My alarm woke me up at 5:30 AM for my drive to the Airport in Düsseldorf. I arrived and I saw that Bob's flight was already there 40 minutes early. Suddenly I heard my name and there he was,our President. On our drive to the hotel I told him what happened these past days and how great the kids are. After we arrived in the hotel Bob took a nap and we met us at noon again. A good lunch and we went to the train station to get the kids and parents from Stolberg. The kids got their rooms and then I showed him Leverkusen. We started Downtown and then we went to the Sport facilities from Bayer Leverkusen. After the Track and Field area and all the little gyms we saw a little soccer club between the Bayer Leverkusen sport area and then it was Showtime. First the practice fields from Bayer Leverkusen and then the new stadium. We walked completely around and it was time for the next surprise. The Stadium is closed for public and 4-5 yards away is a fence around the stadium that nobody
can go near the construction. I took our group into the Business Lounge were they saw the two big trophys that Leverkusen won and they could see through the entrance door the new inside of the BayArena. The stadium is closed for public till August 15th but I pulled a rabbit out of my hat a we were the first public people ever who got the honour to go inside the BayArena,it was awesome and the kids liked it more than Aachen's new stadium. We stayed for a couple minutes and then we went back to the hotel. After a short break,we went walking for 4 hours, we went to the Street Life Festival in the old town of Leverkusen. Good music and good food like always made it again a perfect day. We are now all getting prepared for the arrival of the majors at 7:30 AM in the morning tomorrow. We have the feeling there will be a lot of celebrating when they arrive.

Good night from Leverkusen.

Another great Day is just over and our group moves tomorrow to Leverkusen. Our first session of the day was with Alemannia Aachen's U17 in Walheim a little bit outside from Aachen. From the first minute our boys were integrated so that Louis Bennett and I went into the Clubhouse to watch away from the field. The Dad's made today a sightseeing trip to downtown Aachen. Again our kids scored a lot and it looked from the outside pretty nice. After two hours practice was over and we went for lunch. At 4 PM we watched the practice from Aachen's pro team and after the session it was time for our last practice in Aachen with the U16 again. The kids were over one and a half hours only in fast motion so that the mixed scrimmage match was not so good. Everybody was tired also the kids from Aachen. During practice Willi Breuer visited us and he organized more jerseys for the kids. After a quick shower we drove to our restaurant and watched Bayern Munich vs Man United. Munich won after Penalty Shootout. At almost eleven we drove back to Leverkusen. 

We also had an interview and photoshoot with a local Newspaper and the article will be on Saturday in the Newspaper. Everybody in the town of Stolberg knows that we are here and what we're doing. Some people will even come to Cologne on Sunday to cheer for us.
By the way the commercial for Sunday's major match is huge. It is in TV,in Newspapers and in the Internet.
I wanna say Goodbye Stolberg and thank you for hosting us. It was a great time.
The last time for me to say Good Night from Stolberg.

Time for our next report,the writers are Andy,Austin M.,Austin K.,Jack,Adam and Louis.

After a very excellent breakfast we drove around 9:30 towards Aachen for the Stadium construction Tour. After we arrived we got our helmets and the tour started on the field. Louis: It was just Amazing. Austin K.: The grass looked like a carpet. Then we went upstairs under the roof and it was just an amazing view. Austin K.: From up there it looked so big and fantastic and a whole stand without a fence and railings. Then we went to the new Fanshop which is installed in the stadium. It was pretty cool to walk through the stadium and all the workers were working. We saw the locker rooms and the VIP Lounge. Adam: Perfect angle for watching a game,it would be so cool if Andy's office would be here.
After the tour we went to our restaurant for lunch and then we prepared for our practice session at 6:30 PM in Wehnau with another Partnerclub from Alemannia Aachen.
The facility was really nice. Two artificial grass fields,a nice little tribune and even a Gym with a smaller soccer field. After practice and again a victory in the scrimmage match against the U16 from JS Wehnau we got a jersey from the club and we played a little bit with a Fussball table and then we drove back to Stolberg,time for a late dinner. Exhausted and tired we went to bed. The kids opinion so far about the trip: Amazing trip,the sessions and the match in Leverkusen were the best experience ever in Soccer.

Good night from Stolberg.

I'm sorry but I write the report on my own because the kids are sleeping already. They had a great day and they did a lot for our Youth program.  We left the hotel at 7:30 this morning towards Leverkusen and I could feel that the kids were a little bit nervous. We arrived at the facility from Bayer Leverkusen at 9:30 and the kids explored the area. At 10 AM coach Braun came and took the kids to the locker room. Then at 10:30 it was showtime and after a really nice warm up the kids started with 30 minutes of coordination practice. They had to jump and move around little hurdles for coordination and balance. During the session my old coach and now Youth Coordinator,Jürgen Gelsdorf came and we talked about the kids, AA and my goals for the Bavarians. After maybe 10 minutes of watching and discussing he suddenly said:Andy you know what? Let's do it and bring the kids back next summer for a practice week,we will find a way to figure this out. He felt much better about the idea after he saw our kids. After a million thank you's he said that he will join us again for the second practice. Totally happy I watched the rest of the first session and our kids did also really good with the ball skill practice. After Practice we took our meal,fruits and a little ice and enjoyed the break in the sun.  Next practice was at 3:30 PM and we won't forget so fast how it went. Our scrimmage roster was filled out by adding a U17 goalie and three U14 Players. We played against the U15 from Bayer Leverkusen.  After some problems in the beginning our kids found their rhythm and started to play soccer. In the end they beat the U15 with 6-4.  Austin Middleton had two goals and Aaron Horvat had one goal. The other three goals were scored by a U14 Player with two assists from Aaron.  After the fabulous scrimmage we drove Downtown Leverkusen for dinner.  Then we visited the Bayer Leverkusen Fanshop and finally we took the train back home to the hotel. In the hotel we had our daily meeting to talk about the schedule for the next day and with a huge surprise for our heroes. I organized for them some Bayer Leverkusen Jerseys that you can't buy and the kids were smiling with their eyes and totally excited. Then again at 10 PM bedtime.
I wanna use this Blog to say thank you to all of these kids for their whole attitude in these hard sessions and their will to prove Germany how talented players they are. Thank you Aaron,Austin M.,Austin K.,Adam,Jake,Jack and Louis. Also a thank you to the parents for joining and supporting.

