Current:Home > FinanceSurprise! USA water polo team gets tickets to see the Eras Tour in Paris from Taylor Swift -FundTrack
Surprise! USA water polo team gets tickets to see the Eras Tour in Paris from Taylor Swift
View
Date:2025-04-12 23:27:10
A cold email with a big wish led to a once-in-a-lifetime night for 23 members of the U.S. women's water polo team.
"I don't know how I'm going to top this," says Ally Beck over Zoom. Beck, the operational manager, reached out to Taylor Swift's team earlier this year hoping to surprise her athletes with tickets to the Eras Tour.
"We've been preparing for the Olympics and got invited by France to do a test event in Paris," Beck says. When she looked for activities for the team to do, she noticed Swift would kick off the second year of her record-breaking tour in the French capital city. So she e-mailed the singer's team.
Weeks went by and while Beck was boarding the plane from Los Angeles to France, she got a reply that stopped her in her tracks.
"The audible squeal that came out of me on the plane," she says. "I was like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, everyone.'"
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Beck waited until the Wednesday before the concert to tell the team.
You can see the reaction in the video above.
"The girls just lost it," Beck says. "And from there, it was like, 'What are we going to wear?' We were squealing down the hallway."
'There is no amount of times to say thank you'
On Friday, 15 water polo athletes and eight staff members piled into the VIP floor section dubbed the "Red" lounge. Two of the biggest Swifties on the team are Denise Mammolito, the utility outside shooter, and center Ava Johnson. Mammolito's first concert was Swift's second era: "Fearless."
The Eras Tour added to an already amazing week for the team, after rapper Flavor Flav said he would help financially support the team's trip to the summer games in Paris.
Team captain Maggie Steffens took to Instagram with an inspirational post that read in part: "Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or 3rd) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!) and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommodations, nutritional support, rent/lodging, and simply affording to live in this day and age. Especially female sports and female athletes."
Flavor Flav replied, "AYYY YOOO,,, as a girl dad and supporter of all women’s sports - imma personally sponsor you my girl,,, whatever you need. And imma sponsor the whole team. My manager is in touch with your agent and imma use all my relationships and resources to help all y’all even more. That’s a FLAVOR FLAV promise."
Beck could not be more grateful to Swift and Flavor Flav for their generosity and kindness.
"There is no amount of times to say thank you," Beck says, "just seeing everybody light up, enjoy like the power that is Taylor and kind of getting to watch her in her element and then the extra layer of knowing she's rocking the La Défense arena and we're going to go for gold there in a couple of months, just the amount of inspiration we were able to draw from her is a whole other level."
The team will compete in the stadium at the end of July and beginning of August. They are poised to defend their three consecutive gold titles: 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2020 in Tokyo.
Swift continues her European leg of the Eras Tour in Sweden this weekend before heading to Lisbon, Portugal, next week.
Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
veryGood! (38649)
Related
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- Moody’s lowers US credit outlook, though keeps triple-A rating
- A teenager taken from occupied Mariupol to Russia will return to Ukraine, officials say
- Growing concerns from allies over Israel’s approach to fighting Hamas as civilian casualties mount
- The Grammy nominee you need to hear: Esperanza Spalding
- Miley Cyrus, Ice Spice and More React to Grammys 2024 Nominations
- Obesity drug Wegovy cut risk of serious heart problems by 20%, study finds
- 'Half American' explores how Black WWII servicemen were treated better abroad
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Florida deputies struck intentionally by man driving car recovering after surgeries, sheriff says
Ranking
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Unpacking the Murder Conspiracy Case Involving Savannah Chrisley's Boyfriend Robert Shiver
- Yellen says her talks with Chinese finance chief laid groundwork for Biden’s meeting with Xi
- A Hawaii refuge pond has turned eye-catching pink and scientists think they know why
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- What Britney Spears' book taught me about resilience and self love
- Former Mississippi corrections officer has no regrets after being fired for caring for inmate's baby
- U.S. veterans use art to help female Afghan soldiers who fled their country process their pain
Recommendation
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
Could creativity transform medicine? These artists think so
The Excerpt podcast: Politicians' personal lives matter to voters. Should they?
One year after liberation, Ukrainians in Kherson hold on to hope amid constant shelling
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
UK police step up efforts to ensure a massive pro-Palestinian march in London remains peaceful
Negotiations said to be underway for 3-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza to let aid in, hostages out
Tyler Perry discusses new documentary on his life, Maxine's Baby, and SAG-AFTRA strike