Date: 21st to 23rd June 2013
Location: Gateshead International Stadium (GIS)
Mission: European Athletics Championships
Role: Overall Team Leader - Spectator Services
So far, I've completed my training at the stadium. It was good to see some friendly faces from when I volunteered with Gateshead's Get with it! volunteer programme after I graduated back in 2011! It was however, worrying to see the field looking like this. I didn't realise open water swimming was now an event at the European Champs (hehe!)..... I'm sure the grounds team at the stadium will have it looking ship shape by the weekend!
I'll try and update this over the weekend - although it might have to wait until next week... I'm doing 10am till 7pm shifts, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have!
Day 1: Friday 21st June 2013
I headed down to Gateshead International Stadium (GIS) for around 10am to collect my lovely uniform, affectionately nicknamed the 'Dutch Smurf' costume by the lovely guys and girls in the kit and accreditation team....Something to do with the bright orange and navy.....along with oversized trousers! Once uniformed up, I had my Team Leader training from the volunteer management team - sadly I couldn't make the official Team Leader Training days as I was playing netball and the like! This is when I found out I'd be coordinating a team of 70 volunteers (!!), assisted by 7 amazing Assistant Team Leaders. The area the volunteers in the Spectator Services team covered was HUGE! From the platforms of Gateshead Stadium Metro, right up to the stadium and within the stands, also including programme selling! It was clear I'd definitely be putting in the miles this weekend!
Now armed with my uniform, list of phone numbers and my standard issue council mobile telephone, it was time to plan where the army of volunteers were to be placed! Normally at events, I get issued a map with strict guidelines on exact position of volunteers i.e. 1 volunteer must be in position X for the hours of 9am - 5pm, but at this event I had free rain on how to optimise the volunteer workforce! Whilst checking out the stadium, it was a relief to see the open water swimming event had been cancelled and the stadium was back to track and field, not track and pool!
Once I had a plan firmly in my mind, and coordinated a guy with a fork lift and a squad of volunteers to move the boxes of programmes from the middle of the car park to a much more sensible location, it was lunch time! The joy of a cheese sandwich and a Mars bar returned!
As I was not assigned a role for the Friday, my plan was to just potter around helping where I could until I was no longer needed, which I presumed would be after lunch. This was going to be the case until I got asked if I'd mind doing a bit of a ticket selling up in the box office, as there had been a bit of a rush! So off I went to the box office to sell those tickets!!

I was armed with lots of seating plans, a till (that reminded me of when I first started working in Primark) and piles of tickets! There were a real variety of people coming along to buy tickets, with a near steady stream keeping me busy! Being in the box office, I got a real sense of what was going on! Teams were arriving and departing from their pre-event training sessions in the stadium - there was just a real hub of activity!
Later in the afternoon, I found out some news, that I honestly couldn't believe! The lady in the box office had been trying to get in touch with the event management team but was unsuccessful. Eventually, her call was returned. When she came off the phone, I nearly cried with excitement. She said....."You'll never guess why she didn't answer the first time?......She was picking up Lord Coe".......AHHHHHHH!!!! I hadn't realised that he was going to be at the event! I was speechless! Anyone who knows me, knows, I had 2 idols in life Kevin McCloud (I really want to be him in the future!) and Lord Seb Coe! Having met Kevin by chance a month ago at Grand Designs Live, I couldn't believe Seb was now in my home town. Meeting him didn't cross my mind. I was just mega surprised he was in Gateshead and wondered if he'd be giving a speech at the opening event I was planning on going to later that evening.
So the afternoon went on with no more excitement - the fact that Lord Coe was in Gateshead was the peak of my excitement so nothing matched up to that. By 5:30pm I decided I'd head off and went to the workforce tent to confirm the plans for in the morning before heading to the Baltic Square for the Opening Ceremony.

