Or…”FAST AND FURIOUS!!!”  that is what my group of 10 year old girls decided as a team name.  And it fit them very very well. This group of young ladies were awesome.  They were equal parts spunky, energetic, and fun.  (okay so they were also rambunctious and wild but we managed just fine)  There was a brief moment where I felt like I was in the scene from gulliver’s travels when the tiny people are running all over him with ropes, but with the help of my speed-skating partner in action we wrangled our group of girls through all sorts of activities.  We watched them each excel enthusiastically!  Working with such a motivated bunch really made the day fly by.

(Here our fast and furious group gets its DANCE ON with Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins)

We had nearly 30 ambassadors from 6 sports come together for the event!  And it was wonderful to get to travel through all the stations and learn a little something from each of the different sports!  We got to slide down half pipes and run through obstacle courses.  We worked on our agility with the alpine women and learned just how much leg strength and speed it takes to be a speed skater!  We danced with the nordic girls who know how to have fun and get a workout in at the same time.  We did some biathlon relays before we hit up the trampolines and foam pit to learn how to flip and spin like the mogul and ariel skiers!  (yes I got to do front flips off the tramp into the foam pit!  Never to old to have fun right??)

(We couldn’t help but jump in and race the girls a little bit!)

We were decked out in pink and having a blast!  You should have seen the ambassadors getting ready before the girls showed up.  There was pink glitter and ribbons everywhere!  Not to mention feather boas, tutus, crazy tights, and pink sparkly crowns to go around.  …and yes I lost my crown launching myself into the foam pit!

(Here the girls and I decorate our lovely “group 4” poster as we all got to know each other)

We finished the day with some great inspirational talks in the gym with all the girls.  Above are two olympic medalist who both spoke to the girls (LtoR: Aly Dudek a speedskater and a bronze medalist in the 3000m relay in 2010 and Shannon Bahrke a moguls skier and silver and bronze olympic medalist!) Talk about inspirational!  Kikkan Randall (XC) and Emily Cook (Ariels) also spoke.  They all talked about set backs they’ve faced.  About the obstacles they’ve overcome.  About walking in their first opening or closing ceremonies at the olympics.  They talked about the times they thought they didn’t stand a chance and wanted to call it quits.  They talked about the moments when everything came together and they accomplished a big goal of theirs.  Its hard not to be motivated by these women and I hoped the girls there yesterday walked away knowing and feeling they can accomplish anything they put their minds to!  That if they dream big and work hard they can conquer so much!  Listening to these gals talk about where they’ve been and where they are going reminds me that I’m on the right path.  That we all have hard days.  …but I’ll make it too.

Everyone left the Center of Excellence with smiles on. (even if we were exhausted)  Working with these girls reminds me how much we (the ambassadors) get out of these events.  I know we are suppose to be the inspirational ones…but every time I get to work with such motivated kids I can’t help but feel inspired as well.