UPDATE (October 29) – Check out great new images.

Last Saturday, I accompanied 13 adidas employee kids (and their parents) to Munich, Germany, on their mission to escort the players of the FC Bayern onto the pitch. Working in Internal Communication as a Trainee since May 2011, I have already planned some athletes’ events for employees, but the trip with the kids showed me once again, that being close to athletes is a real privilege. In this post, I want to share with you a picture gallery and show you what made our adidas escort kids to beam with joy.

First of all, these lucky kids had to make it through a rough internal raffle with hundreds of applications in which employees’ children, nieces/nephews or grandchildren, … could take part.

The right to provide escort kids lies with to the sponsors of football clubs. I think it is a great tradition to show the players’ connection to the next generation of hopefully sports and football embracing enthusiasts. To become an escort kid, you have to be between 6 and 10 years, and not taller than 140cm. Flag carriers have to be between 12-14 years, with a maximum height of 150cm. adidas Sports Marketing offers this opportunity to experience the exciting universe of sports, a world that their parents are working in, to the employee kids themselves.

Back to the game: The stadium in Munich, the Allianz Arena, has huge dimensions and despite the impressive cheering sound made by 70,000 fans – most of them dressed in the club’s classic red and white colors – the kids, in my eyes, enjoyed their unique experience to the full.

Click through the pictures and enter the pitch of the FCB from a kid’s point of view:

Not quite sure yet where the journey goes

Overflowing with impressions before the game...

The kids see the Allianz Arena for the first time from an athlete's perspective.

Getting dressed for the job

3-striped shoes are a must-have

Lining up by height

Waiting on the athletes...

Now we are really getting close to it... - image © Fred Joch

The first steps on the pitch

image © Fred Joch

There it is: the big moment...

...which made the kids beam with joy

The big moment at its climax

...yes, that are almost 70,000 people in the stadium

...let's enjoy it

image © Fred Joch

Now let's show how sporty we are...

...and how to look cute at the same time

Team photo with Barni the mascot

image © Fred Joch

Watching the game from the sideline...

...together with the bavarian brass band in traditional outfits which played before the game

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Although a couple of days have already passed since this exciting experience, there is one sentence, our flag carrier kid said to me afterwards, that has stuck in my mind: “I can’t believe how much I learned, although everything only just took a few minutes …”.

So, I still don’t know first-hand what football players think when they enter the pitch, but I know somebody who might know…