in the makeshift camp.

Medecins San Frontieres are the only organisation working there. When they started in April they were overwhelmed with all the medical needs – lots of malnutrition and rally nasty skin infections.

In the last few months the situation for these people has got even worse. First they were threatened and told to move out of the boundary region of the official camp, so they moved to some nearby forestry land owned by the government, which they were not allowed to live on. Since then they’ve been forced to move quite a number of times and are being cornered into a very small space. The worst incident was on July 14th when 259 shelters were destroyed. Since then local police and officials have continued to issue threats and instances of violence against the refugees are still occurring.

As well as continuing to treat patients at their clinic, MSF is strongly advocating publicity at the highest levels with governments and international agencies to seek a durable and dignified solution for the unregistered Burmese refugees.”

THE WAVE – London 5.12.09

On December 5th 2009 London will be the venue for what is expected to be the largest public demonstration on climate change the UK has even seen.

Set to coincide with the start of talks by World Leaders in Copenhagen The Wave march is being organised by the ‘Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’. Try and get along so that your voice can be heard.

If you can’t make it to London then please visit www.demandclimatechange.org to sign an online petition to demand that World Leaders make the right choices during their meetings in Copenhagen.

Norhalne Cup -Denmark – May 13/16th 2010

The Norhalne Cup is a great tour for any player.
Travel to Denmark safe in the knowledge that you will be fed and looked after well and that the organisers will provide the players with a happy and safe environment to stay in so that you as team coach can concentrate on enjoying the football.
Participating in Norhalne Cup gives you an extremely enjoyable few days away for everyone.
Encourage your players to  show personal responsibility off the pitch during your visit. Encourage them to be focussed and ready for the games. Give them simple tasks such as making their beds, getting their own breakfast, packing their own bags, cleaning their own boots and being on time for meetings etc. Enable them to show that they can do things for themselves when allowed to and when challenged.
Your time away will be filled with plenty of activity other than the tournament in the games room, on the volleyball court and at the theme park, look for some characters to emerge!
If you are looking for a May time tournament forget the restriction of travel during bank holidays and head for Denmark, its a wonderful, wonderful place to play football.

Group Travel by Air

If you are flying to your destination GoBYSA do not book flights for your group as you are more likely to get the best fares by booking directly with one of the low cost carriers and they don’t deal with tour operators.

Sometimes you may find a better offer with a “regular” airline. So, take your time and compare the cost of an airline ticket between the two types of carriers. Consider that with low cost carriers you have to pay the complete cost of the flight ‘up front’ whereas with a ‘regular’ airline you can normally pay a deposit and then pay the balance around 8 weeks before departure. Low cost carriers will often charge for any name changes whereas ‘regular’ airlines may not, also low cost carriers often charge for baggage….low cost isn’t always what it seems!

Please consider that all special/low fares, whether you are taking a flight with a “regular” or a “low cost” airline, are dependent on availability.

Tip: If you do book with one of the low cost carriers its generally cheaper for each family group to book their own flights rather than book everyone as one big group. That way not only do they get a lower fare they can also choose when to pay off their credit card charge and you, the organiser, have one less thing to do!

Finally, GoBYSA work with a group flight specialists who may be able to help you with your booking if you do decide to travel with one of the ‘regular’ airlines. You can obtain a quotation for your group by completing the request form here.

The Mediterranean International Cup (MIC)

The Mediterranean International Cup (MIC) is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary during Easter 2010 on the North Coast of Spain.

The competition features some of the best teams in the World (such as Manchester United, Real Madrid CF, FC Internazionale Milano, Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona, FC Porto…) and also allows the participation of small and modest clubs, what makes this event a unique and impressive tournament.

In total around 160 teams will participate in the tournament on natural and artificial pitches throughout the region.

TOUR DATES – MARCH 30/APRIL 4th 2010

2010 Age classes

Class A: players born after 01/01/91
Class B: players born after 01/01/94
Class C: players born after 01/01/96
Class D: players born after 01/01/98