Thursday, July 16, 2009

Polo Ralph Lauren update part 1

Greetings everyone!!!

I apologize that it has been a while since my last update but a lot of things have been going on, which is Great but my mind has been all over the place.

About a month and a half ago I received a phone call from Chris Coleman who is a former Olympic Bobsledder, and current Associate Director of Marketing Properties for the USOC (United States Olympic Committee). Chris informed me that Polo Ralph Lauren was doing an Olympic Photo shoot in NYC and they were looking for the right athletes to represent the Winter Olympics. Evidently some of the ladies in the marketing department remembered me from training out there last summer and mentioned to Chris that I would be a good candidate. That's when I received a phone call on Tuesday afternoon informing me about what was going on. Chris explained the situation to me and asked me if that was something I would be interested in. I told him I was not sure I have to check my schedule! JUST JOKING!! I felt like Renee Zellweger I was like "You had me at Po!" lol. Chris was on a tight deadline and needed to know if I had a copy of my biography and some pictures that I could forward him since Ralph and his staff wanted to look over the pictures tomorrow! I was thinking hmmm...does Jesse Beckom III have a few pictures of himself? let me see..... I informed Chris that I might have a few laying around that I can send you.(Yes, Yes sometimes I speak about myself in the third person, its ok everyone does it at least once in their life).

I immediately started shuffling through my pictures looking at some modeling pictures and some lifestyle (pictures from everyday life) that I had on my computer. After finding the pictures that I thought would work, I e-mailed them along with a copy of my biography to Chris who forwarded them on Ralph Lauren and his staff.

Two days later at the Push Track I hear my phone ringing but I did since I was in the middle of training, and I figure if its important they will leave me a message. Turned out the message was important, it was Chris calling to relay a message from the people at Polo Ralph Lauren. Turns out they like my look, my story and they want to know if I would be available from June 17-20th for the shoot!!!! Yup my head may have suddenly gotten a wee bit heavy after listening to that message. Seriously though I was actually feeling pretty grateful of the opportunity God just place in my hands because I knew it was nothing I had done to make this happen. Right after I listened to the message I dropped down to my knees for a quick little thank you prayer to God, then called Chris back to let him know that I would definitely be available.

Soon after I began receiving e-mails form Jill Krizelman the Director of Retail Marketing, welcoming me to the project, letting me know that her and the staff are looking forward to meeting and working with me. The e-mails definitely made me feel really comfortable and even more excited about the opportunity in front of me.

This is where the story gets a little bit embarrassing but oh well I am going to tell it the way it happened........

Now for those of you who do not know it, I like to be as prepared as possible for any situation that I find myself in. That being said once I had the dates for the photo shoot I e-mailed my friend Ari who is former Miss Teen Iowa, and has done a ton of other modeling over the years for some advice. I tell her about the shoot and ask her if she has some tips what I should do to get prepared. Ari congratulated me then preference's her response with "Jesse this may sound feminine but this is what my male model friends have told me works for them!" I was thinking Ok......what is she about to say next? Ari goes on to tell me that I should get a manicure and a pedicure before the shoot, I need to go to a spa a day or so before the shoot and have a soak in Dead Sea Salt because its suppose to make my skin look amazing. Yeah I know right but just wanted to remind everyone out there that I still bench over 450lbs and can squat a small country....just in case some are starting to doubt my membership in the MANCLUB and are feeling a need to crack a joke! (I.E Tate, Bobby Mac, Dean, Atif, and Hayhurst!) Just throwing that out there! Skittles Tate! Skittles!

Ari continues telling me I need to buy some Evian Natural Mineral Water Facial Spray which will help keep my face looking moisturized and soft, and I need to use some teeth whitening products and if I do not have these things that she can send them to me! How great is that?! I was thinking Ari, you no good and well that I do not have any Evian Facial Spray so stop playing with me! lol Ari ends up sending me some bottles of the facial spray and the teeth whitening products. Ari- also included instructions regarding how and when to use the products cause she knew I had no clue what so ever on what to do with them!

