Two Jericho boys, Jason Zwerling and Ari Lewis, took their soccer playing skills to England this month as members of the Long Island Junior Soccer League BU14 "Red" Select Team. Jason, who plays center midfield is entering Jericho High School as a freshman, and Ari who plays goalie, is entering the eighth grade at Jericho Middle School. Both were selected as part of an all-star team comprised of players from Nassau and Suffolk County to play five games against teams based in Manchester, Liverpool and London, England. Their visit proved to be very successful, as the team finished with a winning record of three wins, one tie and one loss.

In the first game, the Select team played against an Academy team of the Sheffield United Football Club, which is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield. (An Academy team is one that is affiliated with a professional team and in which players are being selected and groomed to play professionally.) The Long Island Select team jumped out to a 2-0 lead and eventually won the match 5-2.

In their second game, the Long Island Select team lost to a BU-15 Liverpool-based team consisting of several Liverpool Football Club Academy players who had lost in the National semifinals for their age group. The match was a thrilling one, remaining 1-0 for most of the game before the Select team succumbed 3-0. Given the gritty manner in which they hung on against an older and experienced team, the boys walked off the field proudly despite the loss.

The Select team then went on to successive victories of 1-0 and 3-0 - against teams from the Queens' School, near Watford, England. It is a state funded secondary school currently designated as a Specialist Sports and Science College. The team's passing was crisp and the defense stingy during the two wins.

The final game proved to be the Select team's toughest match, played against the highly acclaimed Crystal Palace Football Club BU14 Academy team, a team that had played together for a number of years. It was a physically grueling and punishing match, in which the Select team trailed 1-0 for the first 78 minutes. With two minutes to play, however, the Select team tied the game, which finished in a 1-1 tie that stunned their opponents. The match represented an exciting end to the culturally enriching tour, which taught the boys the values of teamwork, discipline and perseverance.

Ari Lewis and Jason Zwerling agree that this firsthand experience they received is one they will never forget. The quality of soccer, or football as it is known in England, is faster and more physical than what they have encountered here in the United States and they each plan on taking the skills they've encountered and applying them in all of their future soccer playing endeavors.