Gabby Hajduk

Live from Liverpool: Postcards with Charles Tillman | Wednesday, June 18

As told to Gabby Hajduk

Former cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman is with the Bears in the United Kingdom to support girls flag football championships, help run Mini Monsters clinics and explore some Premier League stadiums. Check out Peanut's final postcard following his stay in Liverpool and tours of Everton's original and new stadiums.

What's up Bears fans,

I'm checking back in from across the pond, but this time we're in Liverpool. We had a busy couple days in the city between touring both the old and new Everton Football Club stadiums and hosting two Mini Monsters clinics.

This was my first time in Liverpool and I'm a huge fan of the city. It's very community-oriented versus being a large, busy city like London. The city's landscape is cool because they have a lot of older, historic buildings that have been preserved with some more modern designs sprinkled in to give it some flavor.

One of the coolest parts of our entire trip was touring the Everton stadiums. We first arrived at Goodison Park, the original stadium, and were greeted by one of the club's legends, Peter Reid. He took us around the "Grand Old Lady," as the locals call the stadium, and onto the pitch.

I learned that the Grand Old Lady is considered the first stadium built in England for the sole purpose of playing football, and that Everton was one of the original Premier League teams. The history of the stadium and the club felt very similar to Soldier Field and the Bears.

We then made our way to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium to do a tour, take some pictures and exchange jerseys. The unique thing about the new stadium is it kind of reminds you of Soldier Field because it has that flying saucer element in it.

The stadium has a lot of modern features, but also captures the historic nature of Everton. Reid was telling us that Everton knew in order for the new stadium to be a success, the club needed to bring the soul of the Grand Old Lady over. One way they did so was creating 36,000 stones that fans could purchase and personalize to be placed on a walkway into the stadium.

I feel blessed to have toured both Everton stadiums and learn about another Premier League team. None of this would've been possible without the Bears and I'm so thankful for this experience.

I'm honored that both Everton and Manchester United allowed me to walk on their pitches because I know they don't just let everybody on that grass. So that in itself is pretty darn amazing and definitely a bucket list event.

Being a part of another Mini Monsters tour was also incredibly fulfilling. We wrapped up the trip with a pair of Liverpool clinics and I'd say the last group we had was probably the most athletic group I've seen yet. They picked up on the skills very quickly, so we may have some stars coming out of Liverpool soon.

Seeing young kids and girls flag players learn and play the game of American football over the past couple weeks has been amazing. Everywhere we went, the kids have smiles on their faces and they're loving every minute of these experiences.

Their excitement is contagious and naturally brings the energy and joy out of all of us from the Bears side. I just can't express how grateful I am for this experience.

Thanks for following along! Until next time

- Peanut