As far as the spa thing goes I was not about to spend money just to soak in Dead Sea Salt! However, I did get on line and order a 5lb bag of Bokek Dead Salt, ran some warm water in the bath and soaking in that. Oh and yes if you are wondering I did go get the manicure and pedicure AND WHAT ABOUT IT!!!!?

Leading up to the photo shoot I was strictly buisness every night. I was spraying my face the Evian facial spray, using the teeth whitening products, and doing sit-ups, crunches, side crunches, Jack knife crunches, side crunches, bicycle crunches I mean Everything! The only thing in my mind is that I am going to a 24pack by the time this photo shoot come around, just in case I have a picture with my shirt open I need to be ready!!

June 17th finally rolls around and I head to the airport. Yes I flew from Lake Placid, NY to Ny, NY! Don't judge me! lol Man its getting kind of late I am going to have to finish this another time. Sorry!

This e-mail is supported and backed by the friends of Jesse Beckom III who wish you a happy tomorrow!


God Bless,

Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com

Polo Ralph Lauren Photo Shoot finale

Vie Ghets! (What's Up)

So this e-mail became longer than I thought it would be.

As I was saying Boss Hog was hot on our trails, Luke and Bo were going crazy in the back seat telling me to drop the hammer! and daisy was nowhere to be found!.....Sorry bout that wrong story. lol

Back to my original story. Ralph Lauren was flying me from Lake Placid, NY to New York City, NY and yes I know how that sounds but hey I like it in them! It kind of reminded me in college at Iowa State when we flew from Des Moines, IA to that Other City where that Other Schools plays at to beat them! lol

Since Lake Placid does not have a airport I flew out of Saranc Lake which is twenty minutes away. I could have flown out of Albany, NY but its a two and a half hour ride from Lake Placid to the airport. The airport in Sarnac Lake is not what yo would call your major hub of activity to say the least!! This is a fact that I knew but knowing that I was still surprised when I came to the airport, an airport which by the way you only have arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled flight. I get to the airport about an hour before my flight, you know just to be on the safe side. I check my bags in but security was no open yet so I had to wait 30 minutes before security opened. I thought this was pretty amusing because the TSA Agents that checked my bags walked around the counter and over twenty feet to the security table, metal detector and proceeded to Open Up Security!!! Lol I am still amused by this so feel free to laugh!

As I pass through security with the biggest GRIN ever on my face I proceed to walk out on the tarmac. I expected to see a small plane from the size of the airport and the 5 other passengers sitting in the airport but I did not expect to be a Cessna!, and at that moment my grin got a little be smaller, actually transforming into a smirk! The strangest thought of hmmm....how exactly is this going to work passed through my mind a million times in those fifteen steps to the airplane. As we board this glider, sorry airplane our usher/baggage claim attendant/ security person informs us that due to weight balancing no one can sit in the very last seat. We board the plane which is actually equipped with some pretty nice bucket leather seats. To my further amusements after I have my seat-belt fastened the Co-Pilot leans back, turns around and briefs us on the the safety procedures. Seriously I could not talk and was barely breathing at this point because if I did I would have exploded in laughter!!

The plane starts its taxi down the runway which is right about when the win began blowing a little bit harder causing the plane to sway slightly! I was thinking "So this is how it all ends I guess, well its been fun!" As the plane picked up speed the swaying stopped, next thing I new we were in the air! It was actually a pretty smooth flight and the view was extraordinary. Since Cessna's do not fly as high as your regular charter airplane it made it easier to take in the sights of the landscape and cities that we were flying over. Being in that plane gave me a new respect for the greenery of the Adirondack's during the summer months. The treetops seemed to go on forever, the mountains looked terrific and the streams flowed for miles on end. If you never have the pleasure of coming to see me race here in the winter during those -50 degree days, I highly recommend you coming out this way, bring your family if you have one and enjoy the great outdoors here in the summer months.

The plane lands in Boston with no problems and I successfully make it to my connecting flight to NYC, which was on a normal sized plane.

