Two schoolchildren got the chance of a lifetime to represent the country at the World Cup.

Amir Dill and Majesty Wilson, both 13, were picked to join international children’s programme Football for Friendship, which ran just before the world’s biggest sports tournament kicked off in Russia.

Amir, a pupil at Dellwood Middle School in his home parish of Pembroke, said he was “shocked” to get a call-up for his country.

He added: “At the time, my mother told me the World Cup was happening there and that the Football for Friendship Programme was running in tandem with that.”

Majesty, a Warwick Academy pupil from Somerset, said she was first picked by the Bermuda Football Association to join the programme as a footballer, but changed to journalist after the BFA found it could not send two players.

She added: “I told them that I can write and have done some articles before, so I was allowed to continue.”

Amir said the gruelling routine meant early starts at 5am for training, fitness classes and team-building work.

He added: “The main thing I was really learning was how to better help and communicate with my team and new team-mates.”

The regime also included regular matches to help the participants get used to dealing with different playing styles.

Majesty worked at the Children’s Press Centre in Moscow and learned interviewing techniques and covered events for the programme’s daily newspaper under the pressure of deadlines.

She added: “There were VIPs coming through into the press room and my team had to go with the actual journalists and try to push through crowds and ask questions.

“Since they didn’t all speak English they had translators and since we weren’t prepped for it, we had to find a way to remember what we were asking, what they were saying and how the tone was to see what they meant.”

The pair were chaperoned by Crestant Williams, vice-president of the BFA and the organisation’s women’s coach Ricketta Warner for the seven-day trip, which involved working with delegates from more than 200 countries.

Amir said he found the language barrier a problem, but used an app on his phone as a translation aid.

Majesty added she used the same phone app, but admitted she was intimidated by the size of Russia, which is the largest country in the world.

She said: “There were so many people. You don’t know what they’re saying and they’re speaking everywhere around you, but when you have no clue you just wonder what they mean.”

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the World Cup opening ceremony.

Amir said: “It was amazing. To me the ceremony seemed like a parade almost with all the music playing and people dancing.”

Majesty said the experience gave her a taste of the intensity of journalism.

She added: “It’s not just writing and figuring things out, it’s going through the pressure of deadlines and trying to figure out detailed things by simple questions and answers.”

Amir, who said he had kept in touch with the friends he made in Russia, added he also learned how to overcome communication issues.

He explained: “I learned how to communicate with people that I hadn’t met before and I’m still communicating with them now.”