|
| This is a selection of classic
photos from our almost twenty-five plus history. In
the coming months, we will be sure to comb the archives
and find those rare moments of teams and action which
make our tours so memorable. With SPORTS TOURS INTERNATIONAL
is more than just a tour company. All of us are SOCCER
PEOPLE first and tour people second. We care that your
team gets exactly the right program! |
The 1995 BU-16 was one of the best WASHINGTON WEST teams
ever, shown here prior to the Final of the Fireball
Cup in the Soderstadion in Stockholm, Sweden. Even though
we lost the Final, this U-16 team, playing in the U-18
bracket, amazed everyone with its ability to pull out
the clutch games.
|
The 1996 BU-16 Washington West prior to the match in
Glasgow against Celtic at the first team's training
grounds. We lost 2 - 3 on a handball goal, but even
the Scots agreed that we deserved at least a draw. Matt
Walker of Washington West was named "Player Of The Match".
|
Washington West BU-16 prior to the opening game
of the 1996 Newcastle United Festival. About 125 quality
teams participate. No more than one American team in
any first-round bracket. |
The 1989 BU-19 River City Steelers prior to the beginning
of the now-defunct Sotonia Cup in Southampton. No, the
grounds keeper didn't forget to water, but nature did.
No rain for two months was recorded that summer!
|
The 1986 BU-19 Spokane Skyhawks at the National Monument
in Budapest, Hungary. In 1986 soccer travel was still
quite new and the Europeans found it a novelty to play
the Americans. This team surprised two big Hungarian
clubs with draws!
|
 Our
continental office manager, Sven-Erik Jensen, with
the 1996 GU-15 Caliente from Olympia, Washington taken
in Copenhagen, Denmark.
|
Thr U-15 girls of Caliente (Olympia, Washington) showing
off the latest Danish fashions!
|
1996 FC Oregon (Washington West) BU-15 showing off first-place
medals at the Fireball Cup in Stockholm. |
The 1988 Skyhawks GU-19 in London at Trafalgar Square.
|
The 1996 Washington West BU-16 in London at Trafalgar
Square. London is one of the world's great cities and
it seems everyone always has great memories.
|
Dan Karr of the 1995 BU-16 Washington West challenging
for the ball against Arsenal. Arsenal is one of the
professional clubs with whom Washington West established
a firm relationship. This game was a yearly fixture
with the BU-16, meeting the first team players and getting
pictures! |
Brendan Harrison (currently a cadet at the Air Force
Academy) of the 1995 BU-16 Washington West challenging
for the ball in the Fireball Cup Final in the Soderstadion,
the professional stadium of Hammarby IF of the Swedish
First Division. Washington West became quite well-known
in Stockholm advancing to the Finals in 1995 and the
quarter-finals in 1996, both years playing the same
club, Enkedde, one of the largest clubs in Stockholm. |
Action from the 1995 Washington West BU-16 against
Arsenal in north London.
|
The UNITED SOCCER CLUB, one of our sister-programs,
has supplied the following three pictures. This shot
shows Jerad Addison of the BU-14 (in green) getting
getting undressed by an opponent from Cyprus in the
UPPER AUSTRIA CUP in Wels, Austria! |
Action from the Dana Cup showing Alex McKinley (in
green) trying to gain advantage with good upper-body
control against his Danish opponent. All United Soccer
Club teams won their first-round groups at the Dana
Cup. Way to go, King Curtis! |
The U-14 IDAHO UNITED SOCCER CLUB with coach and director,
Curtis Clark. Look at these happy and smiling faces.
They should be after their success!
Photo Journal:
1997 Washington West
PHOTO JOURNAL
1997 was one of the most exciting yet for Washington
West. Our BU-14 '83 finished third at the DANA CUP
(third largest youth tournament in the world with
850 teams from 50+ countries). Our marksmanship on
penalties was not as sharp as our Finnish opponents
in the Semi-Finals as over 5,000 spectators cheered
(and groaned). More than a little unnerving!
