St Edward’s own football superstar!
Dear Mr Morgan-Nash,
Thank you very much for your support and sponsorship allowing me to participate in the Gothia Cup football tournament in 2017, based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Gothia Cup hosts over 1700 teams from 80 nations.
I travelled to the tournament with my father. Firstly, we flew to Stockholm and from there we took a four-hour train journey to Gothenberg on the Bla Taget train (a private train offering an old-fashioned experience, similar to the Orient Express). The train journey was magical – a great experience.
On the following day, I met up with my team (Prep School Lions) at a school in Gothenburg which provided the accommodation for the event. All of the participants stayed there, where we set up our inflatable beds on classroom floors. We ate, slept and showered in the school each day where there was a heavy security presence for our safety.
During our first training session as a team, we were able to discover our strengths and weaknesses in preparation for the tournament.
On the third day, we had our first match against a German team (Backatorp IF), which we won. We celebrated by going to the Mall that evening where I bought myself a large ice cream.
On the fifth day, we reached the knockout stages, but lost to an English team (Prep School Pumas) so we were knocked out of the competition. The “A” squad of Prep school lions went on to reach the semi-finals where they were eventually beaten by a French team (Anthony Sport).
The Gothic cup is not only a great football tournament, but also an amazing experience. I truly believe that people of all footballing abilities would thoroughly enjoy this tournament and learn a lot.
Further great news: following my performance in the 2017 tournament I have been invited back to play for the “A” squad of the “Lions” in 2018. Needless to say I am thrilled and am looking forward to this great event.
Thank you once again for your support it is very much appreciated!
Yours sincerely,
Reiss-Alexander
Reiss-Alexander
Reiss-Alexander is a member of the Chelsea FC Academy. Now in Year 6, he has been at St Edward’s since he started in Reception at the age of four. Like most boys his age he is passionate about football, however for Reiss-Alexander his passion could one day make him a household name.
Reiss-Alexander was an early starter; he first walked at 11-months old and by 18-months was kicking a ball around the house. As he turned two, this progressed to dribbling and volleying; his mum and dad had no choice but to give in and took him along to a football play group just before his 4th birthday.
His parents decided to swap the football play group for the WrightChoice amateur football academy 6 months later, however local footballing rules did not allow him to play his first competitive match until he was six years old. As soon as he was able to, Reiss-Alexander represented his academy in his first ever match, but little did he know that a scout from Chelsea FC was in attendance that day. By the end of his debut match, Reiss-Alexander had scored ten goals and the scout had left his contact details with his parents.
Reiss-Alexander went on to train two days a week with Chelsea FC and was rewarded in February 2014 with a two-year contract for their academy. This has since been renewed for a further year and he currently trains after school on three days per week and plays matches on Sundays for their Under-11 squad. Playing for Chelsea has already taken him to exciting parts of the world; Portugal, Switzerland, France, Netherlands and Germany, not to mention national venues – the most recent being Liverpool last half term. In 2015, Reiss-Alexander represented Chelsea in a 2-day event in Basel, which his team won. He then captained a side in an indoor tournament run by Q.P.R, which they won on penalties in the final – he even scored the winning penalty himself! Last summer he played up a year group for the Under-12s and was part of the team which won the tournament in Venlo, Holland.
Needless to say, Reiss-Alexander is also a valuable member of the St Edward’s Prep Under-11 football squad which has an extremely good record this year against local schools. At the point of writing they have narrowly lost only twice. He is fully supported in his footballing endeavours by the school and we are proud to help him develop his skills here as part of our sporting curriculum.
Remember the name, you might very well hear it again on Match of the Day in the future!