With Academy football often being an unforgiving challenge that puts young aspiring players well and truly through their paces, footballing hopefuls need to experience trials and events outside of their usual comfort zone.
It's one of the reasons that the Palace Academy sent an Under-19 squad to Tel Aviv, Israel, where they competed over the course of five days for the Maccabi Tel Aviv winter tournament.
Leading them there, along with Under-16s' coach Rob Quinn, was Academy Director, Gary Issott, who guided the Academy through a gruelling series of five matches in the Middle Eastern heat where they faced teams older than them with considerably more extensive tournament history.