Baku 2015: European Games - Field of Play: Diving!

Friday 24th April 2015

Back in October 2014 I submitted an application to volunteer at the First European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan! I'd heard nothing since my application - my invite to interview went astray into my spam folder - so I was surprised to see this email land in my inbox this week, alongside my RWC2015 news:

"Dear Aquatics Volunteers,  

Thank you for applying to volunteer in the sport of Aquatics at the Baku 2015 European Games. Aquatics is made up of four disciplines; Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Swimming and Water Polo the dates for each sport are listed below:

Synchronised Swimming:                             9^th – 16^th June

Water Polo:                                        9^th  – 21^st June

Diving:                                                  15^th – 21^st June

Swimming:                                          19^th – 27^th June

We are delighted to offer you a volunteer position for the European Games."

After a few emails back and forth today and a quick Skype chat, I received confirmation that I've been accepted to volunteer at Baku 2015! 

Best part is that for once a major event won't cost me a fortune as Baku 2015 are covering my expenses!! :-)

I've submitted my availability between the 13th - 22nd June so that I can volunteer at the diving competition as a Field of Play Assistant. I've been allocated the same role that I'll be doing for the Rugby World Cup 2015 - different sport, obviously. This isn't the first time I've volunteered with diving, after my experience with USA Diving back in 2012 it will be good to be back beside the pool!

Watch this space and I'll keep you up dated on my adventure.... Not long to go!

Thursday 28th May 2015
Today is the day. My pre-arrival visa arrived in Sheffield! It's sat on my desk here, right now, alongside the useful information on Baku and my Baku wrist band! Last week I received my plane tickets alongside my shift plan. After the disappointment of Sochi 2014, I can finally get excited! All I await now is details of my accommodation. 

Friday 5th June 2015

I've now my accommodation through - a nice 4* hotel with 4* TripAdvisor Reviews. I'll be in a shared room (mystery as to who my buddy is!) with air-conditioning. It's bed and breakfast with a sauna and gym also available - only slight improvement on my Glasgow 2014 tent :-) It's all getting pretty exciting - all that's left to do now is await my departure date and pack my bag!

Oh yeah - check out the weather comparison! 

Also, I've volunteered to be Team Leader for a few shifts! Can't wait to try my volunteer coordinating skills out in another country! Fingers crossed the radio calls are in English ;-)

**Note: As with previous games, I will NOT be blogging a day by day account whilst at the games!!**

The Road to Glasgow 2014 - Common Wealth Games!

So..... similar to my The Road to London 2012...and The Road to Sochi 2014.....I've decided to blog about the journey along the path to getting to Glasgow 2014...... The length of this blog will depend on how far along the journey I get! *Fingers crossed*

20th January 2013 - Application Submitted!

"Hi Nicola,

Your volunteer application is now complete. You could be part of the biggest sporting and cultural event that Scotland has ever seen.

The next stage of our process, the interview of candidates, begins in April and continues until December 2013. This will be Scotland’s biggest ever peace-time recruitment drive. We hope you understand that it may take us some time to let you know the outcome of your application......"

This would have been submitted earlier! I got up bright an early to complete it on the 14th January - but had problems with email system! Never mind - the hard part is done, now all I have to do is sit back and see if I get the offer of an interview!

20th March 2013 - Invited to Interview!

"Hi Nicola

We're delighted to invite you to join us for the next stage of our volunteer journey, an informal interview for a role within our Sport Competition team. 

We have made every effort to accommodate your preferences but this hasn't been possible in every case. Don't worry if Sport Competition wasn't one of your original choices, you'll find out lots more about this team when we meet........."

After logging onto the portal I find that my sport is NETBALL!! WOoop!! Being a netball coach/umpire/player and having volunteers at the Netball World Series, this didn't really come as a surprise!

I'm also on the Pass on Your Passion Volunteer Programme but I forgot to mention that! 

Now just to get the interview booked and work out how I'm going to get there!! 

20th March 2013 - Interview Booked!

After attempting to book my interview last night, and not receiving a confirmation email, I called the Glasgow 2014 hotline this morning to confirm it had gone through correctly.....didn't want to be booking my trains without it!!

So I had it confirmed to me this morning, Interview booked - Date: 29th April 2013.... Just over a month to go!! Eeeekkk!! 

29th April 2013 - Interview time!!

Alarm goes off at 5:45am.....15mins of snooze later I'm out of bed dashing to get ready to catch the 7:41am train from Newcastle Central Station!

