July 1, 2009 - Eight LMSC travel team players spent one week in late June at the youth Fluminense Soccer Academy in Xerem, a small town outside of Rio de Janeiro. The players traveled there as part of the YSC Academy Group, which was comprised of 25 players from local travel teams, including LMSC, FC DELCO, Lehigh Valley United, Penn Fusion and USTA.

Highlights of the trip included eight training sessions with professional Fluminense coaches and their Brazilian peers, an end of the week tournament with four teams made up of YSC and Brazilian players, a trip to 100,000 seat Maracana Stadium to watch a Fluminense-Flamingo professional match, pick-up beach soccer games at Copacabana beach, lunch at a traditional Brazilian steakhouse and a visit to the peak of Corcovado mountain.

Participating LMSC players (pictured from left to right) were Padgett Gustavson, Anthony Haines, Cody Wax, JD Egan, Wyatt Page, Gian-Luca Hail (all members of the LMSC Magic) and Will Cypress and Manny Reitano (both members of the LMSC Rat Pack).

A special thanks to YSC Sports for organizing this fun, exciting and educational trip.