When I arrived I received a phone call from the chauffeur company informing me that my driver was at the airport waiting my arrival! This is when I begin to think "I have not met any of the people at Ralph Lauren but I am liking the way the operate!", I come down the escalator and true enough there is a guy holding a sign that say BECKOM! Yup that's me!!! My driver (I am really liking the fact that I can say My Driver by the way and I may say My Driver a lot so try not to get too annoyed if I tell you something that My Driver does, or something My Driver does not do because because being My Driver, My Driver has a lot of responsibilities that come along with being My Driver but its ok cause he is My Driver! lol). Where was I again....oh yeah My Driver followed me to the baggage claim where we bot watched as the carousel stopped and guess what people, you knew it had to happen...Yup once again my luggage was lost in transit!! I swear my bags have been lost more times than a T.V remote. I have said it once and I will say it again KEEP UP WITH YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIM TICKET!! After talking to the lady in baggage claim I find out that my bag is still in Boston and should be coming in later tonight before midnight. This is has happened to me so many times I am not stressed out to much, especially since I have my laptop with me at all times and that is the most important item I travel with.

I followed My Driver out to the Lincoln Town Car that was awaiting me and was on my way. The drive through NYC was pretty sweet and I enjoyed every minute of it! My Driver was originally from Beijing, China. He asked me if I was a model, I told him was an Bobsled athlete playing model for a couple of days.
It was a forty-five minute drive from the airport to the Empire Hotel NYC http://www.empirehotelnyc.com where I would be staying (You really have to go on-line and look at this hotel it is really nice and trying to describe it would take forever. When I checked in at the hotel the laddies at the hotel were all smiling contagiously at me, I can only assume since the reservation were under Ralph Lauren they assumed I was one of their real models. One of the ladies informed me that there was a package waiting for me and promptly grabbed it for me. She walked to the back room, returning with a Polo Ralph Lauren bag in her hand and gave to me. A driver!, women constantly smiling at me during my arrival!, a gift at the front desk!, I tell you what if this if the life of a model I then please sign me up cause I am loving this treatment!

After thanking the front desk girl for my bag I head up to my room. My room had a king size bed a nice view of the city and a fully stocked fridge complete with two bottles of champagne, two bottles of wine and anything else you would want to drink. I ended up drinking a couple bottles of water, a sprite, a coke and a few snickers. lol Yeah I know but hey I am training here not time for the other stuff. Next I open up the Polo box that was in the bag. Inside was a red Polo Ralph Lauren shirt with a large navy blue Polo emblem on the left breast and the number 3 on the right sleeve. I like to think they knew I was Jesse Beckom III and that's why my shirt had a 3 on it but then I noticed all of their shirts like that have a number 3 on it. lol Along with the shirt was a cool little card from Jill telling me how happy everyone is to work with me and finally meet me, it was a good feeling by far! Later that night Jill called to make sure my flight was ok and that I made it in safe. I informed her about my baggage situation and she said some the greatest word I have every heard she said " Well Jesse I sorry this happend but you picked the right place to loose your bag because if you do not receive it then we will get you some things from the Polo Store!" I was thinking What was that you say sweet angel? lol Did you say from the Polo Store? I have never wished so hard that my bag never turned up in my life!! lol but it did and that was fine too! So close so very very close! lol

First Day of the shoot

The next morning at 7:15 am I and eight other winter sports athletes met Jill in the hotel lobby. I knew Noelle Pikus-Pace (Skeleton), Ryan St.Onge (Aerialist 2009 World Champion) and Tim Burke (Bi-athlete 2006 Olympian) since we all come across each other from being in the Olympic Training Center. I met Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin (Paired Ice Dances and 2006 Silver Medalist), Ted (Alpine Skier 2006 Gold Medalist), Evan Lysacek (2009 World Champion), Resi Stiegler (Down Hill Skier GS). Who are all a great group of people and accomplished athletes. We all did the normal hello's but not much was said though aw we all piled into the van outside that would take us to our photo shoot at Brooklyn Studios in Brooklyn, NY. At the start of thirty-five minute drive to the studio Jill began to informed us that we will be trying on the Opening and Closing Ceremony Clothing for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics!!!! EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!!! Then Jill told us the ideology that were behind the designs of the clothing we will be modeling and all of us were quite and were really.....how is this going to look? lol I would like to tell you the theme behind the apparel but it is meant to be a surprised so I will not ruin it and we signed waivers that we would not talk about the clothing in detail. So I will have some pictures up on my web-site but only a few and none of any of the outfits that we were wearing.

