“À la Carli Lloyd, I am fairly certain I scored a hat trick on Friday as three of the highlights of my summer all took place on the same day…”
Friday truly was a football day in America. And yes, I mean football as in soccer. The recent World Cup Champs—the United States Women’s National Soccer Team—were being honored with a parade through New York City’s Canyon of Heroes. This route is where some of the greatest sports teams ever have celebrated their victories, and to top things off, it was historic because this was the first time in history for female athletes to ever have a championship parade along this route.
After going into work a little early to knock out some tasks before the weekend, I left the office to head downtown for the parade with Jake, a member of the marketing team at Thuzio. Jake’s passion for US Soccer matches mine so I was beyond excited to share this experience with him. I am also beyond thankful to my supervisor, Deb, for allowing me to leave work a little early and witness history. She has been incredible this summer in allowing me to take full advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that MSBA and the best city in the world have had to offer. Needless to say, I am forever grateful.
The parade definitely lived up to the hype. To see such a huge crowd out supporting these athletes by lining the streets in red, white, and blue and being so excited by the moment, fueled my passion further to pursue my dreams and leverage opportunities for female athletes such as these. I hope that, just like I did growing up, other young girls have these incredible, visible role models to aspire to and be inspired by.
Post-parade I met up with the MSBA crew and we departed for our field trip to NBC Sports. Once we arrived in Stamford, Connecticut, we received a jaw-dropping tour of the NBC production facilities led by Marc Iacovelli, Director of Program Planning & Scheduling for NBC Sports. The highlight for me was no doubt seeing the studio set where Football Night in America is filmed. Knowing Tony Dungy stands in the same room I was standing in every Sunday night in the fall was so cool!
Once we arrived back in Manhattan, eleven other MSBAers and I walked a few blocks down to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner. Going to eat out in huge groups this summer, we’ve become accustomed to restaurants not being able to accommodate us all at one table which has meant many nights of splitting up into several separate tables.
But this trip to Barking Dog was special—not only were they able to fit all of us at one huge table, but we were pretty much the only people in the restaurant for a good portion of dinner. It was an #MSBA15 takeover. It’s mind-blowing to think how close we’ve all become in just a few short weeks. Spending a couple hours together reflecting on our fun experiences so far, having more fun in the present, and dreading the future (because it means MSBA coming to an end) was the perfect wrap up to a long day—a football day in America.