Alaska Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
Another snowy and refreshing day here in Alaska! Today we had so much on our itinerary. We started off at Eielson Air Force Base. The first activity they had for us was skeet shooting outside! We all used a 12-gauge and had different stations we shot from. There were also different angles that the clay targets were launched. We had to use our hand-eye coordination in order to have accuracy and connect our ammo with our clay targets. We had an advantage with this because all of us utilize hand-eye coordination daily. The football players obviously need great coordination skills to pass and catch footballs. Cheerleaders need hand-eye coordination when cheering, stunting, dancing or tumbling, so most of us have tons of practice already, even though this is utilized in slightly a different way.
Next on our agenda was the library for story time. The program they had for this was called "Read, Dream, and Succeed." This is a wonderful program that was started in order to inspire our younger generation to read more books. Both of the football players were given a children's book about football to read. They did a phenomenal job keeping the kids attention and really showing their own passion for reading. We all sat with the kids while they read to us. After the reading, we took pictures with all of the children. One little girl came up to me and gave me a picture of cheerleading pompoms that she had colored for me. It brought tears of joy to my eyes to know that this little girl had been looking forward to us coming that she had been coloring pictures to give to us. Those are the moments that I never forget.
After leaving the library, we went and had lunch with some of the service members at Eielson AFB. Getting to sit and talk with these brave and inspiring people is a great feeling. We get to hear stories that are so touching. A lot of the troops talk about their family back home. I really feel close to the people I get to meet when they tell me about their home life and everything they are sacrificing for our country, yet how honored they are to be in the position to protect our country. They truly are inspiring.
The Athletic Complex was next. Talk about an indoor field!!! This place was huge! Before the event began, all of the kids played on the field with footballs and soccer balls. As soon as we got there a child grabbed my hand and asked me to play soccer with them. How fun! So, we played for an hour and had a blast! They then started off with the Combine and afterward had a flag football team among all of the top players on base. Jon McGraw and Eddie Kennison were the team captains and drafted guys on their team. We took some of the kids and cheered on the sidelines! This game was intense! We then took pictures with the winning team (McGraw's team) and then with everyone all together.
Such an eventful day! We are now all danced out/played out. I am sure we will all sleep extremely well after today! Sleep well and stay warm Titans Fans!
Tandra