When we arrived in the studio we were directed over to the wardrobe section where there were about four racks of outfits, 5 rows of sun glasses, belts, ties, hats, socks boots everything we needed just waiting for us to try on. A few things were going through my mind at this time the first being "This is pretty serious" and the second being "God let me do what I need to do so that I can put these clothes on For Real come the Olympics!"

The Ralph-Lauren Polo staff was slowly introduced to us through out the day. The staff which consisted of about 35 or more people included the Polo Ralph Lauren Staff Directors, Managers, VP's; Photo Team, Video Team, Production Crew, and Styling Crew.

In the wardrobe area the men and women had at least three people at any given time helping us with our outfits. I believe it was Meryl the director of Men's Styling who handed me my first outfit to try on. As I am walking with the outfit I happen to look at the size of the shirt, and to my surprise I see the letter "M" so I started to laugh a bit thinking this should be interesting to say the least cause I have not been medium size in a looooooooooooong time! No one must have told them that bobsled guys are not small by any means! Anyway I go put the shirt and pants on which was not made out of spandex but the way they fit on me they could have easily been mistaken for spandex. I barely got the shirt to go on my arms but I tugged and pulled till it did but was only able to get about 4 buttons buttoned and I truly thought my legs were going to bust out of the pants they gave me. As I am slowly walking back to the wardrobe area looking like the in between stage of Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk I hollar out "I AM NOT SURE THIS FITS!" The other athletes were laughing but some of the ladies in the room seemed to think it fit just right! lol It got better because then they squeezed a medium sized sweater on over the shirt! Are you kidding me! lol It turned out that this was only the pre-fitting process. So while I was standing there looking like Thomas Tight pants they had the tailor come over to see where he needed to take out the arms, legs and add material in some places (and by some places I mean around the Gun Show Yeah FIRE POWER! BOOM!). After the tailor looked at me that took a few quick Polaroid pics of me and placed them on a show board. They did this process with all of us in whatever outfits we were going to be modeling. I had two changes I would be modeling and after I was done with the second change and the tailor was done making the appropriate marks he took the clothes and began to make the alterations. I was really impressed with this because it was only two tailors and they were making the adjustments to all of our outfits right on the spot!

Once I was done trying on my clothes it was off to hair and make-up. Of course I was sporting the freshly shave bald head so I did not have to see the hair dresser but I joked around with them asking if they could take a bit off the top for me. I laughed anyways! So as I looked at the other guys around me waiting for the make-up artist to do her thing you can tell we all were thinking the same thought which was. "Make-up Seriously Make-up when my friends find out about this it is not going to be good! Man Make-UP! GOD WHY MAKE UP!!?" But some of the girls seemed to be thrilled at a professional hair styling and make-up session, Yippee for them I guess. After we were done with a that area we sat around for a bit getting to know one another and finding out about each others sports. We also had a chance to converse with some of the staff members who were there and were very busy but made time for a chat or two.

They had a few different possible rooms that we were suppose to shoot including outside on the roof, but due to the rain that day we were not able to go outside. We each took our turn in the room they had set-up inside for us. Arnoldo was the name of our photographer and like everyone else he was a cool person but definitely serious about his job. During the photo shoot he would say things lik "Look Strong!" and I was thinking if I look any stronger I may bust out of this shirt! But he meant look strong facially. One time he said look heroic and I could think about was what how do I look like a military person, or kind of hard to look like a fireman or police man! What is this guy talking about look heroic but he meant to stand tall with my chest out and look daring Like HERE I AM TO SAVE THE DAY!!!! But his direction were pretty good just a few times hearing it to understand what he was looking for and how he wanted us to pose. At different point during our photos we took pictures with some of our sports specific gear which was sweet if I say so my self When we were not taking pictures we all would watch each other up there to see how we were doing and looking at the pictures that were taken as they popped up on a near by computer screen.

