Current:Home > FinanceSurprise! USA water polo team gets tickets to see the Eras Tour in Paris from Taylor Swift -WealthRoots Academy
Surprise! USA water polo team gets tickets to see the Eras Tour in Paris from Taylor Swift
View
Date:2025-04-25 18:21:12
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! (25)
Related
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
Ranking
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Recommendation
San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
Have Dry, Sensitive Skin? You Need To Add These Gentle Skincare Products to Your Routine
Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats