Eight members of the New York Jets Flight Crew are now in Mexico City, representing the NFL at different appearances around the city. Each day we will be hearing from a different Flight Crew Cheerleader on what she and the group did in Mexico's capital. Today's Flight Crew blogger: Karen.
Hi, Jets fans, this is Karen from the Flight Crew! Today was our first of many exciting days in Mexico. We flew in yesterday and it was a long, long flight, but we had a good night's sleep and we were good to go for an early morning this morning.
We had breakfast at the hotel and it was fabulous! The food here is just to die for. The girls and I have really enjoyed being spoiled with all the yummy food.
Our first appearance was this morning at a telethon at a children's rehab center. The children there range in age from a very few months to 17 years old and they each have various neurological disabilities. When we got there, we performed a few dances. The kids surrounded us as we were doing our dances, and it was really fun to watch their faces light up with excitement! Afterwards we participated in an autograph session and we got to talk with the families and practice our Spanish. We're not fluent, but we're learning! We're getting a lot better with our communication skills down here.
We did a few more performances and then we had the honor of presenting a donation to the telethon on behalf of NFL Mexico. We were really excited to be ambassadors for them and present the donation.
After that we were treated to a surprise coffee break at a little cafe called Havana. It really picked us up in the middle of a very long day.
From there we moved on to the Rafael Dondé Elementary School. We were honorary witnesses during a press conference to announce an agreement between the National Sports Commission and NFL Mexico. The league is supporting a flag football program that is being held down here for children. It's a program to keep kids active, very much like the Play 60 program that we do with the Jets. The kids love the sport of football down here. It's so huge. It was a privilege to be a part of this event!
After the press conference we got to perform for the students and I think we all agreed that it was almost more nerve-wracking to dance in front of 200 12-year-olds than it was to perform in front of 82,000 Jets fans. They were so intrigued and excited to see us dancing! They would chant after a dance was over, I think it was "otro mas." One more, one more, keep performing. It was very humbling.
Afterwards, we had a luncheon at El Diez restaurant and the food just kept coming. I can't remember everything we had — chicken and beef, different kinds of salad, empanadas. They asked us if we wanted dessert but we just couldn't do it.
Our last appearance today was on behalf of Gamesa, which is a corporate sponsor, the largest manufacturer of cookies in Mexico and a subsidiary of PepsiCo. They're one of the largest sponsors for NFL Mexico. We went to Gamesa's headquarters and filmed various commercials and TV spots for them as well as other sponsors. These spots are going to be used for an employee appreciation program this month for the employees of Gamesa. We got to do 10 or 12 different shoots, two dances, then a couple of photo shoots for some of the guests in attendance. Afterwards, we pretty much wrapped for the day and now we're on the bus back to our wonderful hotel that's oh, so nice.
They're definitely keeping us really busy down here and we're having a blast! The days are long, but we're the Flight Crew, we don't get tired. It's a lot of fun, and it's also a very humbling and gratifying experience to be chosen for this. The Jets were the only team selected to participate in this trip this time around and we're just so thrilled and really happy to be representing the New York Jets and the NFL.
Make sure to check back tomorrow for another blog, from Flight Crew Cheerleader Jacqueline!
Go Jets!
—Karen