I arrived in Glasgow slightly ahead of schedule and made my way to the volunteer centre.

I had my trusted map - I try not to rely on my mobile for maps, purely because it eats up all the battery!! After walking along the road saying "it must be down here somewhere" aha! I found it - Common Wealth House was in sight!


Since I was early I had a little bit of hanging around inside but finally I was called to the desk and given my lanyard, detailing my interview booth! I was very excited when I was told I would meet Clyde... sadly he was just a cardboard cut out, not an all singing all dancing Clyde!

After 'check-in' next was passport control! This is where my ID was checked (apparently passport is all you need as it's the one stop shop for checking your ID!) and I had my wonderful photo taken - which will hopefully make it's way onto my accreditation!

After passport control was the Glasgow 2014 Experience where I got to complete my very own smile as to why I wanted to be a Glasgow 2014 volunteer. Once I'd read the leaflets and guides on what volunteering at the Games entailed we were off into the cinema to watch a short video and presentation on what the Games were all about and what the role we were being interviewed for would entail! I must add, it was hard to hold back the tears when Seb Coe appeared on the video - he is my idol! It was good to see the purple and poppy represented on the video too!

Now all that was left was the interview itself. When it comes to the interview questions - I'm not going to list them here, as I think that's massively unfair! What I will say is, anyone who has the right motivation and passion for volunteering will be able to draw upon experiences and answer the questions fine!

On leaving my interview booth I was very hopefully that I'd done a good job and answered all the questions the best I could. Off I went to track down some Glasgow 2014 Pencil (I'm a bit of a pencil collecting nerd!) only to find there wasn't actually a memorabilia shop - I did get a 10% off online voucher though - I'll just have to keep my eyes open!

Now it's just time to wait....and wait.... and wait....!!

It's my birthday in October so I have my fingers crossed for a Glasgow 2014 birthday present, just like my (apparent) Sochi 2014 Christmas present!!

Monday 4th November 2014 - Accepted!!

A few days ago I'd had the 'Accepting Your Role' news on my portal. Many people had said this is part of the route to receiving your a acceptance, but I really didn't want to count on it. 

I was delighted this morning (whilst demonstrating for a Geotechnics Tutorial) to receive this emails:

"Hi Nicola,

Congratulations - you're a Clyde-sider!

Exciting news!

Glasgow 2014 volunteers will be known as Clyde-siders and we'd love you to be one of the friendly faces who make Scotland's biggest ever sporting and cultural event happen!

Based on your application form, your availability and your excellent interview, we'd like to offer you a role in our Netball Team."

Yippeeee!!! Only 2 weeks after offers have been rolling out, I have received mine! Based on this, I am now a member of the Netball Athletes Services Team based at the SECC! 

Friday 13th December 2014 - Orientation Training Invite!

This morning I received my email inviting me to attend Orientation Training. I'm so excited about this it's unbelievable! For London, I was allocated my role too late, so did my Orientation Training online.... not quite the same as being in Wembley Arena!

Booked Session - DONE!

Booked Train - DONE!

Told Parents I'll be home - DONE!

8th March 2014 - 10:30am - Excited much? :-D

Now just to wait 12 weeks for it to come around - I might also be able to buy my cuddly Clyde I've been waiting patiently for!! :) 

Monday 6th January 2014 - Accommodation = Booked!
I'd been pondering for a while about camping during Glasgow. I have to admit I was a little gutted during London 2012 to be coming back to my hotel room with no one to share the buzz with (although I pretty much arrived back and passed out!).

Camping seemed ideal to me. Designated area just for volunteers, a bar, mobile phone charging points - what more did I really need? The only point that didn't really sell it to me was the communal showers, but I've decided this is just a life lesson I need to learn... where do I put my eyes?! haha.

So for £238 I have booked a pitch for 14nights via Camping Ninja (http://campinginglasgow.com/volunteer-special/). I'm going to pack up my £17 bargain tent, my camping stove and sleeping bags! Destination: GLASGOW! 

I'm not going to lie, booking to camp has made my adventure seem even more exciting!! I will report back on just how exciting it turns out to be! :D

BUCS Gatorade Nationals: Sheffield

Date: 22nd to 24th February 2013

Location: English Institute of Sport Sheffield (EIS)
Mission: British Universities & Colleges Sport Gatorade Nationals
Role: Volunteer Coordinator

Volunteering for the BUCS Gatorade Nationals began on Wednesday 20th February 2012, with a volunteer training session held at the EIS. On arrival I was issued with my stylish BUCS t-shirt - although I was slightly confused as to why my small t-shirt was definitely not what you'd usual class as small! Apparently this is due to it being a Rugby Brand......!!! Anyway....At the same time as my t-shirt I was giving the volunteer bible, detailing how the weekend would run, what was going on where and who to call, if all else failed!