Standing around singing the Blaydon Races with the Swing Bridge Swingers who were performing I noticed that a couple of young guys were queueing to get Lord Coe to sign their London 2012 Programmes with marker pens.....this is when the thought crossed my mind - I had my trainers!!! Now I usually wear my Games Maker Trainers as my general trainers, I bought a couple of pairs from the Uniform sale after the games as I find them pretty stylish and comfortable - I also thought it would save me the hassle of buying non-sporting trainers for a couple of years! As you can imagine, after nearly a years worth of wear, my Games Time Trainers I had on are now a bit bashed, worn and 'slightly' smelly. But that didn't stop me. "Lord Coe, I was wondering if I could ask you a very cheeky question?"...Lord Coe looks slightly confused and probably scared of the question which would follow...."Is there any chance you'd sign my trainers?"...with this Seb looked down at my feet and smiled, "As long as you take it off and pass it up, I'm not getting down there"...off come my trainer (luckily I had decent socks on!) Lord Coe took a bit of time over signing my trainer, it wasn't the quick squiggle that he'd done on the programmes and the like. After signing he then asked about where I was games time, if I'd enjoyed my Games Maker time, and thanked me for my volunteer both then and now! I smiled and thanked him for the opportunity then backed off in fear I'd make a fool of myself or tell him I have a picture of him on my living room wall, make myself seem like a crazy stalker!

After the event wound up, a few of us volunteers had arranged to meet at a pub in Gateshead for a couple of lemonades to celebrate the event kicking off and the weekend ahead! On the way to the pub - slightly lost - I stopped to ask a couple of Police men exactly where the pub was that we were heading for, after giving directions they asked if we'd been to the event on the quayside and if anyone famous was there.....I think you'll be able to guess exactly the story they were told!
After a glass of ice cold Hooch (haven't had that in years!) it was time to head off to get a good nights sleep for the beginning of competition!
Day 2: Saturday 22nd June 2013

It made me smile to see how much recycled London 2012 athletics equipment was in the stadium! Lane numbers, shot put carriers, high jump, hurdles and pole vault to name a few!
At 10am, all things were go. I already had a list of areas/teams that were short of volunteers and wanted to pinch some of the spectator services team! After prioritising areas volunteers were needed, I climbed onto a chair and welcomed the ~70 volunteers who made up the spectator services team! After introducing myself and the assistant team leaders, drinks vouchers were distributed and volunteers taken for tours of their stands and areas! Within the first hour or so, it was manic! Constant calls on the radio for volunteers to be sent to different teams from the spectator services team. As we were the biggest team with no specific locations to operate in, we were the easiest to take from to fill other teams operating in the stadium, such as data entry, doping control, athlete marshalling, tourist information'ing, tickets selling etc. I think it got to the point where we had more than halved in numbers and the time came that we couldn't spare any more volunteers!!!



Day 3: 23rd June 2013


Next on my to-do list was to identify with the help of the assistant team leaders, which volunteers had gone above and beyond their volunteering role over the weekend and should be given the honour of assisting with the awarding pf the medals and trophy to the winning teams! Once they were decided on, the job then came to find them! Throughout the day, the volunteers change round and rotated, so it was like finding a needle in a hay stack finding these guys! Eventually they were all found, and their roles if required covered by other volunteers so they could head off to their rehearsals! 6 of them in total were involved with raising the winning teams flags, escorting the mayor and the trophy, and handing out the team medals! It was great to see members of the spectator services out there in centre stage!
Whilst manning the start of the metro route today, a familiar face came out of the athletes exit - Isobel Pooley . Having met her at the BUCS Champs opening, a few months prior, it would have been rude not to say hello and grab a photo! As last time we met, she was very polite and keen to make sure I passed on her thanks to the volunteers for the event, as without us, it would not have happened :)
Now the crowds had left, all that was left to do was ensure that there were no volunteers left on site, before heading back with the assistant team leaders to drop in our radios - and the lovely mobile phone!

Another successful event over - it was time to head to the volunteer and athletes party, held in Northumbria University's students Union. So off we went to catch the metro (something I haven't done for a long long time - fancy tickets now and everything!) into town.
Sadly I couldn't stay at the party more than a couple of hours, as I was planning to drive back to Sheffield that evening so I was ready for my 9am Supervisor meeting. It was great to see a lot of the volunteers there, and even some of the athletes who weren't flying out till the following day made an appearance!
Overall, it was amazing to be involved with the first major event since London 2012. It was good to volunteer back in my home town and see such athletes compete no more than 10 minutes away from my parents house! I was also really surprised at how many volunteered had travelled miles to volunteer at the event - again showing how the London 2012 volunteer Legacy is shining through!
Another thing I should mention about the European Champs is the focus on making the event sustainable. Gateshead Council encouraged members of the public to make pledges before the games, along with the use of some electric vehicles throughout the event! This gets a massive thumbs up from me!