New student Arvid Samuelson left his small home in Sweden to travel to Great Britain and eventually to sunny Rocklin community for the start of the 2013-2014 school year.

His work week in England was completely filled with soccer, from practice to tournaments, as he played for his school,Bigot, on Mondays,Tuesday and Wednesdays. During the Twyford season, which was his primary team, he would also practice with a very prestigious team called Redding FC.

Practice and conditioning for each team was different and offered different levels of intensity. For Twyford practice started with a warm up which included laps, stretching and basic ball skills and would split into positional training and end with a full game. At Bigot the training was not as defined in practices as school soccer was not as intense and not as important. Redding FC was a different story and was followed closely and they would have units for practice that focused on certain skills.

“In England we played a lot of through balls over the top, but in America, its mostly possession and passing,” Arvid Samuelson said.

A through ball is a ball passed through the defense to try and make an attack at goal and possession is when a team tries to have complete control of the ball until a goal scoring opportunity arises by passing.

Soccer fields or the pitch in England are different from fields in America as they are “either really bad or really good there is no in between,” Arvid said. The grass was either really bad or was carpet not the smooth in between that turf offers.

This right-footed defender would joined the team with his older brother Carl. Arvid’s relationship with his brother Carl can be defined as loving but competitive. Carl described his his brother as “Competitive, but kind of weird.”

As most brothers find reasons to fight, these two argue about one thing: soccer. While Arvid is a fan of the soccer club, Chelsea, his brother is opposed as his loyalty is to Redding. They often find themselves fighting about one player in particular, Robin Van Persie. Robin Van Persie is a dutch Striker who plays for Manchester United and is also on the Dutch national team.The arguments between these two are usually centered around what skills he brings to the club Manchester United.

Despite the move from Sweden to England to Rocklin High two things will always stay with him:  his love for the game of soccer and his competitiveness about it. Arvid is also looking forward to the next soccer season and playing on a club team in the winter.