With 40 schools and 320 children competing in this week’s ninth Premier League Schools Tournament, not everyone was going to come away from Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium with a winner's medal. But whether a team won the final or did not make it out of the group stages, teachers, coaches and parents were united in praising the impact that this event had made on the children who played.
"It's been a great tournament and as an experience it’s been wonderful," said Fernando Henriques, coach of Tottenham Hotspur’s Under-11 Capel Manor side, whose son was also on the team. "To achieve what they did creates a confidence inside. It's life-changing. My son will be a better person because he has learnt different things. The way he behaves, the way he speaks and the way he did not give in.
"Because of the necessity for him to grow up, to give more to the team, he ended up doing things he never thought he could do. You can't put a price on it. We could see in the build-up to this event that the players felt something special was going to happen.
It was a great feeling for us as parents and educators because to see those kids behave in a different manner, to be more responsible, to listen to us, and to listen to each other; it gave us great satisfaction. This will stay with them for the rest of their lives."
The school teams, Under-11 mixed and Under-13 girls, had secured a significant achievement by coming through regional qualifiers for the right to represent their Premier League clubs at the Schools Tournament. There were a record number of entries this year, with more than 10,000 boys and girls from more than 1,300 schools taking part in the qualifying events.
Their reward for qualifying was an experience that gave the players a taste of life as a Premier League footballer. The youngsters opened the tournament by following in the footsteps of their heroes and coming out of the tunnel at the Etihad accompanied by the Premier League anthem.
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany recorded a special message for the players, which was played before the event while the matches, which were officiated by Premier League referees, were played in front of over a thousand supporters, made up of family members and friends who had travelled to give their support.
Players were able to visit Manchester City’s dressing room and have their photo taken next to the Barclays Premier League trophy as well as taking part in Match Attax, golf and shooting activities on the stadium concourse.
"The attitude of the young players today has been first class, the football has been superb, it's been a real pleasure to be here," said Premier League referee Jonathan Moss, who is also a head teacher of a primary school in Halifax. "There's been a great atmosphere around the stadium.
"Sport is something I have always pushed as a head teacher because it's important that children learn life skills such as fair play, dealing with adversity, team spirit, and learning how to win and lose correctly. In life there are going to be good days and bad days and it's about how we deal with both and that's a mark of how you are judged as a person.
"You can see what it means to the young people and you think to yourself how lucky we are to be involved in professional sport, especially with the Premier League."
There was so much more to the day than the action on the pitch. Many of the teams travelled to the Etihad Stadium on the same coach used by the first team while numerous first-team squads were involved in the build-up to the special day, giving the youngsters a massive boost as they prepared for the tournament.
Cardiff City’s first-team squad recorded messages of support for the Llandaff City Church in Wales Primary School which were played on the journey to Manchester.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Capel Manor team went to the club’s training ground and met striker Emmanuel Adebayor while Arsenal’s Oakmere Primary had their qualifying medals given to them by Lukasz Fabianski, Emiliano Viviano and Kim Kallstrom.
"It's been an unbelievable day," said Llandaff Year 6 teacher Simon Johns. "It's the things that dreams are made of. For some of the children it has raised their self-esteem. For quiet boys who plod along in school, it has been their chance to shine. It's been lovely to see.
"We are very grateful to the Premier League and for all the people who have set things up for us. It’s been a once in a lifetime experience."
It was especially a day to remember for youngsters from Merseyside, as Liverpool's Plantation Primary and Everton's All Saints Catholic High School won the Under-11 and Under-13 titles respectively. The trophies were presented to the winning teams by England and Manchester City Women player Steph Houghton, who was delighted to have been a part of the event.
"It's really important that we support these kinds of events," she said. "It's a great opportunity for kids to get involved in football and it’s a great honour for them to represent their Premier League club.
"The kids have had fun. I was really impressed with the standard of football of both the girls and boys. I didn't have that many opportunities when I was younger to come to tournaments like this but now it's the norm for the girls. To have such a big company like the Premier League support this kind of thing means that girls have the opportunity to go and play their football."
Highlights and interviews from the 2014 Schools Tournament will be shown in the Match Of The Day Kickabout programme on CBBC this Saturday at 7:35am.
