足球留學 Day 56

丹尼爾比賽時拿了在英國的第一張黃牌，代價是罰金球員付10鎊，球隊付15鎊。這筆罰金要上繳足協。這是在台灣時沒遇過的制度。繳錢時，教練只對兒子說：You’ve learned your lesson.

至於上學方面，16年來，第一次聽到孩子說：上課很有趣。我想除了上課天數時數都比台灣短外，課程的設計很接近實務。College 除了要他們設計足球訓練課程，也有講解商業方面的知識，而且常用足球界運作來當例子，甚至連上課的老師有的也曾是職業球員。

丹尼爾講過一句讓我笑到翻過去又超符合他心境的話。他說：因為教練們都有當過職業足球員的經驗，他對他們的教誨只有真心崇拜，言聽計從，哪怕哪天如果有某個教練敢跟他說：上場前要去吃大便，他一定不會懷疑，馬上去吃！

圖說：個人出賽紀錄，系統都會有記載

#UK Football Study Abroad Day 56

Daniel received his first yellow card in the UK during a match. The penalty is a fine: £10 paid by the player and £15 paid by the team. This fee is submitted to the Football Association. It’s a system we never encountered in Taiwan. When paying the fine, the coach simply said to Daniel, “You’ve learned your lesson.”

As for school, for the first time in 16 years, I heard my son say, “Classes are interesting.” I think it’s because both the number of school days and class hours are shorter than in Taiwan, and the course design is very practical. At the college, in addition to having them design football training programs, they also teach business concepts, often using the operations of the football industry as examples. Some of the instructors are even former professional players.

Daniel once said something that made me laugh so hard while also perfectly reflecting his feelings. He said, “Since the coaches all have experience as professional players, I worship them and follow their instructions without question. If a coach ever told me to eat poop before a match, I wouldn’t even doubt it—I’d just do it right away!”

Caption: Individual match records are all documented in the system.

足球留學 Day 48

丹尼爾進學校第一週結束，目前課程安排是：

週一二：半天上學（8:30-13:30），下午回營隊練球

週三：不上學，營隊或外地比賽

週四：整天上學。因週三比賽，今天恢復日，學校會上整天課，8:30-16:30，中午lunch time一個半小時（可以離開校園）

週五：不上學，上下午都練球

丹尼爾上的是英國BTEC，相當於台灣的高職，二年課程。科系是Sport and Coaching，除了輔導拿到教練證，聽說還要去教學。

如果要教學生，畢竟不是跟朋友尬聊，丹尼爾的英文⋯應該有努力的空間

題外話：最近英鎊直落，一個月前繳的學費，如果今天才繳，可以省一萬台幣，如果再繼續掉，我看賺一張機票沒問題👌

#UK Football Study Abroad Day 48

Daniel has completed his first week of school. His current schedule is as follows:

• Monday & Tuesday: Half-day school (8:30 AM to 1:30 PM), then football training at the camp in the afternoon.

• Wednesday: No school; either training at camp or away matches.

• Thursday: Full day of school. Since Wednesday is for matches, Thursday serves as a recovery day with full-day classes from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. There’s a 1.5-hour lunch break, during which students can leave campus.

• Friday: No school; full-day football training.

Daniel is enrolled in the UK’s BTEC program, which is similar to a vocational high school in Taiwan. It’s a two-year course in Sport and Coaching. Apart from preparing for a coaching license, I’ve heard that they also require teaching practice.

If he has to teach students, it’s definitely not going to be the same as chatting with friends. Daniel’s English… well, there’s definitely room for improvement!

Side note: The pound has been dropping rapidly. The tuition I paid a month ago would be NT$10,000 cheaper if I paid it today. If the rate keeps dropping, we might save enough to cover a plane ticket! 👌

足球留學 Day 45

丹尼爾在IG訊息傳了這組照片貼文，

我不知道他是要我看什麼？是要看他的隊友嗎？還是團體照裡面有他？zoom in zoom out都沒看到他啊？

結果女兒回傳照片給我，同時把哥哥圈出來。

我仔細一看，還真的是兒子的特寫！

沒想到1個多月不見，我就認不出孩子的樣子。

中午把照片秀給老公看，要他找找看兒子，結果他也是眼盲，認不出丹尼爾。

哈哈，我們兩個配當人家的父母嗎？認不出兒子是不是太扯了。

#UK Football Study Abroad Day 45

Daniel sent me a photo post on Instagram. I had no idea what he wanted me to see. Was it about his teammates? Or was he in the group photo? I zoomed in and out but couldn’t spot him anywhere!

Then my daughter sent the photo back to me, with Daniel circled in it.

I took a closer look and, sure enough, it was a close-up shot of my son!

I never thought that after just over a month of not seeing him, I wouldn’t recognize my own child.

At noon, I showed the photo to my husband and asked him to find our son. He couldn’t recognize Daniel either!

Haha, are we even qualified to be his parents? Isn’t it a bit ridiculous that neither of us could recognize our own son?

