Men's Volleyball and start of the NBA House (August 2, 3, 4, 5)

The last few days have been go, go, go. On Thursday I headed up to Arsenal to have lunch with Tom Fox. It was great talking with him about everything from the work he did with my grandfather, to the fact that my college roommate’s mother is his former college girlfriend. Crazy how small of a world it is. We also talked about what I want to do with my career. He is going to help me when I get back to the US, and get me in touch with several people. It has really been a great opportunity to get to know him and create a personal relationship with him.

After a great lunch with Tom Fox, I headed over to the Oakley Safe House, where I met with Brian Carlin, who works in the marketing department of Oakley. I met him at the USA Processing Center last week and got his information so I could meet with him. They had a great set up at the Safe House for all the athletes to come and get custom glasses. It was great seeing their set up and talking more with Brian about what he does.

Later Thursday night I went to see the USA Men’s Volleyball against Brazil. Brazil had about twice as many fans at the game then the USA. It was a great environment to be in, and even a better game to watch. USA won in the fourth set after close games for every previous set. It was fun being the one of the loud Americans in an arena dominated by Brazilians. I left Earls Court and passed out as soon as I got to the dorm. I had an early morning where I would start my work for the NBA House.

Friday morning was my first shift with the NBA House. We went through the whole place and they showed us all the different activities that we would be helping with over the next 9 days. There was a pop a shot, a Slam Cam, a half basketball court, and a Twitter wall to name a few things.

The past 3 days have all been pretty similar at the NBA House. The people who put on the event liked the way I worked the Twitter wall, so I have been assigned to that for the remainder of my time there. The Twitter wall is an interactive screen where fans can see live tweets that come in the #NBA or #NBAhouse in the tweet. This is cool because fans can tweet from their phones, and see the tweet just seconds later come up on the screen. It is a fun screen for them to play with, and is a very interesting way to have fans interact with social media.

Today before going to NBA House, I had lunch with a very old friend Kenny Haisfield. Kenny and I played roller hockey back when we were 7 years old, and haven’t seen each other much since then. It was great having some time to catch up, and see what he has been up to. He is near the end of 100 days of traveling around the globe. It sounds like he has been having a great time this summer!

I will be working at the NBA House until August 12, and I still have the Women’s Soccer gold medal game and Men’s Basketball gold medal game to attend. Should be a great last week and a half of this incredible trip to Europe.

Olympic Gymnastics and Boxing! (July 29, 30, 31, August 1)

The Olympic games are off and running! Sunday night after my last blog update, a group of us went to see the new Batman movie. I thought it was a good movie. Was good doing something that felt more American. We got back to the dorm late and went straight to bed.

Monday was a very relaxing and laid back day. I slept in and got some laundry done. It was nice to be able to have a day to rest up after working for a week with the USOC, and before a busy end to this amazing trip.

On Tuesday I had planed to go to a Men’s Basketball game in the morning. I ended up selling it to a friend because he didn’t have tickets to any other events, and I already have an opportunity to see the Men’s Basketball Gold medal game. Instead, I went on my own adventure to find the one and only Chipotle in all of London. I was having some withdrawls, and was craving some Mexican food. One thing is for sure; the Chipotle in London has nothing on the Chipotle in the states.

After grabbing lunch I headed to North Greenwich arena to watch the Women’s Team Finals. While waiting in line to enter the arena, I stuck a conversation with a man behind me who was with his daughter. We talked for about 10 minutes, and I told him a little bit about my background and interests, and he told me a little bit about what he does. It turned out being a guy named Aaron Ryan, the VP of Global Marketing Partnerships for the NBA, and head of Business Development for USA Basketball. I say that luck is when opportunity meets preparedness, and I was prepared for this lucky encounter. We exchanged business cards, and I will be in touch with him once I get back to the US.

The Women’s Gymnastics Team Final was an amazing event that I will never forget. I had a great seat just a couple rows back from the front of the upper section. I had a perfect view of all of the events, and was able to the USA team dominate their competition. The United States won the Gold medal in the event for the first time since 1996. It was awesome watching the gymnasts walk out for the medal ceremony in their outfits, and know that I played a part in putting those outfits together. All around it was a very special experience that I will cherish forever.

On Monday I went to the Excel center to watch Olympic Boxing. Again, I had great seats ring side, and got to watch some of the top boxers in the world fight. Unfortunately, none of the USA boxers won their match, but it was still fun watching my first ever boxing event. After boxing I headed back to the dorm and met some of my friends to play some basketball.

During our basketball game, a very scary situation came about. One of my friends suffered a seizure after one of our matches. This was the first time I have ever seen someone have a seizure, and was very scary because I felt so helpless when it was happening. We called an ambulance and I went to the hospital with him. He turned out being fine, and just has to rest for the next couple days. I am so grateful that he is fine, and that there seems to have been no damage done. It just has made me appreciate life that much more, and that you can take nothing for granted.

Tomorrow I am going up to Arsenal and having lunch with Tom Fox. It is going to be good having some one on one face time and talking about all the work that he did with my grandfather. I am also going to go to the location the Oakley has in London to meet with Brian Carlin, a man that I met at the USOC processing center. It will be good to talk with him more and continue to network with him. I also was looking online for tickets and was able to find tickets to watch USA Men's Volleyball tomorrow night. On Friday I start my work with the NBA House. This is going to be great work experience, and I look forward to seeing what it has to offer.