I arrive a little earlier than planned. It’s a warm spring day in Esentepe and the football field is still and glistening in the sunshine. A light breeze moves through the pine trees and behind the stadium you can see the clear Mediterranean Sea. I notice a small white car parked at the corner of the pitch so I make my way up to it. Esentepe’s club badge hangs from the rearview mirror and I meet a young man’s gaze. He gets out of the car and asks if he can help me. “Yes, I am here to meet the Swedish football team,” I say gently. It turns out that Emrah is a football player and is here to greet the Swedish team too. “They’re a little late,” he says with a wry smile and invites me for a coffee while we wait in the clubhouse.
A few minutes later three white mini-buses roll up to the stadium. Out jumps Thomas Hedling and stretches out his hand: “Hey, we’re finally here,” he says cheerfully. Thomas is one of the team’s coaches and it is he who contacted the magazine to inform us that a team of girls from Gävle club IK HUGE is coming to train in North Cyprus.
We head down to the field together, the girls have already started to warm up, eager to get out into the sunshine. Thomas and I settle down on the grass next to the field’s white border. “We just came from the snow and cold so it’s a great change for them,” says Thomas. He tells us that some of them have already had time to sunbathe by the pool this morning.
The team consists of 17 players, all between the ages of 15-16. With them on the training camp are four coaches and six parents. Thomas also has a daughter on the team. “It was the way I started training the team. Two of the coaches parted from the team and it came naturally that us parents step in.” Previously, he has been involved in hockey at elite level, where he was the equipment manager for Brynäs when they took national championships in 1993.
“This will be a special trip for the girls, as it will be the last year they will play in the team, next year they move up to the women’s league, so this is one of the last great trips they will make together. IK HUGE’s women’s team is the best in the district and this kind of training trip is important, not only to motivate the players but to show that we care about them.”
I ask why they chose to come to North Cyprus for the training camp. Thomas nods towards one of the parents. “Jana and his family have an apartment here so it was he who told us of Cyprus.”
Jana Avermo comes over to greet me with a firm handshake and joins us on the grass. It is largely thanks to his passionate commitment that the journey was possible. “I love North Cyprus and think it is a perfect place for a training camp,” he says, and tells how the family ended up here. “We bought an apartment in Bahceli in 2010 and are very pleased. First we had been thinking about Spain, but it was expensive and we would have ended up in the centre of the hustle and bustle. In North Cyprus you can stay undisturbed right by the sea, which we love. And house prices are half the price here if you compare with other Mediterranean countries.”
He came up with the idea to bring his daughter’s football team to Cyprus a long time ago and the planning for the trip began a year ago. Jana says that it was important that everything would run smoothly. “Cyprus is not like Sweden, it can be a bit laid back, so it was important that everything was well prepared.”
Jana Avermo is a parent committed to the football team.
Jana has assisted in more than just the actual planning for the trip. His company Sunda AB is together with Fartygsservice Gävle AB sponsoring the team and has thus made the trip possible. Also the girls have sold Sunda’s detergents and cleaning products through its association. Jana mentions that in the future he thinks that it would be fun to help more Swedish youth teams get away on training trips to North Cyprus.
“I want to give back to youth sports. That is where my interest and my motivation comes from. It’s always the young who have to work and earn money, while the senior players are helped by the clubs. But without youth activities, we have no senior business, so it is important that we support them and encourage them to continue.”
Thomas agrees. “It is not common for youth teams to get the chance to go on training trips like this, normally it is the elite teams in the top leagues that go.” He gets up and shouts out some instructions to the players to begin condition exercises. They run back and forth in the heat, shout when they want the ball, and wipe their sweaty foreheads with the back of their hands.
After a while, it is time to pause and the water bottles are emptied quickly. Shin guards, shoes and club shirts pass by and someone asks me how I can wear my jeans when it is so hot outside.
Jana says that the girls have looked forward to the journey for a long time. “My daughter Cornelia had sent many pictures and talked about North Cyprus, which built up the others expectations. The closer you get to the trip the more real it gets, you know the butterflies you get in the stomach when you’re at the airport waiting to get on the plane.”
I ask if they have any other plans while they are here, or if it’s just training. “We have some leisure time too, after training tomorrow we will go to Kyrenia, where we will eat pizza at Manipeni’s. Then the girls will walk around and do a bit of shopping. On one of the days we plan to play against a local football team.”
The team has now formed a circle and stand and dab the ball. It’s called the Pig-game and the loser gets to crawl around on all fours grunting like a pig. Afterwards it’s time for the penalty shoot-out, and everyone including the parents are in the competition. The girls laugh, hug and pepper together. They have fun seeing it from afar, and it is not just about the goals scored this afternoon, but the memories of a lifetime.
Before I go I take the opportunity to take a group photo of the girls. They gather for the photo and look into the camera. Footballer Emrah from Esentepe also comes up and takes a picture with his phone, this is a memorable event even for Cypriots! It is also Emrah who sends me a message the day after; IK HUGE drew 3-3 against a mixed aged local boys’ team. It was an exciting game with a thrilling finish. The team of happy girls got together in the evening to celebrate with a family pizza in Kyrenia.
