On 24.12.2019, with Black and Yellow greetings for Christmas and New Year, we wrote a message, preparing our participants for the courses on offer in 2020. We, the coaches and staff at the BVB Evonik Football Academy, were ready in the starting blocks and were able to start our first courses in January. As we offer holiday courses in and around Germany, the first holiday course started in February 2020 in Vienna and was a complete success!

Unfortunately, due to the still ongoing crisis, we had to suspend all our courses until June 2020. For us, of course, this was a great shock and a very strange situation, which we had to come to terms with first and foremost. And most of all, we didn't know yet at that stage that we would be allowed to offer courses again during the summer holidays. So we couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Could you imagine a BVB coach working from the home office?! No, we definitely couldn't, but that is exactly what happened next. Digital training content was planned and shot from home, and everyday items, such as bottles or towels, were transformed into cones or hurdles. We also had to hold our "meetings" digitally via Microsoft Teams and could only meet in very small groups in the football academy for video production. For us, it was a crazy world, but we certainly grew into it.

If someone had told us a year ago that the BVB Evonik Football Academy team would be running online training courses or creating content for our own YouTube channel, we would probably have laughed out loud. But that's what happened. Fortunately, the kids on our beginners' and advanced courses came along on the journey with us and gave it their all in the online training. As a team, we dealt with this tricky period excellently!

Our bright spot came in June 2020, when we were able to hold the first on-site holiday course in Wismar. Of course, we had to observe strict hygiene regulations! After that, we had nine holiday courses in Dortmund and 26 other courses in other locations until after the autumn holidays. In times like these, being able to do that was not a given and we were dependent on each and every young player, parent, grandparent, fan and friend who helped us to implement our hygiene concept successfully!

We have already dealt with the rest of the lockdown break well, so we can hopefully get back on the pitch in time for the second half of the season. Without a doubt, we won't be the only ones going into history books this year. What's more, we will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary next year! That will be 10 years full of emotional and exciting stories and 10 years full of ups and downs. The change of name from the BVB Evonik Football School to the BVB Evonik Football Academy in particular was a huge step forward and is a story worth telling! We are very proud of it and hope that we can hold a fitting celebration of this event with you.

Finally, we, the coaches and staff at the BVB Evonik Football Academy, would like to say thank you! Thank you for your support, your understanding and your courage in these difficult times!

As a special thank you, in December, just in time for Christmas, we will be giving away a place on one of our Easter holiday courses. Children aged between six and 13 years can take part in our holiday courses. For your chance to win, simply answer the following question:

In what year did the BVB Evonik Football School open?

Send an email with your name and your answer with the subject "Gewinnspiel Fußballakademie Dezember 2020" (Football Academy Competition December 2020) to service@bvb.de. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to picking the winner. The deadline for entries is 17.01.2021. 
The winner will be notified by 22.01.2021 at the latest.

 

For now, here's a big Black and Yellow virtual hug from all of us at BVB and we hope to see you again soon!

The BVB Evonik Football Academy team

PS: We have prepared a little something for you – see for yourself! :-) 

Unfortunately, due to the still ongoing crisis, we had to suspend all our courses until June 2020. For us, of course, this was a great shock and a very strange situation, which we had to come to terms with first and foremost. And most of all, we didn't know yet at that stage that we would be allowed to offer courses again during the summer holidays. So we couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Could you imagine a BVB coach working from the home office?! No, we definitely couldn't, but that is exactly what happened next. Digital training content was planned and shot from home, and everyday items, such as bottles or towels, were transformed into cones or hurdles. We also had to hold our "meetings" digitally via Microsoft Teams and could only meet in very small groups in the football academy for video production. For us, it was a crazy world, but we certainly grew into it.

If someone had told us a year ago that the BVB Evonik Football Academy team would be running online training courses or creating content for our own YouTube channel, we would probably have laughed out loud. But that's what happened. Fortunately, the kids on our beginners' and advanced courses came along on the journey with us and gave it their all in the online training. As a team, we dealt with this tricky period excellently!

Our bright spot came in June 2020, when we were able to hold the first on-site holiday course in Wismar. Of course, we had to observe strict hygiene regulations! After that, we had nine holiday courses in Dortmund and 26 other courses in other locations until after the autumn holidays. In times like these, being able to do that was not a given and we were dependent on each and every young player, parent, grandparent, fan and friend who helped us to implement our hygiene concept successfully!

We have already dealt with the rest of the lockdown break well, so we can hopefully get back on the pitch in time for the second half of the season. Without a doubt, we won't be the only ones going into history books this year. What's more, we will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary next year! That will be 10 years full of emotional and exciting stories and 10 years full of ups and downs. The change of name from the BVB Evonik Football School to the BVB Evonik Football Academy in particular was a huge step forward and is a story worth telling! We are very proud of it and hope that we can hold a fitting celebration of this event with you.

Finally, we, the coaches and staff at the BVB Evonik Football Academy, would like to say thank you! Thank you for your support, your understanding and your courage in these difficult times!

As a special thank you, in December, just in time for Christmas, we will be giving away a place on one of our Easter holiday courses. Children aged between six and 13 years can take part in our holiday courses. For your chance to win, simply answer the following question:

In what year did the BVB Evonik Football School open?

Send an email with your name and your answer with the subject "Gewinnspiel Fußballakademie Dezember 2020" (Football Academy Competition December 2020) to service@bvb.de. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to picking the winner. The deadline for entries is 17.01.2021. 
The winner will be notified by 22.01.2021 at the latest. 

 

For now, here's a big Black and Yellow virtual hug from all of us at BVB and we hope to see you again soon!

The BVB Evonik Football Academy team

PS: We have prepared a little something for you – see for yourself! :-)

 

YouTube