足球留學 Day 44

今天是丹尼爾第一天進高中的日子。

他中午傳來「學校好玩」的訊息，讓我稍稍放下一顆心。因為他原來跟我盧只留在足球營練球，而不去上學，但亞洲媽堅持要看到繳錢收據（Aka 畢業證書），所以為了能繼續留在英國，兒子只能勉為其難遵守母命。

在入學之前，我就陸續收到學校給丹尼爾的信（開頭都是Dear Daniel，當初信箱填我的）。

有包括入學資料表，報到時間和學校平面圖，學生帳號和電子簽章申請，還有一封針對體育專長生兼顧學業吧啦吧啦的信（還不確定是什麼作用）～跟台灣高中不一樣的是，所有事件都是學校直接對學生（Dear Daniel，不是Dear parent)通知辦理，而不是像在台灣都是班導師對家長在line 群佈達，這個很合我的胃，因為學校有把學生當獨立的人格對待。

目前他的班就是九個來自足球營的學生，沒有別人，沒想到學校編班這麼彈性，9個也能成班。然後今天8:30到校，1:30下課，丹尼爾說他還6:30早起先去健身完，才去上學。這麼愜意😌

在教室上課時是可以用手機的，要接電話還可以直接走出去接～有沒有顛覆三觀？

今天除了校園介紹，又知道一位兩年前才畢業的學長，目前正效力於皇家馬德里。因為學長被簽約的早，所以是學校利用遠距教學讓他完成學業，完全是客制化學習。（又是此行一大亮點）

丹尼爾也說，有作了數學程度考試。因為當初我沒想到他會出國唸書，所以在台灣也沒教他數學英文，所以他說完全看不懂，只能猜大概要問什麼，這樣也讓他考了75分。他說同學最高是拿80幾，這又是另類亞洲特色嗎？

#UK Football Study Abroad Day 44

Today was Daniel’s first day of high school.

At noon, he sent me a message saying, “School is fun,” which helped ease my worries a bit. He originally tried to convince me to stay in the football camp and skip school entirely. However, being the typical Asian mom, I insisted on seeing proof of tuition payment (aka a graduation certificate). So, in order to stay in the UK, he had no choice but to reluctantly follow my orders.

Before his first day, I had already received a series of emails addressed to Daniel (since I had used my email when filling out his application). These included enrollment forms, registration details, a school map, a student account setup, an e-signature application, and a letter about balancing academics and athletics. Unlike high school in Taiwan, where announcements are made through homeroom teachers and parent LINE groups, here all communication is sent directly to the student (starting with “Dear Daniel,” not “Dear Parent”). I love this approach because it treats students as independent individuals.

Daniel’s class consists of just nine students, all from the football camp—no one else. I didn’t expect the school to be so flexible with class sizes. Today’s schedule was from 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Daniel said he even woke up at 6:30 AM to go to the gym before heading to school. What a relaxed lifestyle! 😌

During class, students are allowed to use their phones, and they can even step outside to take calls if needed. Isn’t that mind-blowing?

Today, besides getting a campus tour, Daniel also learned about a former student who graduated two years ago and now plays for Real Madrid. Since that student signed a contract early on, the school provided customized remote learning to help him complete his education—a major highlight of this trip so far.

Daniel also mentioned that he took a math placement test today. Since I never thought he’d study abroad, I hadn’t taught him math in English back in Taiwan. He said he couldn’t understand the questions and had to guess most of the time, yet still scored 75 points. He told me the highest score among his classmates was in the 80s. Is this another example of an “Asian specialty”?

足球留學 Day 41

前幾天丹尼爾說，足球學校裡有一個17歲、身高202的隊友，已經跟英超某隊伍的青年隊接觸，目前已經進入文件程序，即將離開營隊去參加此英超球隊的U23(Under 23）youth team.

而經紀人幫他談到的薪水是週薪5000英鎊（台幣20萬）。

你沒看錯，17歲週薪20萬

而且丹尼爾也跟他在一起同場踢比賽過。上週我們視訊幫小丹唱生日歌時，他也出現在背景裡。

我跟丹說，以後這同學如果真踢進英超成人隊，上了電視，你就可以跟大家說：你認識他本人，你跟他曾經是隊友來沾光了。（註：週薪5000鎊是丹尼爾親自跟他聊天問來的，所以不是耳語而已。丹尼爾還問他是如何被球探發掘的過程？看來這小孩真得很想成功，平常臉皮薄的很，問到跟足球相關的，沒有在客氣的）

也真沒想到這趟英國行，締結出想像不到的人脈。

丹尼爾一直在說，來到英國後，覺得當職業足球員的夢想好像沒那麽遠，因為職業足球員就出現在你身邊；但又覺得很遙遠、因為英國足球有分12等級，有多少人想往上求得一席之地啊。

#UK Football Study Abroad Day 41

A few days ago, Daniel told me that one of his 17-year-old teammates, who is 202 cm tall, has been in contact with a Premier League youth team. The paperwork is already in process, and he’ll soon be leaving the camp to join the U23 (Under-23) youth team of the Premier League club.

The agent negotiated a salary of £5,000 per week (around NT$200,000).

You read that right—£5,000 per week at the age of 17!

Daniel has played in matches with him before. Last week, when we did a video call to sing happy birthday to Daniel, that teammate even appeared in the background.

I told Daniel that if this classmate really makes it to the Premier League senior team and appears on TV one day, he’ll be able to brag, “I know him personally. We were once teammates!” (For the record, Daniel asked him about the salary himself, so it’s not just a rumor. He even asked how scouts discovered him. It seems Daniel is determined to succeed—normally he’s quite shy, but when it comes to football, he has no problem asking direct questions.)

I never expected this trip to the UK would help him build such valuable connections.

Daniel has been saying that since coming to the UK, the dream of becoming a professional football player doesn’t feel so distant anymore—after all, professional players are right there beside him. Yet at the same time, it feels like a far-off goal because of how competitive the football system in the UK is. With 12 levels of leagues and so many players fighting for a spot, the challenge is immense.