The war in the Middle East has forced the Football Otago Youth Development Trust squad to make a radical change to their travel plans next week.
They are off to make an exciting debut appearance at the Villarreal Yellow Cup Easter alongside some elite youth opposition at a major event run by the La Liga club.
Initially, the touring group — 18 players, three coaches and tour leader Matt Scoles — were flying through Dubai to Barcelona, but that route has been affected heavily by the Iran conflict.
The southerners have had to ditch their original tickets and are now going via Santiago, in Chile, to Madrid.
"That was the only really viable option," Scoles said.
"I don't suppose it's different to plenty of people dealing with this, but we’ve spent the vast majority of the last six months preparing for it, only to be a couple of weeks out from going and having to address significantly more cost and logistical upheaval.
"It's been a pretty trying week, not just for the trust but particularly the parents of the boys who are having to find a way to kind of make it happen."
The under-16 footballers had put in 180 hours plus of training for the tour, Scoles said.
Their parents were unanimous in committing to the travel changes — even though it meant significant extra cost to book new flights — and all 18 players were still going to be on the plane.
"I take my hat off to all the parents and those who have supported us and helped us to get there.
"There are plenty of parents who have had to dig pretty deep and given up on other stuff to make this happen for their boys.
"It's a real success story for us in terms of ... not having to leave anybody behind."
The trust regularly sent teams to the Super Cup (formerly Milk Cup) youth tournament but were forced to seek alternatives when the Northern Ireland event made some changes this year.
Playing in Spain should be a decent consolation.
"It's pretty exciting to be able to go play quite a different kind of football to what they’re used to in New Zealand," Scoles said.
"On top of that, we've got three training sessions with the Villarreal academy coaches and we've got a game against the Villarreal youth academy as well. So they've got a real football experience coming up.
"It's a shame that the war breaking out has meant that they've had to work a little bit harder to get there. But the experience they're going to get is probably second to none."
The squad fly out next Wednesday.