Good night from Stolberg

Andy

P.S. Happy Birthday Linda K.

Time for our third report and our 1st practice day.
After a long sleep and a good breakfast like always,I prepared the kids for the first session. Because of the Jet Lag I arranged our first practice for 2:30 PM. At noon we had a light dinner,chicken and rice and after dinner I send the kids in their rooms to relax in bed,we could feel that they were a little bit nervous because the practice was with AA U19's.
At 1:30 PM the tour started and we had our first guest Heinz-Peter Gläske who joined us 3 weeks before at soccer camp. We arrived at the field at 2 PM and a couple minutes later Oliver Heitmann the Headcoach arrived. After introducing everybody the kids were ready to go.
I spent the whole time on the field to translate and cheered for our boys.
They started in three different groups and played 3vs3 with 2 neutral players. Completely we had 24 Players so our kids played in mixed teams and they did really good.
After this they played 8vs8 with 8 Players outside for wallpasses and 2 touch and see at the beginning only Bavarians scored. I really liked that the kids really played soccer. Aachen's assistant coach told me also and the U19 didn't cut our players and really talked to them.
After practice we made a photo with the two coaches and then we drove to the Tivoli for the second practice at 6:30 PM.
For this practice we got the U16 Assistant coach because the U16 had their first practice and went into a forest for running. Nice move from them.
The kids played 3vs3 again and it went great.
Then it was time for dinner and we got more guests.
Willi Breuer and Kurt Banse also Oliver Heitmann with his wife.
The dinner was again great and Willi and I took the kids at 10 PM home because it was bedtime. The adults followed a little bit later.
Back in the hotel we said goodbye to Willi and now it was time for me to talk to the kids.
They did so good that I arranged a surprise and the kids couldn't believe it. I asked them if they think to play on another level a higher level and they said yes,so I told them that they earned a full practice day with my home club Bayer Leverkusen and the really thought I was kidding.
But after I told them that we have to get up at 6 AM they believed me.
So totally excited and with high fives all around we said goodnight and after 5 minutes they were all in bed and I heared nothing. Really great kids and it makes me proud to work with them. Everywhere I hear that the kids are so nice,in the hotel,at the restaurant or at practice.
The adults went out for a drink and I checked one more time if the kids are sleeping and maybe their mothers won't believe me but, they were spleeping like little angels!!!
It is time for me now also. We all hope you enjoy our report and tomorrow I will write the next one with another player.

Good night from Stolberg - Andy

Day Two - July 26th 
This is the report of day 2,written by Andy Davi and Adam Korte.

After the first night we travelled in the morning towards Aachen.
After we arrived the first thing that we saw was the new Stadium and then we checked out the training fields and they're really nice. Adams impressions about the stadium from the outside:Big,it looks pretty classy.
Then we spent a couple hours at the season opening party and the kids won coca cola pins,really important to know. The kids made a bull ride but instead of a bull it was a soccer ball. Louis Bennett Jr. joined a target practice game and the rebound hit a little boy on his forehead and knocked him straight down. After this we thought it is time for lunch and so we went to the restaurant were we will be having our lunch and dinner. The food was great and we were able to play soccer tennis on two courts. The unbeaten champions were Andy and big Louis. After the tennis matches we went back to the stadium an took our seats. The match was pretty good and AA won 3-2 against Bremen. After a long drive home to the hotel everybody was happy to fall into bed but really happy about the day.
Adams impressions so far:Hotel very nice,weather is beautiful,nice people,Andy keeps us always busy but we have enough time to rest and a lot of food. We are all excited for Monday and th first two sessions

We all say goodbye and congrats on the win for the majors.

Here is our Report of the first day from the kids trip.
The writers are Andy Davi and Austin Middleton.

The flight went really smooth and in Frankfurt Andy was already waiting for us. After the hello celebration we walked to the train station and prepared ourselves for the highspeed ICE train.
With 269Km/h we sped towards Aachen. After one and a half hour we arrived and 10 minutes later we took the regional train to Stolberg. After a 5 minute cap drive we arrived at the hotel and we sattled ourselves.
Austin's oppinion about the hotel: It's probably the best Hotel I've ever been in Europe and the breakfast was delicious.The room is pretty big and very comfortable.

After Andy informed us about the schedule we slept for 3 hours. Then we walked together to explore Stolberg and we saw a castle and visited a museum. Then Andy had his first surprise for us,he booked a Kegelbahn,German Bowling version with only 9Pins).
We spent there four hours and suddenly everybody was awake again.
We made only a break for dinner and then we played further.
Around ten we went back to the hotel to rest and prepared for the Sunday were we will join the Seasonopeningparty from AA and in the evening the match against Bremen.

More news tomorrow,say hello to everybody.