Day 2 - October 5

This morning we checked out of our rooms and met for breakfast at 7:15am.  We all wore our SportsUnited t-shirts and it really felt like everyone was on the same page and excited to get going on our journey together.  The coaches handed out Minnesota Hockey hats and pins, as well as USA Hockey keychains and pins, to each coach and player.  Everyone will keep one of these items and use the others as gift exchanges with our Russian counterparts.  Note: the stick bag finally showed up!  :)

 

At 8:15am, the group boarded the bus and headed "inside the beltway" for meetings at the U.S. State Department.  We were given our passports and visas and then settled into a conference room.  Several people spoke on behalf of our program and the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, but the most impressive speaker was Assistant Secretary Ann Stock.  Her message was simple, but important...we were being sent to Russia as hockey players and coaches, but we were also "cultural ambassadors of the United States of America" and we needed to take this opportunity to develop relationships.  She explained that we all had a special opportunity in front of us and we would be able to "have conversations that governments couldn't have."  She emphasized that the Foreign Affairs Division of the United States and Russian Governments fully supported this program as a means to work on building relationships between the two countries. 


There were several media outlets covering our program and many of the kids and coaches were interviewed, both on camera and for print interview.  The State Department is going to collect all of these stories and send them to us upon our return.

 

When our "debrief" concluded, we were taken on a short tour of Washington DC.  We saw the White House, Capital Building, Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.  Some did additional interviews and then we headed back to the hotel to get our luggage and change into our USA Hockey warm-ups for travel.  The team had a great meal at Champps and we were off to the airport.

 

Check-in was interesting, once again, but we made it through just fine.  Most of the team spread out to charge cell phones and computers before the long flight and everyone was pretty quiet and tired from the long day.  Our plane took off around 5:30pm EST.  Five members of our group left on a later flight and we all will meet up in Germany.