There was also a camera crew there from Teen/Kid T.V doing individual interviews with all of us, asking the basic battery of questions. They inquired about what makes us want to do the sport we do, what would it be like to walk in the opening ceremonies, what drives us and etc. It was a nice little addition to the photo shoot in between waiting for your time to shoot.

After my first round of photos I was standing around watching someone else take their shoots when Lizzie the Sr. Director of Corporate Communications came up and asked me if I had seen my shirt. I said to Lizzie "What Shirt?" she said with a huge smile "Here come follow me!" I followed Lizzie to a rack where several white Ralph Lauren Polo's were hanging. On the front was a navy blue Polo emblem with the Name BECKOM underneath it! On the back it read BECKOM under that was TEAM USA, under that were the Olympic Rings, and under that was VANCOUVER 2010!!!! When I saw this shirt I SMILED THE BIGGEST SMILE THAT I HAVE IN A LONG TIME!!! It is unexplainable how much of a rush I felt from seeing this piece of clothing. But the meaning behind it, the meaning if God willing I will be able to wear this shirt true to form it in February can not be expressed!!! And to make it ever better right after that I saw Tanith and Ben doing their photos together wearing their 2006 Silver Medals, then Ted took the stage wearing his 2006 Gold medal!! Seeing all these things motivated more than I could ever have imagined this trip would do! Seeing them up there is where I want to be. It was not envy or jealousy but a deep respect for them and what they have accomplished and to have a clue of the hard work and sacrifice that must go into reaching that point!! The chance to be the Best hands down and to do what it takes to get there and can never be stripped from you! That is what I saw and that is what I strive to have the fortitude to achieve!

It was a great first day of shooting and getting to know everyone. After the shoot at about 6pm went back to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours before we were taken to dinner at Rosa Mexicana http://www.rosamexicano.com/, which is a high end Mexican restaurant. From the food to the atmosphere this restaurant was excellent! We had reserved table upstairs and as we walked up to the right of us was a trickling waterfall flowing over a marble wall. And what waterfall will be complete without a diver, so there were countless mini sculptures positioned to show the numerous positions of a diver jumping off a cliff. The restaurant was very well lit, the food preparation was great and served in a timely manner. We all really enjoyed the dinner which gave us a chance to realax and get to know each other a bit more.


Second and final Day of the shoot

On the second day we met Jill and Jenna (Intern) in the lobby at 8:15, piled up in the van and headed back over to Brooklyn Studios. This second day of the shoot was the individual video interview day. There was a sound studio two blocks down from our current location where we would be doing separate interviews in front of a green screen. I need to regress for a minute. Before we came out to the shoot we were requested to bring old photos, videos, and news paper articles of ourselves to be added into this project. Now, we were informed that the camera crew we were working with was really creative so I am not sure if some of the media that we gave them will be on the green screen or not. However I did make them aware that if possible I would like to be seen Flying on Falcore (you know Falcore he is the Luck Dragon from the Neverending Story) not sure if that will actually happen but if you see it....that was my ideal! lol

The green screen day was pretty straight forward. We went down to the studio in groups of two to four depending on every ones flight schedule. They had each person talk about themselves, their sports achievements, some of the technical aspects about our sports and the mental focus it takes to perform in our respective sport. We demonstrated some of the motions and positions that we put our body through. So we were jumping, running in place, flipping just your basic action shots for the most part. The more amusing things of this day was what was happening when we were waiting to go to the video studio.

