T-Minus 20 Hours Until Departure!

The final countdown is on!  Our van is officially packed and ready to hit the road tomorrow morning.  We have had an incredible time training at the All American Games’ home office these past five weeks and are fully prepared to start executing our events for the 2013 class of U.S. Army All-Americans.  For those of you who are curious on exactly what it is we do, I’ll give you a brief description.

Adam, Lauren and I are the northeast region representatives for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Tour.  The three of us execute All American Games’ national grass-roots marketing campaign by presenting and announcing the official selection of U.S. Army All-Americans and Youth All-Americans during assemblies, pep rallies, press conferences, football games, band championships and other special events.  Adam is the Master of Ceremonies for each event, as well as the main point of contact for the Army representatives, football coaches and band instructors of each All-American.  He is in charge of confirming event dates and times with each school and relaying the information to each Army representative.  Lauren and I both focus on the Public Relations elements for the tour.  We call media outlets in our events’ surrounding areas to pitch our event and provide any information needed on the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and the U.S. Army All-American.  On event days we act as the main points of contact for media, checking them in and facilitating interviews.  The two of us are also responsible for photography and videography, as well as set-up and tear-down of each event. We also keep all forms of social media up-to-date so you all have the most recent news on our tour.  Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/SelectionTour, follow us on Twitter at @SelectionTour and follow our tour blog at selectiontour.wordpress.com.

I’m sure many of you know what the U.S. Army All-American Bowl is, but for those who don’t, I can fill you in on that too.

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is considered the nation’s premier all-star game by high school football players, coaches, and fans from around the country.  The 2012 Bowl game saw over 39,000 people pack the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX.  Alumni of the game include Adrian Peterson, Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez, Andrew Luck and many other star players.  The 2013 game will be played on Saturday, January 5, 2013 in San Antonio, live on NBC.

You should now all have a better idea on what the bowl is and what exactly our jobs are.  Be sure to continue following us as we make our way across the northeast.  We will be updating you constantly on our events and the adventures we have on our days off.

Tomorrow we will be making our way to Westville, New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The Phillies play the Washington Nationals tomorrow night, so of course we already have tickets.  I can’t think of a better way to start off our selection tour than a baseball game and a cheesesteak in Philly.  We have done our research and found that Tony Luke’s famous Cheesesteaks are sold at the ball park (www.tonylukes.com).  This will definitely be the first of many free meals, thanks to AAG for providing all our meals on tour.  I’ll be sure to let you all know how delicious it was in the next blog post.

Now it’s time to get back to finishing a few final tasks before our departure.

Until next time, -Elaine