On Saturday 19 June, several footballers from the German School Tokyo Yokohama (DSTY) visited Hayabuchi Middle School for their first joint football training session with our new BVB coach Niklas Flechsig.

Despite bad weather and non-stop rain, a group of 15 girls and boys from grades 5, 6, 7 and 10 of the DSTY came together to kick the ball on the finest pitch conditions Japan has to offer. Alongside 22 players from Hayabuchi Middle School, they trained for 90 minutes in a fun and focused manner. In addition to having a kickabout, emphasis was also placed on intercultural exchange. The students were mixed from the beginning and had to play together in small teams as the training progressed. This ensured a lively exchange between the students and coaches from both schools.

Completely exhausted, but nonetheless happy, both teams thanked each other at the end of the training session. Immediately after saying goodbye, the young players loudly demanded that the activity be repeated in the weeks to come.

The training session is only the beginning of many more to follow over the course of the coming school year. The aim of the joint training sessions is to let the students experience new things beyond the school walls, to promote intercultural exchange, to set new sporting challenges and to make the DSTY more visible in the school landscape of the Tsuzuki district.

The training session will certainly be repeated - after the school holidays.