Elmhurst Trip Day 1

DAY 1 Thursday September 18, 2008

The next morning I woke up a 4am to arrive in Elmhurst (45 minutes away distance wise two hours away depending on Chicago traffic) by 5:45am. This is where the blitz of excitement starts! Doc Jev takes me by a morning Rotary Meeting where I meet a good bunch of business men and women. I get introduced and speak a bit about myself and bobsledding the who, what when, where and why. It went really good, everyone seemed to be really intrigued. After rotary we head over to Hawthorne Elementary where I was scheduled to speak in the school’s gym to 50 plus 4th graders. I had a power point presentation with a ton of pictures that explains the sport of bobsledding.

It was Great the way it was all set up, I was hiding in the principal’s office while the teachers brought in their fourth grade classes. The teachers had all the kids chanting USA! USA! As I come running in! There was a cameraman from Comcast Cable Company recording the whole thing. Comcast was there to record footage for a TV show I was scheduled to do with Senator Dan Cronin the following Monday. As the kids are shouting I come running in chanting USA! With them which made them shout louder! I HAD THE KIDS STAND UP AS THEY CONTINUED TO SHOUT USA! THEY WERE JUMPING UP STOMPING THEIR! FEET THEY WERE REALLY EXCITED WHICH MADE ME MORE EXCITED!! IT WAS SPECTACTULAR!! I then settle the kids down and thank them and the teachers for having me come out. I then tell the kids that before we start I will have to stretch and do a light workout before we get started. I have all the kids stand up and shake their arms and legs out. And they went Crazy Again shaking their whole body, they were jumping and laughing and having a good ole time, I could not stop laughing myself it was really amusing.

After we stretched I told the kids that I needed some help with my pushups because I am use to doing pushups with weight and asked for some volunteers that would like to help me. All the kids are raising their hands jumping up and down screaming ME! ME! ME! I picked three kids out of the crowd, I get down in the push up position and their teacher sit all three on my back while I do my pushups. While doing the pushups I am facing the rest of the kids and they are doing them with me as we count to ten and finish. The kids on my back are waving their hands up and down like they are on a rollercoaster ride. Oh by this time I have taken off my regular shirt and have a sleeveless under armor shirt on under it! (Yeah the kid broke out the GUN SHOW and Tickets Were NOT On Sale!!!! But it was a SOLD OUT SHOW! LOL) I then started picking kids out of the crowd asking them what stretches they knew and what we should do next! Whatever stretch they suggested they helped me to lead the workout, surprisingly these kids knew a lot of good stretches. I used the stretches as a lead segment into my talk informing kids that the stretches they demonstrated were actually stretches we did before practice in bobsledding. I spoke them about, maintaining their health via working out and eating healthy, doing their best in everything, having a strong work ethic, working with others, being respectful, and the importance of a strong education. Next, I began speaking about bobsledding, the places I have been blessed to travel and how it feels to represent my country all over the world!

I then passed around some of my bobsled gear for the kids to look at (my helmet, speed suit, gloves, burn vest and shoes). Their faces lit up light Christmas trees in response to everything that was going on. Next I began to pick random children out of the crowd to be a part of my bobsled team. I lined them all up in the correct position and we reenacted the bobsled start and pretended we were loading into a bobsled! We all had a good time, and they hung on to every word I said. I did this demonstration with three different groups of children. I talked for over an hour and they were still intrigued. Towards the end of my presentation I opened it up for questions, and I tell you what…fourth graders have a lot of questions to ask. I answered as many questions as I could but my time was up and the kids needed to go back to class. At the end the teachers circled the kids up around me and we gave a loud GO USA!!! Shout! As all the classes left the gym they went out in a single file line and I gave everyone a hi-Five. The little guys were funny they were trying their best to show how strong a hi-Five they could give by running up and slapping my hand as heard as they could. I had a blast and so did all the kids and even the teachers. Later all the kids made me individual thank you cards from construction paper. The cards were personalized with drawings of me, bobsleds, bobsled tracks and gold medals thanking me for coming, wished me luck and told of their favorite parts of the presentation.

From there Doc Jev dropped me off at the Metra train station so I could head to downtown Chicago to give a speech on team work to Hub International Insurance Services http://www.hubinternational.com/. From talking to fourth graders to working men and women 5 to twenty years my senior, talk about switching gears. The interesting thing about this is that it was really impromptu to speech. It came about after I spoke at the morning rotary when I was asked by David Martin to come speak to his group. I finished up talking to HUB hopped back on the train to Elmhurst and met back up with Doc Jev. We then went to another afternoon rotary where I was not scheduled to speak, but was allowed to say a few words about who I am and what I do. Afterwards I answered question and autographed pictures of myself for rotary members and their families for those who wanted them.

We then went over to Courts Plus Health Club (www. epd.org/courts/index.asp) where I worked out. During my workout the camera man from Comcast recorded segments of my workout for later use, it was an awesome feeling because as I was running around doing my warm up and my lifts the camera followed me. There were fliers of me hung up around Courts Plus promoting a talk and workout session I would be leading on Saturday. People working out on the elliptical machines were looking at me as to say HEY IT’S THE BOBSLED GUY FROM THE FLIERS!!! It just gave me chills because it feels good when people know who you are and excited that you came to see them, it just adds to your energy level. Definitely Fun!!! (Yes everyone I tend to use definitive and short statements throughout my e-mails)

From working out at courts plus we then headed over to Edison School where I spoke to 30 or more third and fourth grade students. I used the same presentation format as when I gave my presentation at Hawthorne Elementary. At this presentation they had a news reporter there; here is the link to the article http://www.pioneerlocal.com/elmhurst/news/1178070,em-WEBbeckom-092208-s1.article that was written up on my appearance. Later all the kids all signed a giant thank you card mad from construction paper. They all signed it and made drawings of bobsleds and bobsled tracks.

Doc Jev and I then headed over to talk with the Immaculate Conception High school Varsity Football Team before their game against Marian Central Catholic School. I spoke to the team about my own experiences of working hard and overcoming the odds when people expect you to fail. And how to dig deep down and to keep fighting for what is important to you no matter what the odds are against you. I went a little deep into my football mindset and as I continued to talk about playing The Game, and Playing hard!!! I tell by the look in the players and the coaches eyes that I had gotten through to them. I dapped the fellas and coaches up wishing them good luck in their game. They won their game 14-7 and this small 2A team held a bigger 5A team to -14 yds rushing for the whole game!!! They played out of their minds from what I was told by the coaches!! The coaches invited me to come speak to the team anytime I was in town.

From there we went over to Timothy Christian High School where I spoke to the men’s soccer team. I talked to them about having faith and playing sports, proper nutrition, sportsmanship, playing with intensity and how those principals crosses over to everyday life. The players responded well to what I was saying as I related stories from my personal life to things that occur as you enter manhood. I was amazed by the way parents who were just standing around heard me speaking and came closer to hear what I was saying. By the nodding of parents heads I could see that they agreed with my message.
We left timothy Christian about 5:30 pm and Doc Jev continued taking me around town to different business, and homes introducing me to a bunch of people he knows. And just for the record Doc Jev knows a lot of people….a plethora lot of people!! It was amazing how many people were looking forward to me coming and just wanted to meet me and hear my story. I was taking pictures and signing autographs all day!! It was amazing and exhausting but I was appreciative of just having the opportunity to be able to reach out to children and adults about what I have learned so far. After all was said and done we were finished at 8:30 pm.