Göttingen, January 9, 2025

Day 2 at the Rewe Junior Cup got off to an exciting start. While we were assembling our breakfast at the Freizeit-In Hotel’s extensive buffet, the entire Fulham F.C. U19 team suddenly marched through the room! It was quite funny to watch the guys and listen to their comments about the German breakfast in their typical Cockney accent. Sorry, no baked beans here, lads! But try the made-to-order omelette, it’s delicious.

We spent the morning at the hotel and after a light lunch went back to the Lokhalle. There, we had an appointment with the security team – our Guest Management system was going to be used for the first time for the check-in. Naturally, we had prepared for this in advance with the RJC team, so we were ready! Sophie took over the briefing of the admissions team confidently, and with a lot of experience, to help them understand exactly how the ticket scanning process works. The doors opened just after 4pm and the visitors started piling in. Sophie and I helped out for the first hour and fixed a couple of small problems that came up here and there.

Once everything seemed to be going well, we were able to enjoy the tournament a little bit. We ate a hot meal in the VIP area, had a few drinks and the candy bar there was a hit! We watched a few games and just took in the energetic atmosphere of the tournament.

Thomas, Sophie and Lisa abandoned their plan to drive back to Dresden that same day due to the on-going snowfall! Public transport had come to a standstill and the roads were barely passable due to the wintry conditions. Fortunately, there were still rooms available at the hotel, so they just stayed another night.

Even the start of the tournament had been pushed back by an hour to give visitors time to get there. Can you imagine, the Hannover 96 team was stuck in traffic on the interstate, which is why the match schedule had to be adjusted. These were historic circumstances, the likes of which had never been seen before at the Rewe Junior Cup.

Alas, at some point, it was time to leave. Thomas, ever the gentleman, went to get the car from the parking garage. However, the combination of the cold and extensive Teams calls from the car that afternoon must have killed the battery – the car wouldn’t start! This was the first time that my ADAC Plus membership came in handy – the “yellow angels” were there in no time and helped so that we were able to drive to the hotel without any more issues. Phew, what an exciting day with lots of new impressions!

We definitely look forward to doing it all again next year!

Cheers,
Susi