The training session began with a ice breaker quiz, not being from Sheffield I pretty much failed this as they asked you to identify the athletes from an obscure photographs! I did however get Jess Ennis correct and guessed at they were all from Sheffield! The next part of the quiz was a 'What happened next...?' style video section. Again, I was terrible at this and it's fair to say I was definitely not the the winner of the quiz! I was pretty glad I was hiding at the back of the room!

Next up in the training (now the ice was broken!) the BUCS team went through a background to what BUCS is all about and why it is such a successful event - being a university student I already knew about BUCS and what they stand for so this bit wasn't anything new! The session went onto talk about the sponsors and what Gatorade would be up to at the event. For many events there are not a sponsor present in the way that Gatorade would be, so I was interested to find out how their involvement would affect the mood of the event. The final session was an introduction the staff and volunteer coordinators for the event to the rest of the volunteers! This is where I had to stand up and give a wave....only to receive abuse about my Sooty and Sweep Jumper...hehe! At the end of the training I was given my shifts for the weekend....nice 24hrs of my life in 2 days would be spent volunteering here...is it sad that.....I just couldn't wait for the weekend! :D

Overall, it was a pretty standard training session, 30mins long, nothing out of the ordinary with regards to content. What would have been greatly beneficial at the training session was to have a walk around the venue to familiarise myself and the other volunteers of the positions volunteers would be covered, so that it wasn't such a mad dash at the weekend - but never mind!

My volunteering for BUCS started on the Friday night at the VIP Launch of the competition. This event was held in Sheffield's Winter Gardens and was a very chilled affair in more ways than one! I'd been told to prepare a 5minutes speech on my volunteering experience, how I got involved with sports volunteering and the 'other skills' gained from volunteering! All day in the office at Uni, I'd had my BUCS T-shirt and smart trousers hanging up to ensure I was smart and professional looking, only to be asked multiple question about what my latest volunteer event was about!

I had prepared my speech in the week leading up to the event and knew I was the first of 3 speakers for the evening. Following myself there was Isobel Pooley an high jumper from Nottingham University, and Toby Thie, an athletics coach from Cardiff Met University - all sharing their experience of what it's like to be at a BUCS event.

My speech was typical of me, having gave a few speeches in my time I was totally at ease in front of the small gathering there for the event. My speech ran through my volunteering to date, including my London 2012 involvement along side my regular netball volunteering at Sheffield Stormers. As per usual, there were the odd bits of humour which seemed to go down well, especially the fact that I must be from the north since I was only wearing my t-shirt in a some what baltic winter garden!. Luckily I'd checked with the compare Alex as to how he was going to introduce me, otherwise part of my speech would have been dead in the water! 

When ever I volunteer at these events, people always presume I'm doing sports at University and all this volunteering is just to add to my CV when I graduate. How wrong could they be!! As I highlighted in my speech - volunteering for me isn't about the experience for my CV.

I won't bore you with the whole things, just the more interesting bits.....

"From hearing my experiences, like most people I speak to at sports events you’ll have presumed I'm heading for a career in sports, or at least something along those lines. This couldn't be any further from the true. I'm actually a civil engineer, now studying a PhD at the University of Sheffield.

Many of my friends don’t understand why I choose to give up my weekends, pay to stay in London, travel all over the country volunteering, when it has nothing to do with my future career. All my friends see of my volunteering experiences is the range of t-shirts, pin badges and baton I now own, but volunteering is more than that.

What my friends who haven’t volunteered before don’t see is that, volunteering, allows you to develop transferable skills which are applicable to any career path you choose. Whether I’m volunteering on a Saturday morning with Sheffield Stormers Netball Club, or in the middle of the Olympic Park doing a song and dance, I’m gaining vital life experiences and developing skills applicable in my everyday life and my university course, whilst also having an amazing time!

Volunteering develops skills, without you really noticing, such as your customer service skills whilst selling programmes, organisational skills, whilst coordinating a team of 30 volunteers and time management when it comes to those early starts! One of the greatest skills developed through volunteering is the ability to work as a team. Basically, being part of a group of people, from all different walks of life, coming together as one team to make an event run like clockwork – where else do you get such an opportunity?

