The attraction of learning to play the United way is a strong one. Each summer players from all over the world travel to the UK to part in Manchester United Soccer Schools courses, and one such person was Vidya Makan.
Vidya attended a MUSS course in Brisbane, Australia in September 2008 and was then selected to attend a residential course in July at Denstone College.
During her visit Vidya kept a diary, and it seems she had a great time!

Sunday 26 July 2009
Today we had our first day. It was ‘AWESOME’. After registering and getting our kits, Dad and I walked around. After saying ‘goodbye’ to him, I got changed into my kit. Little did I know it was pouring with rain outside. But knowing the English, we still trained in the wet mud. A very new experience for me.

Monday 27 July 2009
Today was my second day at camp. It was great! Everyone was really friendly and it feels like we’ve known each other for years! In our morning sessions, we worked on short passing. It was very valuable and I feel like I’ve already improved. Our session on nutrition was also a huge learning experience; I feel it gave me good ideas about eating habits to take back home and use. Our next activity was swimming. This was just plain fun and a really good opportunity to bond with the girls. In the night we had our evening session on long passing. This was more challenging but everyone was very supportive of each other and we all pulled through. So far this experience has been amazing!

Tuesday 28 July
Our third day was yet again another great day. Although feeling a bit weary, we finally got out of bed, and eventually on to the astroturf for our control and receiving training session. It was a new experience, especially with the blow-up field, but very worthwhile. Free time gave us time to take photos and explore this MASSIVE place. Our evening session, shooting, was my favourite so far. After getting over the cold wet rain, dirty mud and bruised feet, we were finally able to enjoy some 5v5 games. I also won the ‘Enthusiasm’ award for the day!

Wednesday 29 July
WOW. This trip just gets better and better. Today was DEFINITELY the most physically demanding of the week so far. After a few moans and groans, Emma (my room-mate), and I finally got out of bed and motivated. Our first training session focused on defending. As a defender, I learned a lot, and now have a whole new view and understanding. I also became a lot more confident and strong on the ball after knocking Kailey down into the mud a few times. Sorry! Our night session on football fitness was even more challenging. The rowers race, lasting 20 minutes in groups of three, was a lot of fun and got me to bond with a few of the younger girls. The entire team really pushed through the fast feet, and everybody reached and broke their limits. I can’t believe we only have two more training sessions left. It’s gone by so fast.

Thursday 30 July
Our last day of training definitely ended with a bang. We got up at 7.30am after making the effort to actually move out of bed with all the aches and pains. Our morning session was my favourite, dribbling. I pushed myself the hardest yet, making sure I was giving 150% for the entire session. I learned heaps of new skills and tricks which I can also start to use in game situations. Then, after a well needed lunch, we had our final football practice, with the United Vision tournament. Everyone was really supportive of each other, and we all took lots of risks, trying to incorporate everything we have learnt here. All in all, I am definitely 5 times the better player I was when I arrived. My technique, ball skills, team play, defending, passing and overall confidence have been pushed to the next level, and all the while, I made friends from all over the world that I’ll never forget.

Friday 31 July
THE SINGLE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. Today we left Denstone, as heartbreaking as it was, and left for Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams. Breakfast in the morning was full of excitement and buzz, and after we had taken photos of just about every place we had put foot on, we boarded the bus and left. The trip there consisted of breakouts of a couple of Michael Jackson songs, but as soon as we reached the stadium, everyone was too excited to say anything. We got out of the bus and went on an amazing tour around the stadium to see many of the parts of Old Trafford, such as the memorial for the Munich Plane Crash. My favourite part was definitely when we got go into the actual first team changing room, and sat where the players sit on match day!
Visiting the Megastore also proved to be a lot of fun, until later when we were sitting eating lunch and told by the boys that we had missed out on meeting Alex Ferguson, who happened to be in there, by 20 minutes! The final presentation after this, however, was the highlight of my entire trip here. Lining up in the tunnel, just as the players do before a match, ready to run onto the field was such an amazing feeling. We then all walked out onto the track, literally a centimeter away from the grass, to a cheering crowd, consisting of the parents and families, whom we hadn’t seen in a week.
It was the perfect end to a perfect week and I’ll sum it up in just one word: WOW!