Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo midfielder Dani Pitaro has accepted a scholarship offer to continue her soccer career at DePaul University. Pitaro, who plays her prep soccer for Glenbard South H.S., will be part of DePaul Head Coach Erin Chastain’s 2013 recruiting class.

DePaul is a member of the Big East Conference along with national powerhouses like Notre Dame and Marquette University.

Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo just received news that they had won the Fair Play Award at the US Youth Soccer National Championships in Rock Hill, SC.

“The Fair Play Award is selected by referees, state representatives and the US Youth Soccer National Championship Committee. The award-winning teams are recognized for displaying positive conduct on the field toward their opponents and game officials throughout the competition”.

Today we woke up to a very rainy morning as we got ready for our last full day in Denmark. After an early breakfast, we took a bus to the train station to get to Kronborg Castle, better known as Hamlet’s Castle. When we arrived we were blown away by the beauty and intricate architecture of the castle, and spent our time walking around the dungeons, ballrooms, and balconies of the historic landmark.

Upon exiting the castle, we were happy to observe that the rain had stopped, and the clouds had cleared up just in time for our second round of shopping. We took the train again towards Copenhagen, and on the way were able to take a bus through Phil’s old hometown. Phil shared stories about his childhood as we drove past his grandmother’s house, which was in a very nice neighborhood.

When we arrived in Copenhagen, the team split off into groups again to have a quick lunch and finish off souvenir shopping. After a few hours, we got back on the train to go home for dinner with the Danish girls. We met in a cafe and exchanged goodbyes and thanked them for their great hospitality. Then, we headed home and packed our suitcases in preparation for tomorrow’s long flight.

Today we were up at 9am for the breakfast inside the hotel. Then the head coach of Brondby’s professional women’s team, Peer Lisdorf, was nice enough to put together a practice for us.

We were all happy when we found out that the practice was only going to consist of technical ball work because of how tired we all were. Coach Peer put on a great practice that we all enjoyed and had fun at.

After the practice, we took a 30 minute walk to a quaint medieval town. Even though it was an excruciatingly long walk to the town, it was worth it to see the cool houses that were built 500 years ago. From there, we took a bus to a beach off the Baltic Sea. Some of us went swimming, while others dipped our feet in just to say that we had been in the Sea.

Once we were done hanging around at the beach we got cleaned up and ready to go to Tivoli. Tivoli is an amusement park with all sorts of roller coasters and carnival rides located in downtown Copenhagen. It was an amazing experience especially since Walt Disney got his idea for Disneyland from here. The rides were insane and some of the most fun experiences many of us have ever encountered. When the sun went down, the team was in awe when the whole park was lit up with beautiful lights. After a fun-filled night, we all went back to the hotel and went right to sleep.

Ashley Handwork and Rachele Armand

Once again we got up at the crack of dawn, or so it seemed. We ate breakfast and then went to the bus stop and were off to Copenhagen.

We took multiple trains, and some of our teammates got stuck on one of the trains because they were not quick enough getting off. The rest of the group had to wait for them while they took a short detour.

Once we got downtown we took a fascinating boat tour of the lovely Copenhagen. There was awesome architecture and even a huge sand castle building contest. After the tour we shopped till we dropped. A popular item to buy was the fashionable and functional fanny-pack.

After shopping all day long, we were quite tired and went back to the hotel. A few Danish girls came over, and we spent the rest of our night relaxing.

Brooke Ksiazek, Courtney Keefer, and Gianna Dal Pozzo