8.30 at Wembley Arena. The warm-up act had been and gone. The stage, erected in the middle, was awash with neon lights. The anticipation was palpable. The countdown was complete, and out stepped... Jonathan Edwards. I shook myself back into reality. This was no U2 concert. This was London Olympics Orientation training, and it was 8.30 in the morning. And I was tired.
I needn't have worried, this was far from high-octane stuff. We've been warned about the dangers of posting information on social networking sites, so I won't tell you about the bit when Eddie Izzard revealed a third nipple, nor when Jonathan Edwards showed us his fake, extra springy legs.
The session was fairly basic, good-natured fare. After a brief introduction from Jonathan Edwards and Eddie Izzard, Huw Edwards came on to work the crowd, congratulating the 7,000 or so of us inside the arena. The Welsh newsreader, so often appearing as a dour, sullen chap from behind his desk, was actually very witty and sharp, particularly for that time in the morning. Far funnier than Izzard, in fact, who looked like he'd rather be in bed.
It was all very much like ABBA's 'I'd like to teach the world to sing' encompassed in a three-hour spectacular. There was a great deal of self-congratulation, and the phrase 'Greatest Show on Earth' must have been uttered at least 12 times. I did come out, however, with a sense of being part of something huge. Those of us in the arena on Saturday morning apparently only made up 5% of the 'Gamesmaker' team. I must admit, I was slightly taken aback at the demographic of the audience. I had gone with the idea that my age group, 18-25 year-olds, would make up roughly a third of the volunteering team, yet the majority looked like the sort of people you'd see organising county council meetings. Of course, I may have picked the 'wrong' session to meet people my age; 8:30 on a Saturday morning was probably the worst choice, in that respect, but still, slightly baffling.
It must be said that both Edwards, with a little help from Seb Coe, worked the crowd extremely well. The carcrash that was the half-time entertainment, led by two over-excited Cadbury representatives trying to coax the crowd into yelling 'The Final Countdown' at 11am was perhaps the only wrong move made by the slick LOCOG team.
Onwards, then, to Hackney Community College, where I will become more familiar with my role on the Events Services Team. Altogether now... IIIT'S THE FIIINAAAAAL COUUUNTDOOOOWWNNNN!!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Orientation- A Preview
After a lengthy hiatus from the blogosphere, I have decided to return with a very specific angle: the Olympics, or more precisely, my Olympics volunteering experience. Tomorrow morning, at around 9.30am, I will be sat in Wembley with thousands of others, making up a small part of the 70000 that will 'make the Games happen'.
Why am I doing it? If I wanted to watch Eddie Izzard on a large screen, I'd sign up for his gigs, not rely on him to persuade me that this really is 'the greatest show on Earth'. Nor am I in it for some sort of muckraking journalistic thrill. I have no intentions of revealing that Lord Coe is in fact three midgets stood on top of one another, nor that the Olympic Stadium was built upon an old Indian burial ground.
I'm doing it because I love sport, and I want my slice of history. I want my 'I was there' moment. I want to be involved, on a day-to-day basis, with the carnival atmosphere that will reverberate around the city of London for two weeks. I am very fortunate in that I am financially secure enough to afford the whole experience; understandably LOCOG cannot offer any perks apart from London Zone travel expenses during the games themselves. This volunteering lark will take dedication, however. I initially felt it might be something of a fortnight-long jolly; chilling out, maxing, relaxing, being cool with people my own age, with the odd bit of ticket-scanning chucked in.
Naive. In actual fact, the training experience itself will be a trial. It is unfortunate that Orientation falls on the same weekend as the first anniversary of my wonderful father's death, something which may prove an ordeal as I sit through celebrity endorsements. From here, it is on to Hackney Community College in March for my role-specific Events Services Training, and from there, a day at the ExCel arena where I will be based for the fortnight.
Why am I doing it? If I wanted to watch Eddie Izzard on a large screen, I'd sign up for his gigs, not rely on him to persuade me that this really is 'the greatest show on Earth'. Nor am I in it for some sort of muckraking journalistic thrill. I have no intentions of revealing that Lord Coe is in fact three midgets stood on top of one another, nor that the Olympic Stadium was built upon an old Indian burial ground.
I'm doing it because I love sport, and I want my slice of history. I want my 'I was there' moment. I want to be involved, on a day-to-day basis, with the carnival atmosphere that will reverberate around the city of London for two weeks. I am very fortunate in that I am financially secure enough to afford the whole experience; understandably LOCOG cannot offer any perks apart from London Zone travel expenses during the games themselves. This volunteering lark will take dedication, however. I initially felt it might be something of a fortnight-long jolly; chilling out, maxing, relaxing, being cool with people my own age, with the odd bit of ticket-scanning chucked in.
Naive. In actual fact, the training experience itself will be a trial. It is unfortunate that Orientation falls on the same weekend as the first anniversary of my wonderful father's death, something which may prove an ordeal as I sit through celebrity endorsements. From here, it is on to Hackney Community College in March for my role-specific Events Services Training, and from there, a day at the ExCel arena where I will be based for the fortnight.
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