The Seals Camp opened on January 7th at Heywood Sports Ground, near Bury in the UK. Players attended daily training sessions coached by Seals coaches Tom Simpson, Paul Aigbogun and John Brooks (head coach at Dominican College). Twenty five players attended the camp. Most came from the UK. In addition there were 7 US players and 3 French players. The majority of players stayed at the Burrs Community Centre in Bury where they had bunk style beds, great hot showers, a full kitchen at their disposal and a laundry. The remarkable feature was the cost which averaged about £12.50 per day or about $24.00. In the UK, that is actually more than remarkable, it seems unreal. The average bed and breakfast in the Bury area is about £75.00 or almost $150.00 per night. The dollar just doesn't buy much here.

We've already reported on the Seals first game vs. Hopwood College. It was a rather authoritative win. The Seals scored 5 goals in that game and gave up two. The Seals players had trained only two days prior to the game. And remember, if you forgot the point from the earlier email: there was only one rostered Seals player on the field: Rawley Masaniai. The other thing to point out is that we had to borrow a goalkeeper for that game and the Rochdale game.

The win against Rochdale is a more remarkable achievement for the Seals team. The makeshift crew required an infusion of new talent to field a team. Andy Taylor who played centerback for the Seals in the first game has returned to Oklahoma where he goes to college. He was replaced by Kevin Mack a local UK centerback who wanted a tryout. In addition, two members of the camp, Dan Evans and Kevin Gravelot, had sustained injuries that prevented their participation in the final match. Fortunately, Ola Shenoo, a Nigerian player arrived from London a few days earlier and Chris Harris a 17 year old from the East Bay also arrived during the week. Both were added to the starting lineup lineup. Other positions: Adrian Melville started up top with Carl Lomax, the scoring star of the first game. Francisco Camacho of Contra Costa College started on the outside right. Rawley Masaniai took the defensive midfield positions. Henry Goh, a UK player who played for Holy Names this past season, was at the right back, Matt Cross from Boston University was the other centerback and Araia Berhane started at the left back. In goal was Grant Moore who played for the Hopwood College against us in our first game.

The Rochdale side was strong, aggressive and quite talented. They played with intensity and weren't at all put off by the fact that the Seals average age was probably closer to 20 -21 (i.e. roughly 2.5 years older). By far the Seals midfield control of the game was a dominant factor. In particular the play of Rawley Masaniai was every bit as fierce as our opponent's. He controlled everything that came at him through the middle. Ola Shenoo's work rate complemented him well and made it almost impossible for midfield penetration by our opponent. Rawley had trained more than he should have the day earlier because he attended a tryout with Droysdale on the previous night after attending the Seals regular session during the day. What Rawley didn't expect was that the training session was going to be a heavy conditioning session, which it was. As you can imagine, playing 90 minutes in an intense game the next day was going to be a challenge. However, Rawley stood up quite well for about 60 minutes or so. He tired in the second half and Rochdale was able to make some penetrating runs. Fortunately, they weren't able to cash in. Rawley got a "second wind" for the last 10 minutes, looked strong, and nearly came up with a header goal on a cross when he soared over the head of a defending Rochdale player.

The come-from-behind scoring for the Seals was a sign that our boys were there to play the game. Rochdale scored first at about 12 minutes with a strangely hit shot from outside the 18 that seemed to almost wobble into the upper left corner of the goal. The Seals were unfazed. Adrian Melville came up with a picture perfect header off a Carl Lomax cross about five minutes later. Rochdale didn't slow down their game either. At about the 33 minute, Rochdale took advantage of a turnover in midfield. Their midfielder made a strong run to goal from the turnover point and slotted the ball by the Seals guest keeper.

The first half ended 2-1 with Rochdale in the lead. The second half was characterized by a gradual takeover of the game by the Seals. The midfield play by Rawley, Ola, Francisco and Henry was key but the other key was the ability of Carl Lomax to hold the ball and spray the ball around to off-the-ball attacking players. In one sequence, Carl laid the ball off to Ola who sent the ball over the heads of the Rochdale defender to Henry Goh making a through run. Henry's chip-shot was off the mark but it was a sign of things to come. A few minutes later, Duane Saunders, a striker who plays at Birmingham University and took time away from his studying to participate in the trials, took a driven ball from Ola on the right flank and volleyed it into the net with unquestionable authority. That evened up the score. The winning goal game was Adrian Melville collected his second and winning goal of the game when he deftly directed the ball to the side of the foot of the oncoming keeper.

The Seals Camp was described to the players who attended the Seals Manchester Camp as an "experiment." The idea was to expose the US players to the game in the UK. We also hoped that the UK scouts and coaches would like to look at our players and possibly consider them favorably. That happened. Carlos Diaz was picked up prior to the onset of the camp by Blackpool. In fact, as the Seals played Rochdale, Carlos played in a game v. Everton. This opportunity was beyond our expectations. Carlos never had a chance to represent the Seals during the whole camp. He is still with Blackpool until they make their final decision. Rawley got the most attention of the in-camp players. Rawley was offered a tryout with Droylsden, as previously mentioned and Rochdale looked closely at him today as a "tryout" for their organization. Chris Harris is the other player who drew a lot of attention. Chris, who has played for the Under 17 US National team, has caught the interest of the UK coaches because he's young and he has Jamaican parentage. The visa issue, which hasn't been discussed, is a significant barrier for the average American player who can't get a work permit to play in the UK. However, European and other parentage (e.g. Jamaican) changes the rules of the "visa game." If Blackpool decides to keep Carlos, for example, he'll either have to draw upon his grandmother's Spanish citizenship to qualify for an EU passport or he'll have to go to the continent to play for a few years before he can play on a UK team. The other reason for holding the camp was to expose the UK and French players to the Seals program. This was also successful. As a result of their play on the field Andy Taylor, Carl Lomax, Duane Saunders, Henry Goh and Ola Seenoo were all offered spots on the Seals roster for the 2008 season. We hope to see them in San Francisco sometime between soon.

The Seals organization was established to play in the PDL in 1992. Since our beginning the Seals have provided more players to the MLS, A-League, foreign pro leagues and the US National Teams than any other PDL team in existence. The Seals U20s play in the Super Y League U20 league. The purpose of the Seals program is to develop soccer players. We see our role as a community service to the youth of San Francisco and Bay Area, and to those youth from outside the area who would like to be part of a San Francisco experience. The Seals support themselves through ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandise, and camps. The UK Camp was funded, in part, by the Seals and in part by the players who covered their own travel accommodations, and miscellaneous expenses. We hope you enjoy hearing about the efforts of these young players who wish to make a place for themselves in the world of football and we hope you'll support our efforts to provide them opportunity by coming to Seals games, buying merchandise, attending our camps and sponsoring the Seals experience as a way to promote your own businesses.