  The
BU-16's (below left) claimed all three individual
awards in the BU-16 Premier Section of the Newcastle
United Festival while Kenny Brandenburg (below
right), the BU-14 '83 goalkeeper, was named Best Goalkeeper
and Player Of the Tournament in the BU-14 Premier
Section.
The Girls '82 (GU-14) won the B-Final at the Dana
Cup and finished second at the Newcastle Festival
in the GU-16 bracket!
Look over these great photos from 1997! Click on
the thumbnail to load the hi-res 1024 x 768. More
pictures as they are received. These are all from
Bernie's collection. Contact us by e-mail or telephone
if you'd like to have any of these printed on our
office's professional color printers.
The PICS OF THE
NEWCASTLE UTD. FESTIVAL
 Bryce
Pinkham challenging for the ball against FC Yarnton
(Tottenham and Chelsea).
|
Who knows how close this chance really was, but everyone
seems poised for the "telling moment." |
 Max
Rosenak was one of our smallest guys, but certainly
no one was more focused, skillful or intense on the
field. His reliability and stability as a defender,
almost always against bigger players, made him a mainstay
of our defense. |
|
 Steven
Smith was a solid center back, even though
he never played the position prior joining the team.
When the U-14 players were split into '82 and '83
teams, the '83's had a shortage of defenders. Steve
accepted the challenge and grew in confidence and
composure.
|
 The
camera captures a fleeting moment in time and preserves
the image for eternity. Edward Cranmer-Brown, the '83
captain, showing his grace and flexibility!
|
The '83 boys team with our number one Newcastle fan,
John Harrison. We met John in 1995 when our BU-16 befriended
him. He was sitting outside his grandmother's house
when our BU-16 walked by. He enriched our lives and
we tried to do the same for him. The players became
his heroes and we gave him an autographed picture of
the team. Every year since he has attended our games!
|
 The
'83 boys after their visit to Edinburgh, Scotland. Their
primary purchase is readily evident. Many of the players
look quite at home with their "tam and locks."
Mel Gibson in Braveheart could easily be overtaken!
|
| 
Here is our main man and main fan, John Harrison,
flying the colors of Washington West! The jacket,
just a shade too big for him, was given to him by
'83 assistant coach, "Bro" Martin after
our last game! His mother told us recently he wears
it proudly and hopes to grow into it soon! Notice
the cap, "London, Paris, Rome and BOISE",
and the Washington West banner along with the jacket!
|
Cole Eaton, BU-16 Premier PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
in action against Port Vale. American players can
have a rough go in England against the professionals
since most Americans don't know what to expect or
have any reference for the level of physical and psychological
commitment to the game that is required. Cole learned
fast and as the tournament evolved, so did his play.
|
Cole Eaton against Port Vale. |
Devin Pierce, the BU-16 Premier TOP GOAL SCORER,
challenging against the Darlington goalkeeper.
|
Devin Pierce making life difficult for opposing
goalkeepers shown again creating havoc in front of the
Darlington goal. One has got to do what one has to do
in the hunt (for goals) and Devin did just that. The
Premier coaches didn't give him the award for top goal
scorer because they liked him; he earned it!
|
The obligatory team photo with the Hornets of Watford.
They buzzed around our hive and walked away with a 3
- 0 victory, but we actually played quite competitively
with them, the goal chances always getting away from
us. |
The official team picture of the B-16 at the Newcastle
United Festival. There was a great sense of accomplishment
with our three individual awards while facing the stiffest
competition ever with games against Manchester United,
Newcastle United, Sunderland AFC, Port Vale FC and Darlington
FC. Don't forget to read the letters from this year's
participants in the LETTERS Section.
|
The B-80's at Porchester Castle in Portsmouth Harbor.
This was castle was originally built by the Normans
after the conquest in 1066. It was one of the first
Norman castles in England. It is a great castle to visit
since one can walk all the way up the keep (inner fortified
area) to the top and see out over the bay! |
| The
PICS OF THE DANA CUP |
 Brett
Rodriguez teamed with Edward Cranmer-Brown
as the explosive front-runners for the '83's. Brett's
sense of drama in the waning moments could not have
been choreographed better: his tying goal in the last
few moments of the Dana Cup Semi-Final sent the drama
into extra-time and his last-minute telling goal at
Newcastle, sent us again into the Semi-Finals! |
|
 Edward
Cranmer-Brown was the '83's high goal scorer.
