It’s been a week since our Storks left for their training camp in the USA. Since then, they have completed many sweat-inducing sessions at the Minnesota United FC club grounds. Another one was added on Saturday, before another special appointment was on the agenda for our boys in the afternoon.
After having spent the previous days on the training pitch in glorious sunshine and temperatures above 30 degrees, scattered rain clouds moved in overnight, so that the previous heat was tempered somewhat. While Andu Kelati, Patrick Erras and Louis Köster regenerated in the gym, the rest of the Storks completed an extensive warm-up and then played a crisp eleven-a-side game with two goals, in which there was plenty of fire on the pitch.
After work and lunch together, our boys had an autograph session at the Mall of America. The shopping center in nearby Bloomington is the largest in the country with over 500 stores, an aquarium, an amusement park and a cinema. Coach Marcel Rapp’s team stood ready to sign autographs on cards, dollar bills, squeaky ducks, Pokemon cards and T-shirts in alternating groups of four – and made a few interesting acquaintances along the way: Katja, for example, who emigrated to the USA from Darmstadt in 2004, and her son Noah stopped by. The duo were on vacation in the Minneapolis region before Noah’s year abroad in Hesse and took the opportunity to visit our KSV autograph session. Mike also stopped by with his family. After getting to know Kiel on a cruise some time ago, this was the next point of contact with the state capital. In general, many visitors to the mall also stopped by our team’s stand, secured one or two signatures and got talking to our storks. Carl Johansson, for example, gave young up-and-coming players some valuable tips and Alexander Bernhardsson learned some details about 1. FC Kaiserslautern that he had never heard before thanks to a fan who had once lived in the Palatinate.
All the players who were not sitting at the table to immortalize themselves on the paraphernalia presented to them used the time in the huge mall for a short shopping spree. While Robert Wagner bought a jersey from Minnesota Timberwolves basketball player Anthony Edwards, Johansson and Bernhardsson were joined by Marko Ivezić, Max Geschwill, Phil Harres and Lasse Rosenboom, among others, in preparing for Sunday’s Minnesota Twins baseball game by purchasing the club’s shirt in the fan store. In the end, our boys left the shopping center with a nice conversation or two and a few souvenirs. “We are always happy when international guests visit us here in Minnesota. Hosting Holstein Kiel today was a great experience. We have a lot of soccer fans here in the region, so people loved meeting the coaches, players and even the mascot and getting autographs,” said Natasha Freimark, Vice President of Sales at Mall of America, who was also pleased with our team’s visit.
