England youngsters benefit from U's facilities.
Colchester United's training facilities have played host to England's stars of the future this week.
England's U15s visited north Essex on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of a trip to Italy for an upcoming tournament.
The England players, sourced from a range of teams across the country, trained at Warriors Rest on Tuesday evening, before returning to train at Florence Park on Wednesday.
Following that lunchtime training session, Colchester United's own U15s and U16s players trained alongside their England counterparts, before providing the opposition for two fifteen minute training games.
What's more, the U's Callum Jones and George Keys also played for England for fifteen minutes each as part of the training session.
Dan Micciche, England U16s manager, said: "This is our first U15s international tournament.
"It's really beneficial that we can expose these young players to the demands and experiences of playing tournament football, and against different styles.
"There is lots of good work going on at academies around the country and we receive good reports about the work going on at Colchester United with the vision of the chairman to produce home-grown players, many of whom have already broken into the 1st team.
"We are grateful for their support and for the use of their facilities."
The visit of the England team was a useful exercise for the U's Academy Manager Sean Thacker, who added: "We're delighted to be able to assist Dan and his young players by hosting them at our training ground and wish them luck on their trip.
"From a selfish point of view, it was a fantastic opportunity for some of our young players to train and play against some of the best players in the country of their age. It was also nice to hear how beneficial the England coaching staff found the exercise and hear compliments about our players."