The first thing was that on this second day was some of the Real models that Ralph-Lauren Polo works with were there, modeling the same outfits that we were in the day before. It seemed like they brought in some of our modeling doubles. lol One guy look like Ted with the whole beach boy ice surfer look but may have been a little bit taller. One guy look like me without the weight room of course so he was about 50lbs less than me! lol It was completely opposite in some regards because instead of having to make clothes bigger they were taking out material to make the clothes smaller to fit them. We were thinking yup they are burning all the pictures of us right now but we are glad they invited us! lol Seriously though are going to use our pictures for a campaign Ralph Lauren Polo will be starting later this year around November. I will keep you all up to date with how the project progresses so you can be on the look out for it.

Next is what I have decided to call the Bored Olympics! Not sure if any of you know it or not but most of us are in the middle of our summer training and have three days of not training, lifting weights, or running makes an athlete get a little bit restless. With that being said while we waited for our turn to go over to the studio our minds started to wonder and think of physical challenges that we could. It started off slow as I was looking up to the celling, when Noelle must have read my mind cause she asked me "Hey Jesse you think you can touch that pipe?" I was like I should be able to get about how high is it? We tried to guess it out using Noelle height as a measuring stick and mentally stacking her upon herself! Then someone remembered that the tailors had some measuring tape and Noelle and Ryan ran to the table and grabbed it. They then ran up the spiral stair case that lead to the roof and drop the measuring tape from the break in the celling to the floor. The pipe was about 12.5 feet or so, so I was really confident that I could get it with a little running start. By this time we kind of forgot that we were working in a professional environment but we also live by the rule THAT EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION! and by Noelle asking me could I touch the pipe the competition was ON! lol In hind sight this may not have been one of our brightest ideals but hey it happens. So I take a three step running start leap into the air Touching the Pipe of course, but i forgot to control my momentum as I landed! So all 225lbs of me come hurling down to the ground full force and BOOM I land and the whole floor shook! It was so loud it was crazy! I felt like a little kid that just got in troubled when I heard Jill call out JESSE!!! We all kind of laughed and I apologized, explaining to Jill that we got a little bored.

Since the jumping was out of things we could do or should do, we had to switch gears. Luckily Ryan (The Aerialist) travels with a set of push up bars that he uses to practice his L-Sits and hand stands with, which he happily made me aware off! And I could not resist telling Ryan to break them out! Once again EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION! It is worth mentioning that the competition we were about to begin started in Lake Placid a week prior when some of the Bobsled, Bi-athletes, aerialist and skeleton athletes were all sitting around in the hallway talking and Ryan broke out the push up bars. The goal is to hold your self in the air using your arms as you are in the L position and your feet or legs are not allowed to touch the floor. The trick is to position the majority of your mass slightly behind your arms while also tightening your abs. Ryan and I went first then we challenged some of the other athletes there to do it as well. After that the next challenge was to while holding onto each of the push up bars that were positioned on the to do a handstand. But instead of just kicking your legs over your head you had to start in a crab position with your knees on the back of your elbow then slowly raise yourself into the air. The last thing we did was to see how many push ups you could do while in the handstand position. We each held one another leg just enough ensure we kept our balance but it still is a difficult thing to do.

Now while all this was going on one of the models there who was our age (yes she was 9yrs old too! lol) broke out her video camera and recorded all of these shananggins! There was also a young 8yr old boy there who was a model and with his grandmother. We had met them earlier in the day and when he saw me doing the handstand push ups he asked his grandmother if he could give it a try. His grandmother brought him over and of course we let him join in on the fun! The little kid was actually pretty strong doing 10 push-ups! Afterward upon their request we took pictures with him and his grandmother. Little guy was smiling from ear to ear it was really Great he was a cool little kid!

Our day ended at 6:30 we said our goodbyes to one another, thanked the Ralph Lauren Polo staff for all their hard work and went on our way! This was truly a great opportunity for me to be a part off and I am still honored that I was chosen to do it! Oh and we got to keep those white Polo Shirts with our names on them. Mine is folded in a box under my bed until God willing I punch my ticket this year!


God Bless

Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com