Memoir

The Day I Will Never Forget

            Five years ago when I was 13 years old my family and I decided to go on our summer vacation to England to visit our family, because unfortunately at the time my grandmother was sick. We didn’t know what exactly was wrong with her, so we wanted to go see her just in case something serious was actually wrong. In the first two days we were there we found out everything was okay and that she would be just fine. It was exciting for my parents and I because we hadn’t been back over in England for almost 6 years and I could barely remember any of it having been so young last time I was there. That night my uncle Howard called and said he had passes for a tour around the famous soccer ground, Old Trafford which happens to be where my favorite soccer team plays, Manchester United. I said absolutely, of course I’ll come with you. So that next morning turned out to be the day I will never forget.

            Howard picked me up around 8:00am and we got to the famous ground Old Trafford around 8:40am. The tour didn’t start until 9:00am so we decided to go across the street to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and a donut. Nine O’ clock couldn’t come any quicker I was so excited I could barely hold my emotions inside. The tour finally started and I walked into a stadium of over 75,000 seats and my uncle and I immediately took out our cameras and start taking pictures.

            The first part of the tour was inside in the Trophy Room where we had a chance to look at all the trophies Manchester United have won, so far, in there amazing existence as a soccer club. We saw trophies like the Barclays Premier League trophy from 1998 and 2003, the FA Cup trophy from 1995 and 1999 and the Champions League trophy from 2000. They then took us into the player’s Locker Room where we were able to sit down in the player’s chairs and look into their lockers. I sat in my favorite players chair, David Beckham. He’s been an idol of mine ever since I started playing soccer, he basically was the only reason I started playing soccer and watching it all the time on the television.

Next, we went to the inside training facility they have at Old Trafford to meet some of the players. Unfortunately my favorite player, David Beckham wasn’t there but I saw players like Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Ashley Young and Paul Scholes. Now it was time to take the tour back outside and tour the ground where the coaches/players sit during the game.

            We made it outside and the skies above weren’t looking so good and I was worried because I thought it was about to storm and it all came true about 5 minutes later as it started to thunder and the rain was coming down extremely hard. The tour guide said “come inside and relax its only supposed to be a quick storm”. Howard asked the tour guide if it was okay if we could leave and asked the tour guide to call us when the tour was ready to start up again, she said of course just give me your number. So Howard and I decided to drive about 2 miles up the street to this famous restaurant called the Fish Bowl. We had their famous fish ‘n’ chips and talked about the day so far and how we hoped it would stop raining real soon. The rain went on longer than expected so we decided to look around the shops and relax. Two hours later we finally got the call from the tour guide to say the tour will be back on in the next twenty minutes. We rushed back to the stadium and got back with the group ready for the outside version of the tour.

            The tour guide first gave us a lap around the whole stadium and then took us to the seats where the managers and players sat. I couldn’t believe I was about sit down in the same exact chair as the manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been sitting for almost 25 plus years. That became the icing on the cake for me that day, I thought to myself nothing that happens next could top off what just happened there. Well it turned out the day just got better. My hero, my idle David Beckham walked into Old Trafford right when the tour was over to start his training. I walked over to Mr. Beckham and asked him for his autograph and he said sure, absolutely and my uncle said we could stay and watch them train. I couldn’t believe I was 20 feet away from David Beckham and watching him play the game he and I loved so much. The day was an absolute success.

            I knew right after that day was over I wanted to become a sports reporter and/or sports broadcaster. My Uncle Howard is a unbelievable sports reporter back in England and now that I am older and wanting to study to become what he is, he inspirers me every day to become a better writer and a better person. He does the entire major sporting events in England like big soccer matches, cricket matches, golf tournaments and the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament. He got a chance to do the Olympics last year in London and sent me plenty of pictures and a London Olympics book bag. He even got a chance to meet Michael Phelps and Roger Federer. It’s a shame though really that I don’t get to see him on a regular basis but my dream now is for one day him and I to work on a sports story together back home in England like the Wimbledon championship or the British Open.