Indiana University Athletics
Jordan Chirico's White House Diary
8/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
May 16, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana men's soccer team capped off its back-to-back NCAA Championships with a trip to the White House on May 13. The Hoosiers were one of four NCAA champions, along with the Stanford University's women's volleyball team, California State University Fullerton's baseball team and the University of Notre Dame women's soccer team, were recognized by President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House.
The following is a diary from Indiana senior midfielder Jordan Chirico following the Hoosiers' trip to our nation's capital. Chirico started 13 matches in the midfield for IU during the 2004 season, scoring five points on two goals and one assist.
What a long and exciting day of travel for our trip to the White House. We woke up this morning at 5:30 to shower and get into our suits because the bus departed for Indianapolis at 6:15. While we were mostly tired, Todd's (Yeagley) coffee woke us all up and the excitement had taken over by the time we got to the airport at 7:15. We had to sit on the runway for about an hour once we were on the plane because the plane didn't have enough weight on it. While some of the guys played cards or read magazines, most people took the time to catch up on some lost sleep.
Once we arrived in Washington, we hopped on a bus; it wound through the traffic and eventually arrived at the White House. Now everybody was very excited and anxious to see the President. After we cleared security, we were taken instead and given a tour of the East Wing of the White House. Everybody took the chance to take pictures and enjoy the sights. We then gathered in the State Room with three other NCAA Championship teams and awaited the President. All of the upperclassmen were jockeying for position so that they could be by the President in the photo. I had a prime spot; I was just over his right shoulder. After the photo, the President shook all of our hands and was even gracious enough to hare a few words wit us. It was amazing.
After our photo, we went and go out seats for the press conference. Everyone stood as the President entered the room and the cameras went crazy. He gave a speech honoring all the teams for their efforts both on and off the field, and then accepted a jersey from each of the schools that were there.
Pat Yates gave President Bush our jersey. Pat was particularly funny with the President throughout our time with him. During the photo, we gave the President a water buffalo. We adopted the water buffalo in his and the First Lady's name and the money went to a family in India. Yes, an odd gift, but a thoughtful one. Upon Coach Freitag telling President Bush about this, Pat told the President that the buffalo was on his front lawn. Maybe you had to be there, but we all found it funny. This year, we gave the President a white jersey. He now has a home and away jersey of the Hoosiers, as last year we gave him a red one.
After leaving the White House, we went to the World War II Memorial. This memorial is very cool because it has soldiers looking like they are storming the beach at Normandy. We also walked up to the Lincoln Memorial. I liked this one because of how big the statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting down is. It's absolutely enormous.
After leaving the Memorial, we loaded the bus for the trip back to the airport. Everybody slept the whole ride to the airport. I think the long day had finally caught up with everyone. After we touched down in Indianapolis, we said our goodbyes and talked about how excited we are to get back down to Bloomington on Aug. 15 to begin our quest for the eighth star on our jersey. Thank you President Bush for bringing us back to the White House, and hopefully we will see you again.
