A
day in the life of TA at Wembley
Day 1 in the TA house.....
It's saturday 4th August and 30 members of The Academy team boarded a coach very early, heading towards the impressive new wembley stadium for their first rehearsal as part of the opening ceremony. TA are to be part of an opening ceremony at the FA Community Shield match, Man U vs Chelsea. Treated like VIP's the members were shown to their changing room, next to the Man U changing rooms, which were identical to the players rooms. Seriously impressive changing rooms, very modern, and the super powerful hand dryers kept the kids amused for ages! (attach pics of changing rooms!)
The members were led to the pitch through the players tunnel and the size of the impressive stadium hits you instantly. The members excitedly stepped on to the grass knowing that their favourite football players will be stepping onto the same grass to play tomorrow! After a few hours rehearsing in the blistering sun with the organisers, we headed back the Thurrock to rehearse some more. We were a little anxious that during the rehearsals the cues had not been nailed down by all
Thanks to Cheryl and Steve Corcoran the members had a great afternoon in their garden, eating, drinking and playing on the trampoline, basketball hoop, swings etc etc! At 7pm when the sharmans got back from wales we headed out the back of Cheryls garden to the rugby fields were we rehearsed for a few hours, making sure everyone was spot on and new their cues.
Day 2 in the TA house....
We set off early again on the Sunday to arrive at Wembley before all the crowds started to swarm the local streets, after a minor scare when the coach got a puncture! I swear the coach driver was trying to give me a heart attack! He made up for it though, getting us there in less than an hour, and nearly an hour early!
Again we entered through the photographers entrance and headed towards our changing rooms. We handed out our outfits to the members, and well, a few of the little ones laughed as their tops reached below their knees! We looked very professional in our umbro navy blue tracksuit bottoms and t-shirts, and FA passes round our necks. So we headed out to the pitch again for our last chance before the performance. At 10am the sun was even hotter than the previous days, it was gonna be a tough performance. We were allocated a rehearsal area underneath the stadium, near the camera crew trucks, where we drilled in the routine over and over again! Hot and sweaty we headed back to our changing rooms.
Our next challenge was keeping all the members quiet for 2 1/2 hours, as we were so close to the players rooms. But thankfully they kept themselves well occupied, as they tucked into their packed lunches provided on site, and we plaited all the girls hair. Some of the members were able to catch glimpses of Alex ferguson and some of the Man u and Chelsea players in the corridors around our changing rooms! They then listened in silence and the Man U players warmed up in the room next to us.
By the time we were called to our starting positions in the four corner tunnels, we were hardly aware of the tens of thousands of people who had been piling into the stadium over the last 2 hours. We watched the players practise on the pitch before the opening ceremony music started up, and some of the members were having pictures taken by football fans, as we were sporting their teams colours on our flags.
In the blistering heat the members stood proud and as they ran on to the pitch from the four corners the crowds became louder and louder, chanting carnival de paris music which we were performing to. The performance was spot on and the members, the youngest being 7, entertained the 80,000 spectators with huge smiles on their faces. Still on the pitch as the players came on we held our ending positions through the national anthem before heading back through the corner tunnels as the game was ready to start. We could hardly believe we were on the pitch at the same time as the players, and some members actually had tears in their eyes!
This was an amazing experience for us all performing, one we will never forget. This was a great opportunity to really show huge crowds of people what colourguard is and how flags can really be spun! I could not be any prouder of all the members who took part this weekend just gone, you remained very professional and pulled off a great performance. I'm glad you all enjoyed the experience so much, remember not many people in the world get to do what you just did.
This was the last time i'll get to see most of you until December now, so what a memory to take to south america with me! I leave you in very capable hands
Thanks again to all the TA Family, and to John Thurston, Caroline Hogg, Jeremy Bone, Keith Darton, Paul Bailey and Ross meadows who took care of the TA team for the weekend. Hope you enjoyed the day too
If anyone has any more pictures please send them to me and i will post them on the site
Day 1 in the TA house.....
