Current:Home > ScamsSurprise! USA water polo team gets tickets to see the Eras Tour in Paris from Taylor Swift -Aspire Money Growth
Surprise! USA water polo team gets tickets to see the Eras Tour in Paris from Taylor Swift
View
Date:2025-04-14 02:05:32
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! (625)
Related
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- TikToker Harrison Gilks Dead at 18 After Rare Cancer Battle
- Kids Born Today Could Face Up To 7 Times More Climate Disasters
- 3 Things To Know About What Scientists Say About Our Future Climate
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Ukraine troops admit counteroffensive against Russia very difficult, but they keep going
- Sophia Grace Reveals the Best, Worst and Most Surprising Parts of Being a Mom
- Heavy Rains Lead To Flash Flooding In Eastern Nebraska
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- July Was The Hottest Month In Recorded Human History
Ranking
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- Water's Cheap... Should It Be?
- These giant beautiful flowers can leave you with burns, blisters and lifelong scars. Here's what to know about giant hogweed.
- California Ph.D. student's research trip to Mexico ends in violent death: He was in the wrong place
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Grisly details emerge from Honduras prison riot that killed 46 women
- Kelly Ripa Promises A Lot of Surprises in Store for Ryan Seacrest's Final Week on Live
- If You’re Tired of Pulling up Your Leggings, These 14 Pairs Are Squat-Proof According to Reviewers
Recommendation
In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
Climate Change Means More Subway Floods; How Cities Are Adapting
Get $151 Worth of Peter Thomas Roth Anti-Aging Skincare for Just $40
Greenland Pummeled By Snow One Month After Its Summit Saw Rain For The First Time
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
Flash Deal: Save $22 on the It Cosmetics Superhero Volumizing Mascara
Hundreds arrested as France rocked by third night of fiery protests over fatal police shooting of teen
After Dire U.N. Warning On Climate, Will Anything Change?