YOUNGSTERS from Rylands FC under 13s group took part in a Spanish language and culture event in preparation for their trip to Barcelona.

On their trip, they took part in the Copa Santa football tournament.

The 15 players, their parents and coaches all joined in the lessons to develop their language skills and raise their cultural awareness.

Amy Turner, owner of Lingo language company, showed pupils that language learning can be achievable, rewarding and fun.

She said: “By making the language relevant to football, the young players see there is a reason to learn it.

"I was immensely proud of them for getting stuck in and all taking part despite many of them being complete novices.”

Head of coaching Andy Dawson, said: “As a club we were really excited to see our under 13s head over to Barcelona to compete against teams from all over the world. It was a great experience for them to play against different styles of teams.

"We thought in addition to this, it would be a great opportunity to provide them and their parents who accompanied them, with Spanish lessons so they can make a good impression and communicate with our Spanish hosts.”

Having raised £9000 to fund their trip, Rylands U13s went to Barcelona to compete in the Copa Santa tournament against feeder clubs for elite teams from around the world such as Borussia Dortmund and Roma.

Playing in a category above their age, the boys struggled to get out of the group stages.

They learnt a lot from each game and were lucky enough to test their skills against teams from France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the USA.

Lingo provides corporate and private language tuition and children's fun French and Spanish classes.

For information contact Amy on Info@lingolanguages.co.uk