I must admit, for me, the thing that makes volunteering most addictive, is the people I meet, the friendships I make and the totally unforgettable experiences I have to tell my friends and family about!"

[[Sadly, being the one giving the speech and my parents not being present, I was unable to snap a stylish photo of myself at the lecture in front of the BUCS Gatorade sign-age.......sad times as it would have been ideal here!]]

Following my speech it was excellent to hear the views of Isobel and Toby, gaining an inside into what these events mean to them, representing the other people involved in a BUCS event! After the speeches were all done and dusted there was a final chance to network, munch on the delicious canapés and finish off a glass of wine before my none stop weekend!

I had been hoping a representative from Sports Sheffield would have been present at the event as I'd hoped to have a chat about how the university supports sports volunteering. During my time at Sheffield, I've noticed a massive difference in sports volunteering culture between my time at Newcastle University and my  time now at  the University of Sheffield, so was hoping to have a chat with them, but today wasn't going to be my day!

My weekend began with a 8:15am start.....which lead to me being stuck in traffic outside EISS for a good 20mins - I'll never learn that there is ALWAYS more traffic on a Saturday when there is an event on, compared to my normal Saturday mornings coaching netball!

I'm always amazed at how the same venue can be transformed to look totally different for every event I volunteer at. I love the way a bit of branding can totally change what is usual deemed as 'normal' training venue for many athletes into something a bit more special!

Having not volunteering that long in Sheffield (in comparison to the hardy regulars!) spotting the volunteers I was coordinating that day was a bit of a challenge and as per usual I seemed very rude not knowing their names! I normally like to be able to use peoples names and have something to relate to them about as I'm quite an open and friendly personality, so the first few hours felt a little awkward for me. Saying that, it wasn't long before I'd learn everyone's names and issued them with a lunch voucher and a rota detailing their volunteer positions and when their all important lunch breaks were!!

This weekend, the volunteers were different to the usual crowd! Mixed in with the usual bunch of the Sheffield Council Volunteering team were some students from Sheffield's Universities and some Games Makers from Sheffield. It was good to have some new faces around and some refresh volunteers ready to get going volunteering in their local area - strengthening the legacy from London 2012 of creating a volunteer work force!!!

Having previously volunteered at events with a different event management team (I'll name no names...hehe), it was a totally different experience (and a massive relief!) to be volunteering with the BUCS team! I've never know an event management team by so relaxed and chilled out, and yet put on a successful event! It was great to be giving more responsibility to be left to do my job without constant radio/telephone calls about trivial things!

By the end of the Saturday, looking at the rota, there was only myself plus 1 volunteer down to be volunteering from 7:00pm till 9:30pm - thinking this was a little strange and maybe unnecessary I double checked with the volunteer manager who to my delighted said my thinking was correct and they'd manage without us for the rest of the evening as G4S were also covering the event! This meant........ EARLY FINISH!! By the time I got finished up and into the car I was relieved at the early finish. Although  if I'd have been needed I'd have happily stayed, but once I'd stopped being on the go I was most definitely ready for bed!

After a few hours of sleep (no thanks to my silly noisy neighbours!!!) I was back at EIS for 8am the next morning, ready and raring to  go! Again, it was a mix of volunteers from a variety of backgrounds, adding a bit of interest to the day! On the Sunday I was kept on my toes as the day wound down and volunteer positions were no longer needed, as they'd been specified, meaning volunteers were reallocated to different roles, and to some of the team, the joys of an early finish!

By 5:30pm all athletics competition has finished, with just some badminton still going on at the EISS. At this point I was relieved to hear I wasn't going to be required until 7pm as I'd previously been told! My bed was definitely calling after the busy, but totally enjoyable weekend!

To sum up my weekend of BUCS, I'd have to say it was an event like no other -what with the over sized t-shirts, relaxed (but successful!!) event management and the student vibe about the event. Not even the volunteers were the same as usual! The only thing which was the same as previous events was the volunteer packed lunches - the delight of a high calorie treat for the middle of your shift ;)



Giving my speech on the Friday night gave me a nice reminder as to why I volunteer in sport and what makes it most addictive! I couldn't help but reflect on this over the weekend, thinking about the points I'd made to all those gathered at the Winter Gardens. It was true, it's all about the people you meet and share the experience with, along with the practical aspect of using the skills gained from other events.....I even collected a BUCS pin badge to add to the collection, so my friends could see I did take "something" away from the event!


Hopefully the BUCS Gatorade Nationals will return to Sheffield next year...Fingers cross it won't be when Sochi for the winter Olympics, meaning I can get involved again!