At the Dana Cup, he was as reliable as a professional
and tenacious as a pit bull in seeking out the goal
and in the process disorienting defenses as these
Norwegians found out.
|
 Shohei
Takata was one of the most dominant '83 players
at the Dana Cup. His control of the mid-field and his
expert decision-making, opened up our attack and made
opposing defenses question their organization. He is
being taken down rather unceremoniously from behind! |
Sterling McDougald was (while he was healthy)
an excellent compliment to Shohei. Whereas Shohei dominated
first by his size and strength and then his skills,
Sterling demonstrated excellent ball skills. Here he
is scrapping for the ball against a skillful and feisty
Norwegian side. |
|
1998
Washington West
PHOTO JOURNAL
Owen Kennedy and Jeremy Truntzer challenge
the Charlton Athletic goalkeeper!
You can order this picture without the title as picture
0
"Here are the dreaded Red Devils (on the right
with the BU-16). I also got a shot of Celtic U-14
after our game! Nobody but Washington West can say
that they played against the "Hoops" and
the "World's Most-Hated Team!"
--- Jim Bennett
Celtic is picture 0a and Manchester United is picture
0b
Most of what you will see here is from the BU-16
tour since no one has sent anything from the other
teams! It has been a long and laborious process
to get these ready for distribution. Once the film
is developed (we never use consumer digital cameras),
the negatives are scanned with a NIKON professional
slide and negative scanner at 2700 dpi (dots per
inch). This produces at least a 25 meg file which
then must be cropped and edited. Once these bitmaps
are completed, they are converted to .jpg files
for the web.
Pictures will be added to this journal as they
are completed. Our office is in the midst of new
tour preparations, so pictures will be added within
these time constraints. Only the .jpg thumbnails
will be placed on the Web due to limitations on
server space. Don't waste your time trying to print
them out yourself. The files sizes are too small
(about 25 kbs!). If you want any of them, send an
e-mail to our office and we will advise you how
to proceed. All of these will be printed with our
office's professional color printers on photo-grade
KODAK paper. The pictures are all from Bernie's
collection unless noted.
|
The PICS
OF
CHARLTON ATHLETIC FOOTBALL CLUB
|
01 - Jamiel Nunes-Atabaki challenging for the ball.
|
It looks like Jamiel might have gotten by both opponents!
At the very least, this defender has been caught wrong-footed.
- 02
|
03 - DJ McCabe and Owen Kennedy seem to be challenging
each other for the ball while the Charlton defenders
are reduced to spectators. |
Jeremy Truntzer challenging against a bigger opponent.
I can't remember one player who wasn't bigger than Jeremy,
but he ran opponents to the substitute's bench as he
covered every square meter of the pitch! - 04 |
05 - DJ McCabe, under pressure, knocks the ball to BJ
Jones. |
Owen Kennedy and Jeremy Truntzer in a tense moment.
This is an crop of the the title picture.Certainly a
moment in time that is beautiful enough for pictures
and it is! One little snap of the shutter and it is
there for all to see. - 06 |
Ryan Cochrane, known as the "Ginger-Haired Lad"
because of his red hair, looks to have avoided the high
foot while controlling the ball. - 07 |
08 - Jeremy Truntzer was certainly was our of best players
in 1998. He was an inspiration to his teammates with
his effort. |
Seth Burrows putting a Charlton attacker under pressure
by forcing him away from the goal. - 09 |
|
Four images that have been altered
by the application of filters.
11- is a "Circular Multi"
image of Owen Kennedy
12 - is the same image both of which have been created
from the same scan.
13 - Jamiel under pressure
14 - Jeremy Truntzer winning the ball in the air.
The last three photos are in a style known as a "Vignette."
|