It's saturday 4th August and 30 members of The Academy team boarded a coach very early, heading towards the impressive new wembley stadium for their first rehearsal as part of the opening ceremony. TA are to be part of an opening ceremony at the FA Community Shield match, Man U vs Chelsea. Treated like VIP's the members were shown to their changing room, next to the Man U changing rooms, which were identical to the players rooms. Seriously impressive changing rooms, very modern, and the super powerful hand dryers kept the kids amused for ages! (attach pics of changing rooms!)
The members were led to the pitch through the players tunnel and the size of the impressive stadium hits you instantly. The members excitedly stepped on to the grass knowing that their favourite football players will be stepping onto the same grass to play tomorrow! After a few hours rehearsing in the blistering sun with the organisers, we headed back the Thurrock to rehearse some more. We were a little anxious that during the rehearsals the cues had not been nailed down by all
Thanks to Cheryl and Steve Corcoran the members had a great afternoon in their garden, eating, drinking and playing on the trampoline, basketball hoop, swings etc etc! At 7pm when the sharmans got back from wales we headed out the back of Cheryls garden to the rugby fields were we rehearsed for a few hours, making sure everyone was spot on and new their cues.
Day 2 in the TA house....
We set off early again on the Sunday to arrive at Wembley before all the crowds started to swarm the local streets, after a minor scare when the coach got a puncture! I swear the coach driver was trying to give me a heart attack! He made up for it though, getting us there in less than an hour, and nearly an hour early!
Again we entered through the photographers entrance and headed towards our changing rooms. We handed out our outfits to the members, and well, a few of the little ones laughed as their tops reached below their knees! We looked very professional in our umbro navy blue tracksuit bottoms and t-shirts, and FA passes round our necks. So we headed out to the pitch again for our last chance before the performance. At 10am the sun was even hotter than the previous days, it was gonna be a tough performance. We were allocated a rehearsal area underneath the stadium, near the camera crew trucks, where we drilled in the routine over and over again! Hot and sweaty we headed back to our changing rooms.
Our next challenge was keeping all the members quiet for 2 1/2 hours, as we were so close to the players rooms. But thankfully they kept themselves well occupied, as they tucked into their packed lunches provided on site, and we plaited all the girls hair. Some of the members were able to catch glimpses of Alex ferguson and some of the Man u and Chelsea players in the corridors around our changing rooms! They then listened in silence and the Man U players warmed up in the room next to us.
By the time we were called to our starting positions in the four corner tunnels, we were hardly aware of the tens of thousands of people who had been piling into the stadium over the last 2 hours. We watched the players practise on the pitch before the opening ceremony music started up, and some of the members were having pictures taken by football fans, as we were sporting their teams colours on our flags.
In the blistering heat the members stood proud and as they ran on to the pitch from the four corners the crowds became louder and louder, chanting carnival de paris music which we were performing to. The performance was spot on and the members, the youngest being 7, entertained the 80,000 spectators with huge smiles on their faces. Still on the pitch as the players came on we held our ending positions through the national anthem before heading back through the corner tunnels as the game was ready to start. We could hardly believe we were on the pitch at the same time as the players, and some members actually had tears in their eyes!
This was an amazing experience for us all performing, one we will never forget. This was a great opportunity to really show huge crowds of people what colourguard is and how flags can really be spun! I could not be any prouder of all the members who took part this weekend just gone, you remained very professional and pulled off a great performance. I'm glad you all enjoyed the experience so much, remember not many people in the world get to do what you just did.
This was the last time i'll get to see most of you until December now, so what a memory to take to south america with me! I leave you in very capable hands
Thanks again to all the TA Family, and to John Thurston, Caroline Hogg, Jeremy Bone, Keith Darton, Paul Bailey and Ross meadows who took care of the TA team for the weekend. Hope you enjoyed the day too
If anyone has any more pictures please send them to me and i will post them on the site
