Eintracht in the USA: “Our love of football” | OneFootball

Kids and teenagers with a passion for football enjoyed an action-packed Eintracht Day at soccer clinics in Hartford and Philadelphia.

“It’s always fantastic to be back at places like this,” is how Armin Kraaz, Head of Sports Projects America at Eintracht Frankfurt and a UEFA pro coaching licence-holder, described the experience. After holding summer camps and coaching clinics in five different cities in five different states in the USA, to the delight of a whole host of football-mad youngsters, the Eagles then headed off to Hartford, Connecticut and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The soccer clinics are an integral part of Eintracht’s international activities, and combined with the football fever surrounding the visit of the German national team for friendlies on US soil, it gave the Eagles further opportunities to create important new contacts. It also provided scope to increase Eintracht Frankfurt brand awareness across the Atlantic and get a better perspective on the US market.

Soccer clinics courtesy of Kraaz

The first stop on the eastern seaboard for Kraaz and his team was the South End Boys & Girls Club in Hartford. The training sessions held there taught the kids plenty about football as well as the Eintracht Frankfurt values, and they even got an insight into German culture, as well as a new Eintracht shirt, of course.  The Boys & Girls Club is a country-wide youth-focused organisation which provides teenagers and young adults with such things as academic support and safety as well as a range of programmes involving high-level organised sports including football, basketball and flag football.

Kraaz’s team then headed to Philadelphia, where they were supported by the not-for-profit Chester Upland Youth Soccer organisation. Thirty-five kids aged between six and 14 were invited to the Eintracht Day in Pennsylvania.

“A whole lot of fun” in Philadelphia

“We had a whole lot of fun, and that’s always the main thing,” said Kraaz. “The priority is always to pass on our love of football to the kids and give them the bug.”

The Chester Upland Youth Soccer organisation looks after around 500 kids a year, providing them with out-of-school football training and educational programmes. Since 2012, it has been working with the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s ‘Soccer for Success’ programme.