The U15 St. Paul Blackhawks Soccer Club takes an annual trip to Sweden to play in a youth soccer tournament. Freshmen Tessah Green, Jasper Green, Michael Forsgren, Micah Gwin and Ben Carlson will attend this year, as well as sophomore Terry Cheney. The trip will take the players to the Gothia Cup for two weeks.

Before the trip, the players continually train and practice hard.

“We practice and have games on Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays. During the summer, there will be more league games, and there will be a tournament this weekend, and a state cup next weekend,” Tessah Green said.

Students are motivated to prepare for the upcoming season and take advantage of the great opportunity of the soccer cup.

“Playing in the league games will also be a big part of training for school soccer in the fall and varsity tryouts,” Tessah Green said.

“Playing in an out of country tournament can help me prepare for the SPA soccer season as I will see many different styles of play,” Cheney said.

The trip will expose the team to new culture as well as give them many opportunities for leadership.

“We’ll stay with Swedish or Danish soccer families and in a High School during our time in Sweden, and I’m excited to experience the new country,” Green said.

Throughout the year, Green’s team has helped each other raise money for the trip by selling pizzas, bagging foods at grocery stores and selling concessions.

“We all worked together to help fund the trip and make it possible for everyone” Green said. “I’ve heard of the trip from older girls in my club and it sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to train together” Green added.

The two weeks will also be filled with chances to explore Sweden and constantly play soccer even if the team doesn’t win the tournament.

“The trip is for the tournament, but even if we get out at first, we will continue to scrimmage while we’re there.” Green said.

The Sweden trip is an amazing opportunity for participants at Blackhawks Soccer Club, but there are also many sports opportunities in closer reach. This year, there will be a girl’s powerhouse class available to SPA students along with different summer camps and training right at SPA. The summer is a great time to work hard and enjoy different sports while improving for the following seasons through many different opportunities.

This is the 20th year Blackhawks soccer athletes have attended the tournament in Sweden.