Our storks showed their skills on Monday as junior coaches (left) and on the training pitch (right)
After Sunday had been all about the journey to Minneapolis for our KSV, the focus on Monday was entirely on training – and not just for our Storks, but also for many students from the region.
From 06:30 in the morning, the large breakfast buffet was ready for our boys. John Tolkin, who had won the semi-final of the Gold Cup with the USA the previous evening, beating Costa Rica 4-3 on penalties, was also an early riser. Our full-back dropped by the Storks’ team hotel at 7 a.m. to thank his team-mates for their support from the stands yesterday and to say goodbye in person before the US national team’s onward journey to St. Louis, where the Stars and Stripes will face Guatemala at 1 a.m. CEST on Thursday.
Our boys then completed the first session of this year’s summer training camp in the morning at the club grounds of Minnesota United FC, which plays in the American Major League Soccer (MLS). After some passing and game forms, a small-sided tournament followed, in which the team of Phil Harres, Carl Johansson, Louis Köster, Hamza Muqaj, Leon Parduzi, Lasse Rosenboom, Stefan Schwab and Timon Weiner were crowned the day’s winners.
At the same time, three of our players – Patrick Erras, Andu Kelati and Marco Komenda – visited the Twin Cities German Immersion School in nearby St. Paul together with athletics coach Timm Sörensen. Around 550 pupils are taught mainly in German at the largest public German immersion school in North America – and were able to enjoy a very special kind of training session on Monday morning. Together with several youth coaches from Minnesota United FC (MNUFC), our quartet had put together a varied program for almost 100 pupils. In four groups, the children completed various exercises on the playground and in the gym. KSV mascot Stolle also took part, challenging the kids to a penalty shoot-out and meeting his MNUFC counterpart, an ice diver called “PK Loon”. After the morning session, four more players joined them: Tyler Dogan, Louis Köster, Luca Prasse and Lio Rothenhagen. “The children were very motivated and really enjoyed playing soccer. We tried to teach them a few things and had a lot of fun together. It was a great event for everyone,” said a delighted Patrick Erras about the successful event.
Esther Goodell, who moved to Minnesota from Kiel almost 15 years ago, where she now works as a teacher at the German Immersion School, was also present as a spectator. Goodell also has a connection to our association. Her first husband Oliver Eufinger, who wrote poetry under the artist name “Klavki” and died of cancer in 2009, once played successfully for our KSV youth team before later playing for Preetzer TSV and the district club UT Kiel. On Monday morning, the Kiel native Goodell was also on site and was delighted to have a prominent visitor from her home town.
In the afternoon, our Storks worked up a sweat during an intensive session in the well-equipped gym, before a detailed video analysis in the evening concluded the first varied day of the US training camp.
