Trip to England a dream come true for Shipley’s McDaid brothers

Bryn Mawr >> Imagine it’s a Saturday morning in the fall and your high school aged child does not have to be awake to either attend an event, play a game or go to work. Typically, they might choose to sleep in.
That would not be the case for Shipley School senior Brian McDaid and his younger twin brothers Joe and Jack, both freshmen at Shipley this fall. Whenever provided, the chance the trio will rise early and tune into the Premier League to watch their favorite team Liverpool.
“Liverpool is a big part of our life,” said Brian, in a recent interview. “It’s pretty normal for us to wake up early and tune in.”
When the three boys learned the Shipley boys’ soccer team would be spending a week in England, and part of the itinerary included a tour of Liverpool Stadium and a chance to train with coaches from their Academy program at Liverpool Stadium, it was like a dream becoming a reality.
“It was really cool playing on the same field of the team we watch on TV,” said Joe. “It was pretty cool especially since I had a chance to share this experience with my brothers along with my teammates.”
“I am honored to take the field with Brian and Joe,” said Jack. “I have been looking up to Brain basically my whole life and for us to have the chance to share an experience of playing on the same field as our favorite Premier League team was amazing.”
With a week that featured many unique bonding opportunities highlighted by the stop in Liverpool that included a training session with the Liverpool FC Academy coaches the Shipley squad also had the opportunity to take stadium tours of three Premier League teams along with the National Football Museum (known as soccer in the United States).
“It was great to see the simple things and to do it before my final year of high school began with my younger brothers was awesome,” said Brian.
Throughout the course of the week between visits to famous landmarks and training sessions with various Premier League Academy teams, the Gators would play three matches against AFC Darwin, United Select(mostly U16, a few U17’s – previous youth players from professional clubs and, finally, Bromly FC (U15/U16) before heading back home.

Although the first game did not go as well as Shipley hoped, they did learn and get better as the week progressed.
With the heart of league play right around the corner, the Gators hope to build on their 2-0 start in league play (as of Sept. 30).
“It was great to see the quality of soccer in other countries as well as see the various stadiums,” said Joe. “I believe this experience will help us in league play.”