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The Minnesota Timberwolves hosted about 250 military personnel and their families Tuesday afternoon at Target Center as part of The FastBreak Foundation's Operation Minnesota Heroes month.

The open practice, which was presented by the Roger &amp; Nancy McCabe Foundation and POPP Communications, allowed the military personnel and their families to interact with players and coaches, get autographs and watch the team practice.

“It was a great time. For us, the Timberwolves have been a very big supporter of the Minnesota Army National Guard for a very long time and it was great that they invited us out,” Sergeant First Class Acie Matthews said. “I would definitely come back again, I really enjoyed it.”

Sergeant First Class Gavin Erickson, who initially was unaware that the Wolves put on an event for the military, was humbled by the opportunity to have an up close look to the team practicing.

“I think it’s very cool to be appreciated like this,” he said. “Even (my kids) said it was pretty cool that the Timberwolves did stuff like this. I try to tell them to be thankful for things, so that’s the first thing they said was ‘wow, this is very cool that they do this kind of thing for you guys.’”

Not only is it an event that the military personnel enjoy, but the Wolves players and coaches take pride in being able to put on the event for them annually.

“The sacrifices they make, it pales in comparison to what we do,” Wolves head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It’s the ultimate sacrifice they are making and we certainly appreciate that. Any little part we can do to show our support for them, we are going to do that all the time. We felt very fortunate that they were able to come today.”

Wolves guard Zach LaVine found it fun to meet with the military personnel and to be able to let them see the personalities of the players.

“To be able to see their faces and tell them that we appreciate everything they do for us, especially the stuff we don’t see and them keeping us safe, it’s great,” he said.

For Erickson, being able to watch the Wolves practice and meet some of the players was special. But being able to have his family by his side during the event just added to it.

“The fact that we could bring our kids and we could meet the players and coaches was awesome,” he said. “It’s very special to me, family is everything.”

wolves-host-second-annual-military-practice

Wolves Host Second-Annual Military Practice

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