Day 2 started bright and early at 6:15 a.m. The morning began with us practicing to pack up the vans with our duffle bags, and backpacks and then having crew chief breakfast. This whole process was very interesting, but will be a very regular occurrence over the summer. After eating our bowl of cereal, half of banana, and bagel we came back upstairs to finish our policies & procedures.
After being dismissed from the meeting, we did a challenging team building activity. The crew had us line up in alphabetical order, the catch being we could not speak, and we had to keep our eyes closed. This was very difficult, but it required us to work together and then trust our crew members to guide us in the right direction. Once we successfully completed this task, they then had us line up in order from youngest to oldest without speaking, which was also pretty difficult. It also made me realize how young I am compared to some of my teammates. We have two guys that are going to be 30 years old soon, and a lot of guys in their 20's. Upon completing this task, we learned our picture formation, ate lunch provided by our crew chief and then we were dismissed for a break before leaving for our first friendship visit!
When it came time to leave for our friendship visit at the Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco, everyone loaded up into one of the six vans they were assigned to. I am assigned to van 1, and this is the van I will keep my luggage in, as well as ride in every time I am transported from lodging to any program event. Not only was I excited for this friendship visit because it was our first one of the summer, but also because my family was going to be there, and it was going to be awesome to experience my first one with them. As soon as we walked up to the doors of the center, clients funneled out the door and began to welcome us. Push America strives to establish long lasting relationships with centers like this one, and in doing so the clients at the centers look forward to seeing our teams year after year. After many introductions, and even more high fives, the real fun was about to begin.
The scheduled event at the friendship visit was a basketball game, with the match up being between the team of Push America and the Pomeroy Wildcats. We were told the Wildcats were undefeated at home, and we thought we could change that with the group of guys we had coming in, and oh boy were we wrong. Once the game started it was so awesome seeing the abilities of the people we were there to visit, rather than focusing on their disabilities. I was surrounded by people who have most likely suffered from a disability their whole life, but are doing nothing but having a blast playing a basketball game, and making a group of cyclist look like amateurs. A few of the clients specifically caught my attention, one of which being an 86 year old man. He would get the ball, walk it in front of the basket, and then under hand it towards the goal. No matter how many tries it took him to make it into the basket, he was persistent and would not give up until he put some points on the board for his team. The second individual was a younger guy, who was an absolute animal on the court. He may have broken the ankles of a few of my teammates with his agility and moves on the court. I think at one point he even hit a three pointer from 5 feet behind the line. I was truly inspired by what I saw today from all of the individuals that participated.
Once the game came to an end, with a final score of 68-8, the Wildcats remained undefeated at home and the Push America team including myself could not have been happier. After a group picture, lots of hugs, fist pumps and high fives, it was time for the clients to head home, and time for us to take a tour of the wonderful facilities the center had to offer. During our tour it was so nice to see all the center did for their clients, working with about 500 people every week.There are so many different programs to offer, ranging from art to job training. The last part of our trip to the center was dinner, which was graciously donated by an alumni of the Gamma Chapter, as well as a 3 time Pi Alpha(someone who has participated in a Push America event), Mike Barnes. It is great meeting older guys who have been in our shoes, and hear the memories they made when they were put in the same situation that I am in right now. After dinner we loaded back into our vans and headed to Oakland where our hotel is located.
It was an amazing day, and it made me even more excited to get onto the bike and get this amazing journey underway. Tomorrow calls for a busy day, including a bike skills assessment, some sight seeing in San Francisco, and a tour of the Headquarters of Clif, one of the major sponsors of the Journey of Hope.
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