District Matchdays: First team players visit primary school in Bergisch Neukirchen

District Matchdays: First team players visit primary school in Bergisch Neukirchen

The primary school pupils will not forget this sports session in a hurry. As part of the “District Matchdays” campaign, a Bayer 04 trio visited GGS Bergisch Neukirchen ahead of the Werkself’s home match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Bayer 04 keeper Niklas Lomb, goalkeeping coach David Thiel and Synne Skinnes Hansen from the women’s team kicked the ball around with the fourth-graders in the school gymnasium to mark the fourth campaign matchday, which is all about Bergisch Neukirchen.

Thanks to the “Bayer 04-Lernkurve”, the 17 GGS primary school pupils, many of them wearing the current jerseys of the Werkself, experienced the professionals up close and personal. As part of the warm-up, the children, led by Thiel, joined forces with Lomb and Skinnes Hansen in two teams to duel for the mat goal. Some showed promising technical skills in attack, but also in goal. While Thiel, who was born in Leverkusen, led the exercise, the two Bayer 04 professionals supported “Team Leibchen”.

In the subsequent football match across the whole pitch, Lomb was in goal with Skinnes Hansen, while Thiel defended on the other side. At half-time, the young footballers gathered in the centre circle to ask the Werkself professionals questions. Lomb spoke about his path to becoming a professional, his favourite video games, previous career aspirations and his first red card. Norwegian Skinnes Hansen talked about her first steps on the football pitch at the age of six, her desire to score goals and her hobbies of cross-country skiing and knitting. Thiel then asked the curious pupils about their own career aspirations.

“I think it’s cool to play with kids and see how much fun they have. If you can also answer cool questions, it’s even more fun. They simply have a completely different perspective – and we’ve all been where they are now.”

Niklas Komb, Bayer 04 goalkeeper

Skinnes Hansen, who has been taking German lessons since moving to Leverkusen last summer, was particularly happy to have the opportunity to test her language skills.

“I did my best to answer everything in German – and the children largely understood me, which was cool. My German teacher will definitely be proud. I’ve never been to a German school before. It reminded me of my old gym in Norway. It’s wonderful to see how happy the pupils were about our visit. You can inspire the children with activities like this. When we asked them about their goals and dreams, there were so many different answers, some of them wanting to become footballers. I would have loved to have such an opportunity as a child.”

Skinnes Hansen, Women’s first team player

GGS headmistress Sabine Matz followed the extraordinary lesson from the sidelines in high spirits. “I think it’s great that we get the opportunity to be so close to the professionals as part of the project. It’s a fantastic experience for the kids,” she emphasised: “During the Q&A session, they also got answers to all their private questions in a relaxed atmosphere. They will still be talking about this experience as adults.” Mack added: “It’s great that the club is also thinking about activities in their own city.”

Six District Matchdays

In the current and upcoming 2024/25 season, Bayer 04 is organising the so-called district matchdays. Various activities and workshops with the professionals will take place in a district of Leverkusen around selected Bundesliga home matches of the Werkself.